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Surrendering, letting go of possessiveness, and complete nonattachment-all are synonyms for accumulating merit.

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
Letting
Merit
Complete
Synonyms
Possessiveness
Accumulating
Surrendering
Synonym

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Unconditional good heart toward others is not even a possibility unless we attend to our own demons.
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One can appreciate & celebrate each moment — there’s nothing more sacred. There’s nothing more vast or absolute. In fact, there’s nothing more!
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Each time you stay present with fear and uncertainty, you're letting go of a habitual way of finding security and comfort.
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Learning how to be kind to ourselves, learning how to respect ourselves, is important. The reason it's important is that, fundamentally, when we look into our own hearts and begin to discover what is confused and what is brilliant, what is bitter and what is sweet, it isn't just ourselves that we're discovering. We're discovering the universe.
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Right down there in the thick of things, we discover the love that will not die.
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There is no cultivation of patience when your pattern is to just try to seek harmony and smooth everything out. Patience implies willingness to be alive rather than trying to seek harmony.
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As our kindness for ourselves grows, so does our kindness for other people.
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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 approach is that the best way to use unwanted circumstances on the path of enlightenment is not to resist but to lean into them.
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Patience is not learned in safety.
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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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Rejoicing in ordinary things is not sentimental or trite. It actually takes guts. Each time we drop our complaints and allow everyday good fortune to inspire us, we enter the warrior's world.
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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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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 starts with making friends with ourselves.
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Whatever you are doing, take the attitude of wanting it directly or indirectly to benefit others. Take the attitude of wanting it to increase your experience of kinship with your fellow beings.
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Trying to change ourselves doesn't work in the long run because we're resisting our own energy. Self-improvemen t can have temporary results, but lasting transformation occurs only when we honor ourselves as the source of wisdom and compassion.
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I equate ego with trying to figure everything out instead of going with the flow. That closes your heart and your mind to the person or situation that's right in front of you, and you miss so much.
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It is possible to move through the drama of our lives without believing so earnestly in the character that we play.
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The most important aspect of being on a spiritual path may be to just keep moving.
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