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Usually we think that brave people have no fear. The truth is that they are intimate with fear.

Pema Chodron

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Pema Chodron
Age: 88
Born: 1936
Born: July 14
Clergyman
Philosopher
Writer
New York City
New York
Deirdre Blomfield-Brow
Usually
Fear
Truth
Think
Thinking
People
Intimate
Brave

More quotes by Pema Chodron

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If it's painful, you become willing not just to endure it but also to let it awaken your heart and soften you. You learn to embrace it.
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Our true nature is like a precious jewel: although it may be temporarily buried in mud, it remains completely brilliant and unaffected. We simply have to uncover it.
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Softening what is rigid in our hearts.
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Meditation takes us just as we are, with our confusion and our sanity. This complete acceptance of ourselves as we are is called maitri, or unconditional friendliness, a simple, direct relationship with the way we are.
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If we begin to get in touch with whatever we feel with some kind of kindness, our protective shells will melt, and we'll find that more areas of our lives are workable. AS we learn to have compassion for ourselves, the circle of compassion for others-what and whom we can work with, and how-becomes wider.
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The truth you believe and cling to makes you unavailable to hear anything new.
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So war and peace start in the human heart. Whether that heart is open or whether that heart closes has global implications.
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The painful thing is that when we buy into disapproval,we are practicing disapproval. When we buy into harshness,we are practicing harshness.
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All the terrible things we do to ourselves and others from alcoholism to character assignation to abuse to murder come from one cause: the inability to stay present with an uncomfortable feeling in the body and seek short-term relief.
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We can drop the fundamental hope that there is a better me who one day will emerge. We can't just jump over ourselves as if we were not there.
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If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.
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Sitting meditation gives us a way to move closer to our thoughts and emotions and to get in touch with our bodies.
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Honesty without kindness, humor, and goodheartedness can be just mean. From the very beginning to the very end, pointing to our own hearts to discover what is true isn’t just a matter of honesty but also of compassion and respect for what we see.
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In order to have compassion for others, we have to have compassion for ourselves.
Pema Chodron
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If there's any possibility for enlightenment, it's right now, not at some future time. Now is the time.
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Sticking with uncertainty is how we learn to relax in the midst of chaos, how we learn to be cool when the ground beneath us suddenly disappears. We can bring ourselves back to the spiritual path countless times every day simply by exercising our willingness to rest in the uncertainty of the present moment—over and over again.
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Openness doesn’t come from resisting our fears but rather from getting to know them well.
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When we are willing to stay even a moment with uncomfortable energy, we gradually learn not to fear it.
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No one ever tells us to stop running away from fear...the advice we usually get is to sweeten it up, smooth it over, take a pill, or distract ourselves, but by all means make it go away. (5)
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Compassion for others begins with kindness to ourselves.
Pema Chodron