We don’t sit in meditation to become good meditators. We sit in meditation so that we’ll be more awake in our lives.
Pema ChodronIt is a commitment to respect whatever life brings that we develop wholehearted determination to use discomfort as an opportunity for awakening, rather than trying to make it disappear.
Pema ChodronAnything we experience, no matter how challenging, can become an open pathway to awakening.
Pema ChodronWhen you begin to touch your heart or let your heart be touched, you begin to discover that it's bottomless.
Pema ChodronThe next time you lose heart and you can’t bear to experience what you’re feeling, you might recall this instruction: change the way you see it and lean in. Instead of blaming our discomfort on outer circumstances or on our own weakness, we can choose to stay present and awake to our experience, not rejecting it, not grasping it, not buying the stories that we relentlessly tell ourselves. This is priceless advice that addresses the true cause of suffering—yours, mine, and that of all living beings.
Pema Chodron