Pema Chodron Quotes

You have to accept the fact that sometimes you are the pigeon, and sometimes you are the statue.

You don't have to be the Dalai Lama to tell people that life's about change.

I think you have to let go of this idea that you can be precious about everything, and let it be the abstract mess that it is.

You can't control everything that comes to you.

We can't plan life. All we can do is be available for it.

Things don't go on forever, and the quicker you accept that change is inevitable, the happier you're gonna be.

I'm just going to go with it for as long as it lasts.

Everything is changing all the time, and I'm not going to stress out and spend my entire time chasing something that ultimately doesn't exist.

Life? You can't manipulate it or bend it to your will. You have no choice but to roll with it.

Not every year is going to be the same and you just kind of have to just roll with the punches.

You've got to be able to take the highs and the lows, and certainly I am not very good at taking the lows. I'll be the first to admit it. But when the highs come your way you've got to treasure them because you never know how many more you'll get.

Things are constantly in flux and changing, and as crazy-making as that can be, it's also the thing that can get you through tough times - 'Well, things change.'

I read about human psychology, practise balance, and accept that everything and everyone in our lives is transient. One day, people will criticise you, and the next day, they will praise you.

I believe things when it comes out 'cause I know how it is - things change all the time.

Basing our happiness on our ability to control everything is futile.

The secret of zen is just two words: not... always... so.

We are always in transition. If you can just relax with that, you'll have no problem.

Perhaps nothing was ever “meant to be.” There was just life, and right now, and doing your best. Being a bit “bendy.

The only thing we can depend on in life is that everything changes. The seasons, our partners, what we want and need. We hold hands with out high school friends and swear to never lose touch, and then we do.Change is the only constant. Your ability to navigate and tolerate change and its painful uncomfortableness directly correlates to your happiness and general well-being.

We feel that we have to be right so that we can feel good... The whole right and wrong business closes us down and makes our world smaller.

By dawn he had surrendered, gratefully, to the old inertia, the product of always seeing both sides of every question.

When you become defensive, blame others, and do not accept and surrender to the moment, your life meets resistance. Any time you encounter resistance, recognize that if you force the situation, the resistance will only increase. You don't want to stand rigid like a tall oak that cracks and collapses in the storm. Instead, you want to be flexible, like a reed that bends with the storm and survives.

I want to live happily in a world I don’t understand.

Life cannot be possessed. You cannot have it in your fist. If you want to have it, you have to keep your hands open.

The only thing constant in the world is change, that's why today I take life as it comes.