Pema Chodron Quotes

Awareness means to listen to me unfocused - alert of course, not fallen asleep, but alert to these birds, their chirping, alert to the wind that passes through the trees, alert to everything that is happening. Concentration excludes much, includes little. Awareness excludes nothing, includes all. Awareness is a state of no-mind. You are, yet you are not focused. You are just a mirror reflecting all, echoing all; see the beauty of it and the silence and the stillness.

When you wash your hands, when you make a cup of coffee, when you're waiting for the elevator - instead of indulging in thinking, these are all opportunities for being there as a still, alert presence.

To listen to the silence, wherever you are, is an easy and direct way of becoming present.

All that you need is just to be silent and listen to existence.

To be aware of little, quiet things, you need to be quiet inside. A high degree of alertness is required. Be still. Look. Listen. Be present.

Everywhere I go, I still have time to meditate. People think meditating is sitting there, nobody bothering you, but you can even talk and still meditate.

When there are thoughts, it is distraction: when there are no thoughts, it is meditation.

Be still with yourself until the object of your attention affirms your presence.

I prefer to be in tune with my surroundings and to be aware of things. I like listening to my foot strike and my breathing. It can be quite soothing.

Meditation is the practice of giving something your full attention and awareness. When I eat a truffle, for example, I focus fully on it and involve as many of my senses as possible.

To understand music, you must listen to it. But so long as you are thinking, “I am listening to this music,” you are not listening.

To listen to the silence, wherever you are, is an easy and direct way of becoming present. Even if there is noise, there is always some silence underneath and in between the sounds. Listening to the silence immediately creates stillness inside you.

When you are here and now, sitting totally, not jumping ahead, the miracle has happened. To be in the moment is the miracle.

Let go of your mind and then be mindful. Close your ears and listen!

Breathe in and take one step, and focus all your attention on the sole of your foot. If you have not arrived fully, one hundred percent in the here and the now, don't take the next step.

Meditation is not passive sitting in silence. It is sitting in awareness, free from distraction, and realizing the clear understanding that arises from concentration.

To meet everything and everyone through stillness instead of mental noise is the greatest gift you can offer the universe.

At a certain point, you say to the woods, to the sea, to the mountains, the world, Now I am ready. Now I will stop and be wholly attentive. You empty yourself and wait, listening.

Listen - life is really going on, right now, around us. Do you see it? Sometimes I lose it but if I sit still and listen, it comes back, and then I think, How funny, this is what being alive is.

Technique to me is a kind of a ... I'm reluctant to talk about it because it seems so obvious to me what good technique is. I mean, you sit down, you shut up, and you pay attention is basically the good technique. And then the footnotes add; on an empty stomach, in a dark room, feeling comfortable.

A lot of what acting is is paying attention.

Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought.

A lot of exercise is mindless; you can have music or the radio on and not be aware. But if you're aware in anything you do - and it doesn't have to be yoga - it changes you. Being present changes you.

Listen to the silence. Listen to your life. Be present, not just think about what's going on next week, next month.

Being fully present is the best guarantee for a bright future.