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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.

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
Come
Philosophy
Murder
Soma
Mind
Causes
Medicine
Alcoholism
Things
Feeling
Seek
Inability
Term
Short
Relief
Feelings
Cause
Psychology
Others
Stay
Uncomfortable
Character
Terrible
Abuse
Body
Present
Senses

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When we feel left out, inadequate, or lonely, can we take a warrior’s perspective and contact bodhichitta?
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It's a transformative experience to simply pause instead of immediately fill up the space. By waiting, we begin to connect with fundamental restlessness as well as fundamental spaciousness. -Pema Chodron, from When Things Fall Apart
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We don't set out to save the world we set out to wonder how other people are doing and to reflect on how our actions affect other people's hearts.
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Patience is the training in abiding with the restlessness of our energy and letting things evolve at their own speed.
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It's not a terrible thing that we feel fear when faced with the unknown. It is part of being alive, something we all share.
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Resistance to unwanted circumstances has the power to keep those circumstances alive and well for a very long time.
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This moving away from comfort and security, this stepping out into what is unknown, uncharted and shaky - that's called liberation.
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In the end, that's what we all need more than anything else: to be there for each other, in every kind of situation.
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Never give up on yourself. Then you will never give up on others.
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Whatever is happening is the path to enlightenment.
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Our patterns are well established, seductive, and comforting. Just wanting for them to be ventilated isn't enough. Those of us who struggle with this know.
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To cultivate equanimity we practice catching ourselves when we feel attraction or aversion, before it hardens into grasping or negativity.
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Softening what is rigid in our hearts.
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We hold on to hope, and hope robs us of the present moment.
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Tonglen is a way for you to be with people who need you - beginning with yourself.
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As long as our orientation is toward perfection or success, we will never learn about unconditional friendship with ourselves, nor will we find compassion.
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Discomfort of any kind becomes the basis for practice. We breathe in knowing our pain is shared.
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Few of us are satisfied with retreating from the world and just working on ourselves. We want our training to manifest and to be of benefit. The bodhisattva-warrior, therefore, makes a vow to wake up not just for himself but for the welfare of all beings.
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Each of us has a soft spot: the place in our experience where we feel vulnerable and tender. This soft spot is inherent in appreciation and love, and it is equally inherent in pain.
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When we scratch the wound and give into our addictions we do not allow the wound to heal.
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