Quotes from Pema Chodron

The third noble truth says that the cessation of suffering is letting go of holding on to ourselves.

The second noble truth says that this resistance is the...mechanism of what we call ego, that resisting life causes suffering.

All ego really is, is our opinions, which we take to be solid, real, and the absolute truth about how things are.

To put it concisely, we suffer when we resist the noble and irrefutable truth of impermanence and death.

Buddhism itself is all about empowering yourself, not about getting what you want.

Sometimes we find that we like our thoughts so much that we don't want to let them go.

We can gradually drop our ideals of who we think we ought to be, or who we think we want to be, or who we think other people think we want to be or ought to be.

I equate ego with trying to figure everything out instead of going with the flow. That closes your heart and your mind to the person or situation that's right in front of you, and you miss so much.

I'm here to tell you that the path to peace is right there, when you want to get away.

So war and peace start in the human heart. Whether that heart is open or whether that heart closes has global implications.

All the wars, all the hatred, all the ignorance in the world come out of being so invested in our opinions.

Never give up on yourself. Then you will never give up on others.

In meditation, you learn how to get out of your own way long enough for there to be room for your wisdom to manifest

Holding on to anything blocks wisdom.

Sometimes people's spiritual ideas become fixed and they use them against those who don't share their beliefs - in effect, becoming fundamentalist. It's very dangerous - the finger of righteous indignation pointing at someone who is identified as bad or wrong.

As Buddhism moved from one culture to another, it always adapted.

Our neurosis and our wisdom are made out of the same material. If you throw out your neurosis, you also throw out your wisdom.

As Buddhism moved to the West, one of the big characteristics was the strong place of women. That didn't exist in the countries of origin. It's just a sign of our culture.

"Nothing ever goes away until it teaches us what we need to know"

We work on ourselves in order to help others, but also we help others in order to work on ourselves.

Remember that this is not something we do just once or twice. Interrupting our destructive habits and awakening our heart is the work of a lifetime.

As we learn to have compassion for ourselves, the circle of compassion for others - what and whom we can work with, and how - becomes wider.

We don't set out to save the world; we set out to wonder how other people are doing and to reflect on how our actions affect other people's hearts.

Feel the wounded heart that's underneath the addiction, self-loathing, or anger.