Finding the courage to go to the places that scare us cannot happen without compassionate inquiry into the workings of ego... Openness doesn't come from resisting our fears but from getting to know them well.
Pema ChodronSo even if the hot loneliness is there, and for 1.6 seconds we sit with that restlessness when yesterday we couldn't sit for even one, that's the journey of the warrior. (68)
Pema ChodronMeditation practice isnโt about trying to throw ourselves away and become something better. Itโs about befriending who we are already. The ground of practice is you or me or whoever we are right now, just as we are. Thatโs the ground, thatโs what we study, thatโs what we come to know with tremendous curiosity and interest.
Pema ChodronThere isn't anything except your own life that can be used as ground for your spiritual practice. Spiritual practice is your life, twenty-four hours a day.
Pema ChodronInstead of asking ourselves, 'How can I find security and happiness?' we could ask ourselves, 'Can I touch the center of my pain? Can I sit with suffering, both yours and mine, without trying to make it go away? Can I stay present to the ache of loss or disgrace-disapp ointment in all its many forms-and let it open me?' This is the trick.
Pema Chodron