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
Obstacles are our friends: they teach us where we're stuck.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Obstacles help us understand our limitations and promote personal growth.
This quote by Pema Chodron emphasizes the idea that challenges and obstacles are not just hindrances in life but valuable teachers that reveal our stagnations and areas for improvement. By embracing these challenges, we can learn about ourselves, grow from our experiences, and ultimately become more resilient and self-aware individuals.
Themes
ObstaclesGrowthLearningResilienceSelf-Awareness
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech about perseverance.
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
Similar quotes
As the great Confucius said, "The one who would be in constant happiness must frequently change." Flow. But we keep looking back, don't we? We cling to things in the past and cling to things in the present...Do you want to enjoy a symphony? Don't hold on to a few bars of the music. Don't hold on to a couple of notes. Let them pass, let them flow. The whole enjoyment of a symphony lies in your readiness to allow the notes to pass.
Anthony De MelloRead
You will not be carried to Heaven lying at ease upon a feather bed.
Samuel RutherfordRead
Build me a son, O Lord, who will be strong enough to know when he is weak, and brave enough to face himself when he is afraid, one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat, and humble and gentle in victory.
Douglas MacarthurRead
I do think it’s only by stopping movement that you can see where to go. And it’s only by stepping out of your life and the world that you can see what you most deeply care about… and find a home.
Pico IyerRead
The beginning is the most important part of the work.
PlatoRead
If you listen through the screen of your desires, then you obviously listen to your own voice; you are listening to your own desires.
Jiddu KrishnamurtiRead