The spiritual journey involves going beyond hope and fear, stepping into unknown territory, continually moving forward. The most important aspect of being on the spiritual path may be just to keep moving.
Pema ChodronRead
Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation can that which is indestructible in us be found.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Embracing vulnerability helps us discover our true strength.
This quote by Pema Chodron emphasizes that true strength and resilience can only emerge when we confront and embrace the challenges and fears that threaten us. By repeatedly facing these difficult experiences, we can uncover the indestructible essence of our being that remains intact despite external turmoil.
Themes
VulnerabilityStrengthResilienceIndestructibleSelf-Discovery
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech about overcoming adversity.
More from Pema Chodron
All quotes →Without giving up hope—that there’s somewhere better to be, that there’s someone better to be—we will never relax with where we are or who we are.
Pema ChodronRead
When we scratch the wound and give into our addictions we do not allow the wound to heal.
Pema ChodronRead
It's said that when we die, the four elements - earth, air, fire and water - dissolve one by one, each into the other, and finally just dissolve into space. But while we're living, we share the energy that makes everything, from a blade of grass to an elephant, grow and live and then inevitably wear out and die. This energy, this life force, creates the whole world.
Pema ChodronRead
Meditation practice isn’t about trying to throw ourselves away and become something better. It’s about befriending who we are already. The ground of practice is you or me or whoever we are right now, just as we are. That’s the ground, that’s what we study, that’s what we come to know with tremendous curiosity and interest.
Pema ChodronRead
We have two alternatives: either we question our beliefs - or we don't. Either we accept our fixed versions of reality- or we begin to challenge them. In Buddha's opinion, to train in staying open and curious - to train in dissolving our assumptions and beliefs - is the best use of our human lives.
Pema ChodronRead
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Never participate in the secrets of those above you; you think you share the fruit, and you share the stones - the confidence of a prince is not a grant, but a tax
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I found I wasn't asking good enough questions because I assumed I knew something.
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Every human action, whether it has become positive or negative, must depend on motivation.
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Whenever you meditate, there are glimpses. Then the mind comes in and says, 'Be happy! Look, I have done it.' And immediately the contact is lost.
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Youth enters the world with very happy prejudices in her own favor. She imagines herself not only certain of accomplishing every adventure, but of obtaining those rewards which the accomplishment may deserve. She is not easily persuaded to believe that the force of merit can be resisted by obstinacy and avarice, or its luster darkened by envy and malignity.
Samuel JohnsonRead
It is hard to follow one great vision in this world of darkness and of many changing shadows. Among those men get lost.
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