Pema Chödrön

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

“Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation can that which is indestructible be found in us.”

“You are the sky. Everything else — it's just the weather.”

“To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest.”

“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.”

“Never underestimate the urge to bolt.”

“Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It's a relationship between equals.”

“Things falling apart is a kind of testing and also a kind of healing.”

“We think that the point is to pass the test or overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don't really get solved.”

“Everything that ends is also the beginning of something else.”

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

“Letting there be room for not knowing is the most important thing of all.”

“Just as we have, at the core of our being, the fearlessness of a warrior, we also have the unbroken goodness of basic goodness.”

“To be a warrior is to learn to be genuine in every moment of your life.”

“Tonglen reverses the usual logic of avoiding suffering and seeking pleasure. It is a method for connecting with suffering.”

“Bodhichitta is the soft spot, the place where we are tender and open.”

“Awakened heart is just another name for bodhichitta.”

“You are the only one who can give you the kind of love that you really long for.”

“You are the sky. Everything else is just the weather.”