Many people hope a spiritual practice will let them avoid what they are ashamed of. But when you hide something from yourself, you are going to project it onto your world. You continually find it in others and it becomes the source of prejudices and dogmatic views. On top of that, you feel bad about yourself, because you aren't the loving, open-minded, "spiritual" person you'd like to be.
Pema ChodronEach time you stay present with fear and uncertainty, you're letting go of a habitual way of finding security and comfort.
Pema ChodronThe central question of a warrior's training is not how we avoid uncertainty and fear but how we relate to discomfort.
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 ChodronFor arousing compassion, the nineteenth-century yogi Patrul Rinpoche suggested imagining beings in torment - an animal about to be slaughtered, a person awaiting execution. To make it more immediate, he recommended imagining ourselves in their place. Particularly painful is his image of a mother with no arms watching as a raging river sweeps her child away. To contact the suffering of another being fully and directly is as painful as being in the woman's shoes.
Pema ChodronWe think that the point is to pass the test or overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don't really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It's just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy. (10)
Pema Chodron