Pema Chödrön

“Run, don't walk to that practice. The pain in this moment is your teacher.”

“The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.”

“Whatever you meet, that is the path.”

“You're not what you think you are. You're vast and unknowable.”

“Resistance to unwanted circumstances has the power to keep those circumstances alive and well.”

“To stay with that shakiness — to stay with a broken heart, with a rumbling stomach, with the feeling of hopelessness — that is the path of true awakening.”

“Maitri — unconditional friendliness toward oneself — is the basis of all spiritual practice.”

“As we learn to make friends with our restlessness, our anxiety, and our fear, we also learn to relax with reality just as it is.”

“It's only by going into the storm that we can find our way through.”

“The point is not to try to throw ourselves away and become something better. It's to befriend who we are already.”

“Start where you are. This is very important.”

“The future is completely open, and we are writing it moment to moment.”

“When we don't act on our impulses, we begin to experience our energy directly.”

“Things end. Things begin. They do not fall apart, then come together.”

“To stay open and curious in the face of what frightens us is the gateway to courage.”

“You can use the difficult places of your life as the teacher.”

“Do not lose heart. We were made for these times.”

“You are precisely as you should be. Stop trying to be someone else.”

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