Pema Chödrön Quotes

183 Sourced Quotes

The Process of becoming unstuck requires tremendous bravery, because basically we are completely changing our way of perceiving reality...

Pema Chödrön
The real thing that we renounce is the tenacious hope that we could be saved from being who we are.

Pema Chödrön
Patience takes courage. It is not an ideal state of calm. In fact, when we practice patience we will see our agitation far more clearly.

Pema Chödrön
A warrior accepts that we can never know what will happen to us next.

Pema Chödrön
Each moment is just what it is. It might be the only moment of our life; it might be the only strawberry we'll ever eat. We could get depressed about it, or we could finally appreciate it and delight in the preciousness of every single moment of our life.

Pema Chödrön
We come to realize that other people's welfare is just as important as our own. In helping them, we help ourselves. In helping ourselves, we help the world.

Pema Chödrön
The idea of karma is that you continually get the teaching that you need to open your heart.

Pema Chödrön
Buddhism itself is all about empowering yourself, not about getting what you want.

Pema Chödrön
Wholeheartedly do what it takes to awaken your clear-seeing intelligence, but one day at a time, one moment at a time. If we live that way, we will benefit this earth.

Pema Chödrön
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 Chödrön
Fear is a natural reaction of moving closer to the truth. If we commit ourselves to staying right where we are, then our experience becomes very vivid. Things become very clear when there is nowhere to escape.

Pema Chödrön
We give it up and just look directly with compassion and humor at who we are. Then loneliness is no threat and heartache, no punishment.

Pema Chödrön
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.

Pema Chödrön
One of the deepest habitual patterns that we have is to feel that now is not enough.

Pema Chödrön
I have all the support I need to simply relax and be with the transitional, in-process quality of my life. I have all I need to engage in the process of awakening.

Pema Chödrön
I'm here to tell you that the path to peace is right there, when you want to get away.

Pema Chödrön
Rejoicing in the good fortune of others is a practice that can help us when we feel emotionally shut down and unable to connect with others. Rejoicing generates good will.

Pema Chödrön
Words themselves are neutral. It's the charge we add to them that matters

Pema Chödrön
If we knew that tonight we were going to go blind, we would take a long, last real look at every blade of grass, every cloud formation, every speck of dust, every rainbow, raindrop-everything.

Pema Chödrön
Opening to the world begins to benefit ourselves and others simultaneously. The more we relate with others, the more quickly we discover where we're blocked.

Pema Chödrön
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.

Pema Chödrön
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 Chödrön
Whatever happens in your life, joyful or painful, do not be swept away by reactivity. Be patient with yourself and don't lose your sense of perspective.

Pema Chödrön
The central question of a warrior's training is not how we avoid uncertainty and fear but how we relate to discomfort.

Pema Chödrön
We feel that we have to be right so that we can feel good. We don't want to be wrong because then we'll feel bad. But we could be more compassionate toward all these parts of ourselves. The whole right and wrong business closes us down and makes our world smaller. Wanting situations and relationships to be solid, permanent, and graspable obscures the pith of the matter, which is that things are fundamentally groundless.

Pema Chödrön
The point is that our true nature is not some ideal that we have to live up to. It's who we are right now, and that's what we can make friends with and celebrate.

Pema Chödrön
Never underestimate the power of compassionately recognizing what's going on.

Pema Chödrön
Life's work is to wake up, to let the things that enter your life wake you up rather than put you to sleep.

Pema Chödrön
We can stop thinking that good practice is when it's smooth and calm, and bad practice is when it's rough and dark. If we can hold it all in our hearts, then we can make a proper cup of tea.

Pema Chödrön
Someone needs to encourage us not to brush aside what we feel. Not to be ashamed of the love and grief that it arouses in us. Not to be afraid of pain. Someone needs to encourage us: that this soft spot in us could be awakened, and that to do this would change our lives.

Pema Chödrön