Embracing the totality of your experience

You build inner strength through embracing the totality of your experience, both the delightful parts and the difficult parts. Embracing … More

Ego is a cocoon

“One of the metaphors for ego is a cocoon. We stay in our cocoon because we’re afraid—we’re afraid of our … More

Anger

I would not look upon anger as something foreign to me that I have to fight. I have to deal … More

Compassion

“Compassion isn’t some kind of self-improvement project or ideal that we’re trying to live up to. Having compassion starts and … More

Stay with the moment

“In the practice I’m recommending, doing something different means staying with that moment. I talked about this in terms … More

There is a larger alternative

Compassionate action starts with seeing yourself when you start to make yourself right and when you start to make yourself … More

Training to awaken

“Comfortable with Uncertainty those who train wholeheartedly in awakening bodhichitta are called bodhisattvas or warriors—not warriors who kill but warriors … More

Each day, we’re given many opportunities

“Each day, we’re given many opportunities to open up or shut down. Most of us do not take these situations … More

Gratitude to Buddha

I feel gratitude to the Buddha for pointing out that what we struggle against all our lives can be acknowledged … More

Using discomfort as an opportunity

“Strong determination is our commitment to use our lives to dissolve the indifference, aggression, and grasping that separate us from … More

The truth of impermanence

We know that all is impermanent; we know that everything wears out. Although we can buy this truth intellectually, emotionally … More

Cultivating loving-kindness

“In cultivating loving-kindness, we learn first to be honest, loving and compassionate toward ourselves. Rather than nurturing self-denigration, we begin … More

Who are Bodhisattvas?

“Comfortable with Uncertainty THOSE WHO TRAIN wholeheartedly in awakening bodhichitta are called bodhisattvas or warriors—not warriors who kill but warriors … More

Let me take this armour off

“I take refuge in the Buddha,” that means I take refuge in the courage and the potential of fearlessness, of … More

Start where you are

“Tonglen practice (and all meditation practice) is not about later, when you get it all together and you’re this person you really respect. You may be the most violent person in the world—that’s a fine place to start. That’s a very rich place to start—juicy, smelly. You might be the most depressed person in the world, the most addicted person in the world, the most jealous person in the world. You might think that there are no others on the planet who hate themselves as much as you do. All of that is a good place to start. Just where you are—that’s the place to start.”

― Pema Chödrön, Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living