Pema Chodron Quotes

If you shift from compulsiveness to consciousness, being joyful will not be an effort.

Forget the dancer, the center of the ego; become the dance. That is meditation.

I work really hard at trying to see the big picture and not getting stuck in ego. I believe we're all put on this planet for a purpose, and we all have a different purpose... When you connect with that love and that compassion, that's when everything unfolds.

If you ever find happiness by hunting for it, you will find it, as the old woman did her lost spectacles, safe on her own nose all the time.

Being deeply contented with God in my everyday life is a focused attitude. It is always available. It means practicing letting go of my obsession with how I'm doing. It means training myself to learn to actually be present with people, and seeking to love them.

Happiness is rarely absent; it is we that know not of its presence.

If you cannot bow to Buddha, you cannot be a Buddha. It is arrogance.

To forget oneself is to be happy.

If I can get Me out of the way, I can do anything.

I had to let my ego go a long time ago.

I suppose even when I was growing up, I noticed I was most happy when I was absorbed in something, lost in the moment and forgot the time, whether was conversation, movie, or a game I was playing. That was my definition of happiness. And I was least happy when I was all over the place, distracted and restless.

Not being anxious requires a level of humility, doesn't it? It does, I think. It's not all about you.

To know that every moment - regardless of how it comes wrapped - is a gift greater than you can give yourself, is to be well on your way to a life without fear.

When you stop thinking about yourself all the time, a certain sense of repose overtakes you.

The reason why I meditate and pray in general is just to remind myself that it is not about me.

Something I practice everyday is Tonglin. It's Tibetan for taking and receiving.

Reductionism and elimination make one feel clever, but what happens when the meditator drops her fixation on feeling clever?

There 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.

Today I want to belong. I want to feel safe and at home. I want to be aware of what it is like simply to be, without defenses or desires. I will appreciate the flow of life for what it is-my own true self. I will notice those moments of intimacy with myself, when I feel that “I am” is enough to sustain me forever. I will lie on the grass at one with nature, expanding until my being fades into the infinite.

I've been on a quest for spiritual answers for a long time. The things I've learned about interconnectedness and non-duality and the feeling of tapping into your soul that goes beyond the edge of your skin is important to me. Once I learned that, I'm far less often trapped in my own little man problems. Me against the universe problems.

Get yourself out of the way, and let Joy have more space.

To be conscious of Being, you need to reclaim consciousness from the mind. This is one of the most essential tasks on your spiritual journey.

When I use the word spirituality, I don't necessarily mean religion; I mean whatever it is that helps you feel connected to something that is larger than yourself.

No thought, no mind, no choice — just being silent, rooted in yourself.

Meditation is the movement of love. It isn't the love of the one or of the many. It is like water that anyone can drink out of any jar.