Tara Brach Quotes

Breathe and don't try to be perfect.

Don't be so hard on yourself, don't put pressure on yourself, life is just a chain of experiments and results, and you'll be perfect when you're dead.

We're really hard on ourselves and just need to relax more. A lot of guys really prefer you more natural. That's from experience.

As I have got older, I have become easier on myself. It's about realising things can't be perfect.

The fastest way to break the cycle of perfectionism and become a fearless mother is to give up the idea of doing it perfectly - indeed to embrace uncertainty and imperfection.

I don't have to try to be perfect at everything.

That's when the great stuff happens, when you're not checking yourself all the time, being critical of yourself and what other people are doing.

I gave up my struggle with perfection a long time ago. That is a concept I don't find very interesting anymore. Everyone just wants to look good in the photographs. I think that is where some of the pressure comes from. Be happy. Be yourself, the day is about a lot more.

The only thing I can talk about is just forgiving yourself, because I do not have everything together. And so I tell people: No, you should see my house, it's a mess.

I didn't realise until I did CBT that I was a perfectionist. Whenever you do anything, there are always going to be things that go wrong, it's never going to be 100 per cent perfect. Because of how I was, I'd focus on those bits and always see the negative in anything.

I'm alright with being disliked rather than trying to be perfect, because you get to relax then.

It's very hard to go from the intense self-criticism you need to have during previews to all of a sudden letting go of it and trying to enjoy the moment, but I'm doing my best and I'm finally beginning to relax a little bit.

Maybe the most important teaching is to lighten up and relax. It's such a huge help in working with our crazy mixed-up minds to remember that what we're doing is unlocking a softness that is in us and letting it spread. We're letting it blur the sharp corners of self-criticism and complaint.

Be Yourself. Life is precious as it is. All the elements for your happiness are already here. There is no need to run, strive, search, or struggle. Just Be.

There is nothing I have to do, nowhere I have to go, and no way I have to be except exactly the way I am being right now.

The way to have the life we want is to receive more deeply the life we have. Sometimes we keep our own life at arm's length, thinking we'll wait until circumstances improve before giving it all we've got. But life is just a reflection of consciousness, so it's never going to give any more to us than we give to it. Don't wait for a perfect life; breathe in the life that's already perfect.

I don't know about you, but I don't feel that it's my vehicle that is essential. I don't know about you, but I don't feel that it's my education that is essential. I don't think what is essential about me is my house or my car or my clothes. What is essential about me? Well, I think what is essential is that I live and embrace life right now, wherever I am. I grab it in my arms! Don't spend time crying about yesterday-yesterday is over with! I forgive my past. I forgive the people who've hurt me. I don't want to spend the rest of my life blaming and pointing a finger.

Enlightenment does not ask you to be perfect; it simply asks you to find perfection right where you stand.

But I am learning that perfection isn't what matters. In fact, it's the very thing that can destroy you if you let it.

All is well. You did not come here to fix a broken world. The world is not broken. You came here to live a wonderful life. And if you can learn to relax a little and let it all in, you will begin to see the universe present you with all that you have asked for.

There have been a few moments when I have known complete satisfaction, but only a few. I have rarely been free from the disturbing realization that my playing might have been better.

Do your best and then relax. Let things go on in a natural way, rather than force them.

I stopped beating up on myself. I stopped asking myself why I didn't sell this number of records, why I don't have corporate sponsorship. I just don't buy into any of that anymore.

I'm not wise, but the beginning of wisdom is there; it's like relaxing into - and an acceptance of - things.

The grittier, the dirtier, the worse I can look, the happier I am. It takes the pressure off.