Pema Chodron Quotes

The main thing in life is not to be afraid of being human.

As a physician, my core drive is to help alleviate suffering and if sharing my story could help others in some way, perhaps I could find the courage to expose my most vulnerable self.

Fearlessness comes from working with the softness of the human heart.

I've never found therapy to be a sign of weakness; I've found the opposite to be true. The willingness to have a mirror held up to you definitely requires strength.

Have a strong mind and a soft heart.

One of the most beautiful ways for spiritual formation to take place is to let your insecurity lead you closer to the Lord. Natural hypersensitivity can become an asset; it makes you aware of your need to be with people and it allows you to be more willing to look at their needs.

I don't think that bravery is about skin. Bravery is about a willingness to show emotional need.

You have to have courage to look back and be honest about your own drama.

It's important to determine not just the quality of your mind but the fullness of your heart.

If we show people that fear isn't actually the place that we have to surrender to, fear isn't actually the thing that we have to answer to, but instead, it's going in and loving people.

Characters, like people, don't need to be right - only understood and, perhaps, accepted. We are all grey, lighter and darker, depending on our state of security.

I'm a courageous person because I'm a scared person.

There is no tenderness without bravery.

I wasn't really testing it on myself as much as I was learning from other people about what it meant to live and love with your whole heart, and then thinking, oh my god, I'm not doing that.

The truly brave are soft of heart and eyes, and feel for what their duty bids them do.

This genuine heart of sadness can teach us great compassion. It can humble us when we're arrogant and soften us when we are unkind.

Tolerance and compassion are qualities of fearless people.

Be brave enough to break your own heart.

It takes more courage to reveal insecurities than to hide them, more strength to relate to people then to dominate them, more 'manhood' to abide by thought-out principles rather than blind reflex. Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles and an immature mind.

Do you have the courage for it? Do you have the love? If you have enough of one, you will develop the other.

Only those who have never known fear are allowed to think less of others for being afraid. Frankly, I think anyone who has never been afraid of anything in their entire life is either a liar or lacks imagination.

I'm very human.

The thing that inspires me most is empathizing with people's flaws and seeing how they deal with them. That sort of connection you feel with someone when you realize that maybe even the negative things that they've said or done are because of insecurities or injuries they've endured.

I took a deep breath and listened to the old bray of my heart. I am. I am. I am.

In the beginning, people think vulnerability will make you weak, but it does the opposite. It shows you're strong enough to care.