Loving kindness towards ourselves doesn't mean getting rid of anything. It means we can still be crazy after all these years. We can still be angry after all these years. We can still be timid or jealous or full of feelings of unworthiness. The point is not to try to throw ourselves away and become something better. It's about befriending who we are already.
Pema ChodronI dedicate the merit of the occasion to all beings. This gesture of universal friendship has been likened to a drop of fresh spring water. If we put it on a rock in the sunshine, it will soon evaporate. If we put it in the ocean, however, it will never be lost. Thus the wish is made that we not keep the teachings to ourselves but to use them to benefit others.
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 ChodronAs each breath goes out, let it be the end of that moment and the birth of something new. . .
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 Chodron