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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.

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
Jump
Drop
Fundamental
Fundamentals
Hope
Better
Emerge

More quotes by Pema Chodron

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When we protect ourselves so we won't feel pain, that protection becomes like armor, like armor that imprisons the softness of of the heart.
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Compassion starts with making friends with ourselves.
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It isn't what happens to us that causes us to suffer it's what we say to ourselves about what happens.
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I'm here to tell you that the path to peace is right there, when you want to get away.
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We hold on to hope, and hope robs us of the present moment.
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In truth, there is enormous space in which to live our everyday lives.
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When things are shaky and nothing is working, we might realize that we are on the verge of something. We might realize that this is a very vulnerable and tender place, and that tenderness can go either way. We can shut down and feel resentful or we can touch in on that throbbing quality. (9)
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The central question of a warrior's training is not how we avoid uncertainty and fear but how we relate to discomfort.
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When people are hurting, what they really need is someone who is fully there for them - not someone who is condescending or officious. The only way for you to be there for them is by facing your fear or anger, whatever feelings cause you to shut down.
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Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation can that which is indestructible in us be found.
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Searching for happiness prevents us from ever finding it.
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As for our inner level of obstacle, perhaps the only enemy we have is that we don't like the way reality is now and therefore wish it would go away fast. But what we need to acknowledge is that nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know.
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Honesty without kindness, humor, and goodheartedness can be just mean.
Pema Chodron
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The idea is to develop sympathy for your own confusion.
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We tend to forget that we are part of the natural scheme of things.
Pema Chodron
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The essence of practice is always the same: instead of falling prey to a chain reaction of revenge or self-hatred, we gradually learn to catch the emotional reaction and drop the story lines.
Pema Chodron
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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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Ego is something that you come to know - something that you befriend by not acting out or by repressing all the feelings that you feel.
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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)
Pema Chodron
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Mindfulness is loving all the details of our lives, and awareness is the natural thing that happens: life begins to open up, and you realize that you're always standing at the center of the world.
Pema Chodron