Pema Chodron

The truth you believe and cling to makes you unavailable to hear anything new. Pema Chodron

It's also helpful to realize that this very body that we have, that's sitting right here right now... with its aches and it pleasures... is exactly what we need to be fully human, fully awake, fully alive.

It isn't that we say, "It doesn't matter about me all that much, but if I changed the world, it would be better for other people." It's less complicated than that. 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.

"...Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know."

It isn't the things that are happening to us that cause us to suffer, it's what we say to ourselves about the things that are happening.

Meditation practice isn't about trying to throw ourselves away or become something better. It's about befriending who we are already.

Pain is not a punishment; pleasure is not a reward.

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.

As we practice, we begin to know the difference between our fantasy and reality.

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.