Pema Chodron Quotes

I wanted to share the experience of how yoga and meditation have transformed my life, how they have enabled me to observe who I am, first in my body, and then emotionally, and on to a kind of spiritual path.

The spiritual journey has to do with learning to think more deeply and take as long a time as we need. That's the path to wisdom.

I realize that the curriculum is my life on any given day. At this point, more than anything, my spiritual path means looking at every circumstance and trying to see my part in where it's good and where it's not so good.

Look for joy in your life; it's not always easy to find.

I'm doing my best to be mindful about how I'm living: to be kind and patient, and not to impose a bad mood on somebody else. Being mindful is as good a way to be spiritual as anything else.

Man is lost and is wandering in a jungle where real values have no meaning. Real values can have meaning to man only when he steps on to the spiritual path, a path where negative emotions have no use.

It is through gratitude for the present moment that the spiritual dimension of life opens up.

Because I get nervous all the time. It's weird but I think it's fun and it's refreshing. It's always good to be that way. That keeps me appreciative of everything.

I had to find some clarity about approaching life more spiritually. I think I'm kind of dense, and it makes me pull the process into mind and struggle over it in finding the path.

If you have faith, then your whole life is put in a new perspective. You get to work but enjoy the work at the same time. If you grow spiritually, you do what's in front of you and let the results speak for themselves.

I need to learn to smile more.

Awakening self-compassion is often the greatest challenge people face on the spiritual path.

It just depends on what you decide to have in your heart. That's what I've learned. That's where I am at this stage in my life is if we can fill ourselves with love and appreciation for, and be in a state of gratitude... Every event of your life you have an opportunity to be in a state of gratitude for it.

If you desire to know where your spiritual work lies, look to your emotional pain.

The first part of the spiritual journey should properly be called psychological rather than spiritual because it involves peeling away the myths and illusions that have misinformed us.

After many years of training myself, strong emotions are now a trigger for me to look at something. I think that all emotions are triggers for us to grow in our level of consciousness.

When we start out on a spiritual path we often have ideals we think we're supposed to live up to. We feel we're supposed to be better than we are in some way. But with this practice you take yourself completely as you are. Then ironically, taking in pain - breathing it in for yourself and all others in the same boat as you are heightens your awareness of exactly where you're stuck.

It is of great importance, when we begin to practise prayer, not to let ourselves be frightened by our own thoughts.

The movement of grace toward gratitude brings us from the package of self-obsessed madness to a spiritual awakening.

As you awaken to your divine nature, you'll begin to appreciate beauty in everything you see, touch and experience.

If you prayed as much as you complain and quarrel, you'd have a lot less to argue about and much more peace of mind.

Never waste time and energy wishing you were somewhere else, doing something else. Accept your situation and realize you are where you are, doing what you are doing, for a very specific reason. Realize that nothing is by chance, that you have certain lessons to learn and that the situation you are in has been given to you to enable you to learn those lessons as quickly as possible, so that you can move onward and upward along this spiritual path.

Take another look at your life. Give thanks. Accept your circumstances. Give thanks. Count your blessings. Give thanks. Show up for each day's meditation. Be willing to give the basic tools a fair chance. They can help you find your way.

Emotions are messengers that carry information. Spiritual growth depends upon receiving that information & using it.

A feeling of aversion or attachment toward something is your clue that there's work to be done.