1. “If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.” ― Pema Chödrön
  2. “It isn’t what happens to us that causes us to suffer; it’s what we say to ourselves about what happens.” – Pema Chödrön
  3. “It is unconditional compassion for ourselves that leads to unconditional compassion for others.” – Pema Chödrön
  4. “It isn’t the things that happen to us in our lives that cause us to suffer, it’s how we relate to the things that happen to us that causes us to suffer.” ― Pema Chödrön
  5. “Feeling like disappointment, embarrassment, irritation, resentment, anger, jealousy, and fear, instead of being bad news, are actually very clear moments that teach us where it is that we’re hold back…Consider them messengers that show us, with terrifying clarity, exactly where we’re stuck.” – Pema Chödrön
  6. “When we are willing to stay even a moment with uncomfortable energy, we gradually learn not to fear it.” – Pema Chödrön
  7. “Meditation practice isn’t about trying to throw ourselves away and become something better. It’s about befriending who we are already.” ― Pema Chödrön
  8. “It is lack of love for ourselves that inhibits our compassion toward others. If we make friends with ourselves, then there is no obstacle to opening our hearts and minds to others.” – Pema Chödrön
  9. “Compassion for others begins with kindness to ourselves.” – Pema Chödrön
  10. “The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can do to ourselves, is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently.” ― Pema Chödrön
  11. “Clarity and decisiveness come from the willingness to slow down, to listen to and look at what’s happening.” – Pema Chödrön
  12. “When there is a great disappointment, we don’t know if that’s the end of the story. It may be just the beginning of a great adventure.” – Pema Chödrön
  13. “You are the sky. Everything else – it’s just the weather.” ― Pema Chödrön
  14. “When our attitude toward fear becomes more welcoming and inquisitive, there’s a fundamental shift that occurs. Instead of spending our lives tensing up, as if we were in the dentist’s chair, we learn that we can connect with the freshness of the moment and relax.” – Pema Chödrön
  15. “Don’t let people pull you into their storm. Pull them into your peace.” – Pema Chödrön
  16. “The root of compassion is compassion for oneself.” – Pema Chödrön
  17. “Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It’s a relationship between equals. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.” ― Pema Chödrön
  18. “Our discomfort arises from all of our efforts to put ground under our feet, to realize our dream of constant okayness…but when we can completely let go and not struggle against it, when we can embrace the groundlessness of our situation and relax into its dynamic quality, that’s called enlightenment.” – Pema Chödrön
  19. “Let difficulty transform you. And it will. In my experience, we just need help in learning how not to run away.” – Pema Chödrön
  20. “Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth” ― Pema Chödrön
  21. “Inner peace begins the moment you choose not to allow another person or event to control your emotions.” – Pema Chödrön
  22. “Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation can that which is indestructible in us be found.” ― Pema Chödrön
  23. “So when you’re like a keg of dynamite just about to go off, patience means just slowing down at that point- just pausing-instead of immediately acting on your usual, habitual response. You refrain from acting, you stop talking to yourself, and then you connect with the soft spot.” – Pema Chödrön
  24. “The most difficult times for many of us are the ones we give ourselves.” ― Pema Chödrön
  25. “Sometimes when things fall apart, well, that’s the big opportunity to change.” – Pema Chödrön
  26. “Rather than letting our negativity get the better of us, we could acknowledge that right now we feel like a piece of shit and not be squeamish about taking a good look.” ― Pema Chödrön
  27. “Rather than being disheartened by the uncertainty of life, what if we accepted it and relaxed into it? What if we said, “Yes, this is the way it is; this is what it means to be human” and decided to sit down and enjoy the ride?” – Pema Chödrön
  28. “One can appreciate & celebrate each moment — there’s nothing more sacred. There’s nothing vaster or absolute. In fact, there’s nothing more!” ― Pema Chödrön
  29. “Pain is not a punishment; pleasure is not a reward.” – Pema Chödrön
  30. “To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest.” ― Pema Chödrön
  31. “Feel the feelings. Drop the story.” – Pema Chödrön
  32. “We think that the point is to pass the test or to overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don’t really get solved. They come together and they fall apart.” ― Pema Chödrön
  33. “Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this, too was a gift.” – Pema Chödrön
  34. “Do I prefer to grow up and relate to life directly, or do I choose to live and die in fear?” ― Pema Chödrön
  35. “To be fully alive, fully human & completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the next. To live fully is to be always in no-man’s land, to experience each moment as completely new & fresh. To live is to be willing to die over & over again.” – Pema Chödrön
  36. “If someone comes along and shoots an arrow into your heart, it’s fruitless to stand there and yell at the person. It would be much better to turn your attention to the fact that there’s an arrow in your heart…” ― Pema Chödrön
  37. “If your everyday practice is to open to all of your emotions, to all the people you meet, to all the situations you encounter, without closing down, trusting that you can do that – then that will take you as far as you can go. And you’ll understand the teachings that anyone has ever taught.” – Pema Chödrön
  38. “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.” ― Pema Chödrön
  39. “Patience is the training in abiding with the restlessness of our energy and letting things evolve at their own speed.” ― Pema Chödrön
  40. “You must learn to sit with the restless, painful energy and not let the momentum pull you under and cause you to do the same thing over and over that’s ruining your life and the lives of those around you.” – Pema Chödrön
  41. “Like all explorers, we are drawn to discover what’s out there without knowing yet if we have the courage to face it.” ― Pema Chödrön
  42. “Simply be present with your own shifting energies and with the unpredictability of life as it unfolds.” – Pema Chödrön
  43. “When we protect ourselves so we won’t feel pain, that protection becomes like armor, like armor that imprisons the softness of the heart.” ― Pema Chödrön
  44. “Be kinder to yourself. And then let your kindness flood the world.” – Pema Chödrön
  45. “We are all capable of becoming fundamentalists because we get addicted to other people’s wrongness.” ― Pema Chödrön
  46. “Right now, can you make an unconditional relationship with yourself? Just at the height you are, the weight you are, with the current intelligence level you have, with your current burden of pain. Can you enter into an unconditional relationship with that?” – Pema Chödrön
  47. “Pain is not a punishment; pleasure is not a reward.” ― Pema Chödrön
  48. “Not causing harm requires staying awake. Part of being awake is slowing down enough to notice that what we say and do. The more we witness our emotional change reactions and understand how they work, the easier it is to refrain. It becomes a way of life to stay awake, slow down and notice.” – Pema Chödrön
  49. “As long as our orientation is toward perfection or success, we will never learn about unconditional friendship with ourselves, nor will we find compassion.” ― Pema Chödrön
  50. “Whether we’re seeking inner peace or global peace or a combination of the two, the way to experience it is to build on the foundation of unconditional openness to all that arises. Peace isn’t an experience free of challenges, free of rough and smooth, it’s an experience that’s expansive enough to include all that arises without feeling threatened.” – Pema Chödrön
  51. “Without giving up hope—that there’s somewhere better to be, that there’s someone better to be—we will never relax with where we are or who we are.” ― Pema Chödrön
  52. “Everything changes when you start to emit your own frequency rather than absorbing the frequencies around you. When you start imprinting your intent on the universe rather than receiving an imprint from existence.” – Pema Chödrön
  53. “Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know.” ― Pema Chödrön
  54. “One of the happiest moments ever is when you find the courage to let go of what you can’t change.” – Pema Chödrön
  55. “True compassion does not come from wanting to help out those less fortunate than ourselves but from realizing our kinship with all beings.” ― Pema Chödrön
  56. “If you ask why we meditate, I would say it’s so we can become more flexible and tolerant to the present moment.” – Pema Chödrön
  57. “The more we witness our emotional reactions and understand how they work, the easier it is to refrain.” ― Pema Chödrön
  58. “In your wisest and in your most confused be friendly toward yourself.” – Pema Chödrön
  59. “The greatest obstacle to connecting with our joy is resentment.” ― Pema Chödrön
  60. “There is a teaching that say that behind all hardening and tightening and rigidity of the heart, there’s always fear. But if you touch fear, behind fear there is a soft spot, you find that which is ineffable, ungraspable, and unbiased, that which can support and awaken us at any time.” – Pema Chödrön
  61. “At the root of all the harm we cause is ignorance.” ― Pema Chödrön
  62. “The peace that we are looking for is not peace that crumbles as soon as there is difficulty or chaos. Whether we’re seeking inner peace or global peace or a combination of the two, the way to experience it is to build on the foundation of unconditional openness to all that arises. Peace isn’t an experience free of challenges, free of rough and smooth, it’s an experience that’s expansive enough to include all that arises without feeling threatened.” – Pema Chödrön
  63. “Trying to run away is never the answer to being a fully human. Running away from the immediacy of our experience is like preferring death to life.” ― Pema Chödrön
  64. “Start now. Start where you are. Start with fear. Start with pain. Start with doubt. Start with hands shaking. Start with voice trembling but start. Start and don’t stop. Start where are, with what you have. Just…Start.”
  65. “The essence of bravery is being without self-deception.” ― Pema Chödrön
  66. “Sometimes this broken heart gives birth to anxiety, and panic, sometimes to anger, resentment, and blame. But under the hardness of that armor there is a tenderness of genuine sadness. This is our link with all those who have ever loved.” – Pema Chödrön
  67. “Honesty without kindness, humor, and good heartedness can be just mean.” ― Pema Chödrön
  68. “If it weren’t for my mind my meditation would be excellent.” – Pema Chödrön
  69. “Everything is fresh, the essence of realization.” ― Pema Chödrön
  70. “We sow the seeds of our future hells or happiness by the way we open or close our minds right now.” – Pema Chödrön
  71. “Once you create a self-justifying storyline, your emotional entrapment within it quadruples.” ― Pema Chödrön
  72. “If we stay present with the rawness of our direct experience, emotional energy can move through us without getting stuck.” – Pema Chödrön
  73. “We have a choice. We can spend our whole life suffering because we can’t relax with how things really are, or we can relax and embrace the open-endedness of the human situation, which is fresh, unfixated, unbiased.” ― Pema Chödrön
  74. “The most important aspect of a being on a spiritual path may be to just keep moving.” – Pema Chödrön
  75. “In a nutshell, when life is pleasant, think of others. When life is a burden, think of others.” ― Pema Chödrön
  76. “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.” – Pema Chödrön
  77. “Letting there be room for not knowing is the most important thing of all.” ― Pema Chödrön
  78. “Whatever is happening, is the path to enlightenment.” – Pema Chödrön
  79. “Interrupting our destructive habits and awakening our heart is the work of a lifetime.” ― Pema Chödrön
  80. “Sticking with the uncertainty, getting the knack of relaxing in the midst of chaos, learning not to panic-this is the spiritual path.” – Pema Chödrön
  81. “The truth you believe in and cling to makes you unavailable to hear anything new.” ― Pema Chödrön
  82. “When we resist change, it’s called suffering. But when we can completely let go and not struggle against it, when we can embrace the groundlessness of our situation and relax into its dynamic quality, that’s called enlightenment.” – Pema Chödrön
  83. “The Buddha taught that we are not actually in control. Which is a pretty scary idea. But when you let things be as they are. You will be much happier more balanced, compassionate person.” – Pema Chödrön
  84. “Scrambling for security has never brought anything but momentary joy.” ― Pema Chödrön
  85. “This very moment is the perfect teacher, and lucky for us, it’s with us wherever we are.” – Pema Chödrön
  86. “No matter whom you are or what you do, the ground is always shaky. And, the really good news is that shaky ground is fertile ground for spiritual growth and awakening.” – Pema Chödrön
  87. “We can use our personal suffering as the path to compassion for all beings.” ― Pema Chödrön
  88. “We have a choice. We can spend our whole life suffering because we can’t relax with how things really are, or we can relax and embrace the open-endedness of the human situation, which is fresh, unfixated, unbiased.” – Pema Chödrön
  89. “At some point, we need to stop identifying with our weaknesses and shift our allegiance to our basic goodness.” – Pema Chödrön
  90. “It helps to remember that our spiritual practice is not about accomplishing anything—not about winning or losing—but about ceasing to struggle and relaxing as it is.” ― Pema Chödrön
  91. “In the moment that we choose to abide with the energy instead of acting it out or repressing it, we are training in equanimity, in thinking bigger than right and wrong.” – Pema Chödrön
  92. “Just where you are – that’s the place to start.” – Pema Chödrön
  93. “Each moment is an opportunity to make a fresh start.” ― Pema Chödrön
  94. “Welcome the present moment as if you had invited it. Why? Because it is all we ever have.” – Pema Chödrön
  95. “We work on ourselves in order to help others, but also we help others in order to work on ourselves.” – Pema Chödrön
  96. “Transformation occurs only when we remember, breath by breath, year after year, to move toward our emotional distress without condemning or justifying our experience.” ― Pema Chödrön
  97. “Every day we could think about the aggression in the world. Everybody always strikes out at the enemy, and the pain escalates forever. We could reflect on this and ask ourselves “Am I going to add to the aggression in the world?” Everyday..we can ask ourselves, “Am I going to practice peace, or am I going to war?” – Pema Chödrön
  98. “Being in a hurry to improve yourself only slows down the process.” – Pema Chödrön
  99. “Meditation is a totally nonviolent, nonaggressive occupation.” ― Pema Chödrön
  100. “The idea of karma that you continually get the teachings that you need to open your heart.” – Pema Chödrön
  101. “This very moment is the perfect teacher.” – Pema Chödrön
  102. “The more you just try to get it your way, the less you feel at home.” ― Pema Chödrön
  103. “The ego seeks to divide and separate. Spirit seeks to unify and heal.” – Pema Chödrön
  104. “If you’re invested in security and certainty, you are on the wrong planet.” – Pema Chödrön
  105. “The way to dissolve our resistance to life is to meet it face-to-face.” ― Pema Chödrön
  106. “Trying to change ourselves doesn’t work in the long run because we’re resisting our own energy. Self-improvement can have temporary results, but lasting transformation occurs only when we honor ourselves as the source of wisdom and compassion.” – Pema Chödrön
  107. “The only reason we don’t open our hearts and minds to other people is that they trigger confusion in us that we don’t feel brave enough or sane enough to deal with. To the degree that we look clearly and compassionately at ourselves, we feel confident and fearless about looking into someone else’s eyes.” – Pema Chödrön
  108. “If we are willing to stand fully in our own shoes and never give up on ourselves, then we will be able to put ourselves in the shoes of others and never give up on them.” ― Pema Chödrön
  109. “The future is completely open, and we are writing it moment to moment.” – Pema Chödrön
  110. “What we call obstacles are really the way the world and our entire experience teach us where we’re stuck.” ― Pema Chödrön
  111. “Openness doesn’t come from resisting our fears but from getting to know them well.” – Pema Chödrön
  112. “You should never have expectations for other people. Just be kind to them.” – Pema Chödrön
  113. “Live your life as an experiment.” ― Pema Chödrön
  114. “Resistance to unwanted circumstances has the power to keep those circumstances alive and well for a very long time.” – Pema Chödrön
  115. “Gloriousness & wretchedness need each other. One inspires us, the other softens us.” – Pema Chödrön

2 Responses

  1. Where are these quotes from? Any sources for any of them? That would be super helpful. Thanks!