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
You're the only one who knows when you're using things to protect yourself and keep your ego together and when you're opening and letting things fall apart, letting the world come as it is - working with it rather than struggling against it. You're the only one who knows.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Self-awareness helps discern between defensive behavior and genuine openness.
This quote by Pema Chodron emphasizes the importance of self-awareness in navigating life's challenges. It suggests that individuals have the unique ability to recognize when they are using defenses to protect their ego versus when they are allowing themselves to be vulnerable and engaging with the world authentically. It fosters the idea that true understanding and growth come from accepting life as it is, rather than resisting it.
Themes
Self-AwarenessVulnerabilityEgoAcceptanceAuthenticity
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about embracing change, one could cite this quote to encourage openness to life's uncertainties.
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.
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When we scratch the wound and give into our addictions we do not allow the wound to heal.
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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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