23 Best Pema Chödrön Quotes Embracing Uncertainty
Pema Chödrön, a Tibetan Buddhist nun and renowned author well-known for her practical teachings of Buddhism.
She has a unique ability to simplify complex Buddhist concepts into practical, accessible guidance that appeals to people from all walks of life.
In both her teachings and everyday interactions, Pema Chödrön shows compassion and empathy. In order to encourage a sense of community and connection among her followers, she places an extreme value on the qualities of self-compassion and showing kindness to others.
Pema Chödrön’s personal journey and stories of her own struggles make her relatable. She openly shares her experiences and how she overcame difficulties, inspiring others to find strength and resilience in challenging times.
Her quotes encapsulate the essence of mindfulness, compassion, and resilience. In this blog, we will explore some of her popular quotes and delve into their significance. These quotes offer valuable lessons for navigating the ups and downs of life.
Best Pema Chödrön Quotes
“You are the sky. Everything else is just the weather.” – Pema Chödrön
“The greatest obstacle to connecting with our joy is resentment.” – Pema Chödrön
“Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth.” – Pema Chödrön
“The root of suffering is resisting the certainty that no matter what the circumstances, uncertainty is all we truly have.” – Pema Chödrön
“We already have everything we need. There is no need for self-improvement. All these trips that we lay on ourselves—the heavy-duty fearing that we’re bad and hoping that we’re good, the identities that we so dearly cling to, the rage, the jealousy and the addictions of all kinds—never touch our basic wealth. They are like clouds that temporarily block the sun. But all the time our warmth and brilliance are right here.” – Pema Chödrön
“Meditation practice isn’t about trying to throw ourselves away and become something better. It’s about befriending who we are already.” – Pema Chödrön
“Rather than letting our negativity get the better of us, we could acknowledge that right now we feel like a piece of shit and not be squeamish about taking a good look.” – Pema Chödrön
“Each moment is just what it is. It might be the only moment of our life; it might be the only strawberry we’ll ever eat. We could get depressed about it, or we could finally appreciate it and delight in the preciousness of every single moment of our life.” – Pema Chödrön
“Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation can that which is indestructible in us be found.” – Pema Chödrön
“The most difficult times for many of us are the ones we give ourselves.” – Pema Chödrön
“To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest.” – Pema Chödrön
“The only reason we don’t open our hearts and minds to other people is that they trigger confusion in us that we don’t feel brave enough or sane enough to deal with. To the degree that we look clearly and compassionately at ourselves, we feel confident and fearless about looking into someone else’s eyes.” – Pema Chödrön
“Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It’s a relationship between equals.” – Pema Chödrön
“To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest.” – Pema Chödrön
“Life is glorious, but life is also wretched. It is both. Appreciating the gloriousness inspires us, encourages us, cheers us up, gives us a bigger perspective, energizes us. We feel connected. But if that’s all that’s happening, we get arrogant and start to look down on others, and there is a sense of making ourselves a big deal and being really serious about it, wanting it to be like that forever. The gloriousness becomes tinged by craving and addiction. On the other hand, wretchedness—life’s painful aspect—softens us up considerably. Knowing pain is a very important ingredient of being there for another person. When you are feeling a lot of grief, you can look right into somebody’s eyes because you feel you haven’t got anything to lose—you’re just there. The wretchedness humbles us and softens us, but if we were only wretched, we would all just go down the tubes. We’d be so depressed, discouraged, and hopeless that we wouldn’t have enough energy to eat an apple. Gladness can exist only in the midst of appreciation.” – Pema Chödrön
“Each moment is an opportunity to make a fresh start.” – Pema Chödrön
“When you begin to touch your heart or let your heart be touched, you begin to discover that it’s bottomless, that it doesn’t have any resolution, that this heart is huge, vast, and limitless. You begin to discover how much warmth and gentleness is there, as well as how much space.” – Pema Chödrön
“In the midst of loneliness, in the midst of fear, in the middle of feeling misunderstood and rejected is the heartbeat of all things.” – Pema Chödrön
“It’s a transformative experience to simply pause instead of immediately filling up the space.” – Pema Chödrön
“When things fall apart and we can’t get the pieces back together, when we lose something dear to us, when they whole thing is just not working and we don’t know what to do, this is the time when the natural warmth of tenderness, the warmth of empathy and kindness, are just waiting to be uncovered, just waiting to be embraced.” – Pema Chödrön
“The most precious opportunity presents itself when we come to the place where we think we can’t handle whatever is happening.” – Pema Chödrön
“We can make ourselves miserable or we can make ourselves strong. The amount of effort is the same.” – Pema Chödrön
“It isn’t the things that happen to us in our lives that cause us to suffer, it’s how we relate to the things that happen to us that causes us to suffer.” – Pema Chödrön
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Disclaimer: All quotes credits goes to the respective writers/authors and full credits goes to them. We don’t own any copyrights we have curated from various sources.
