If you’re looking for some emotional healing then these Pema Chödrön quotes have the potential to change your life.
Pema Chödrön is an American Tibetan Buddhist. She is an ordained nun, acharya and disciple of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche.
Chödrön has inspired millions with her writings and lectures. She is the author of many influential books, such as When Things Fall Apart, Living Beautifully, and The Places that Scare You.
She has a unique ability to distil the wisdom of the Buddhist teachings for the Western mind and heart, making them universally applicable to everyone, whatever their background, faith, or absence of faith.
Her words remind me of key concepts like everything is impermanent, attachment only brings suffering and that we can find great strength through embracing our fears and pain.
I’ve picked out the best Pema Chödrön quotes from When Things Fall Apart and other sources that can be life changing if you’re going through a difficult times.
50 Inspirational Pema Chödrön Quotes
1. “Now is the only time. How we relate to it creates the future. In other words, if we’re going to be more cheerful in the future, it’s because of our aspiration and exertion to be cheerful in the present. What we do accumulates; the future is the result of what we do right now.” – Pema Chödrön
2. “If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.” – Pema Chödrön
3. “You are the sky. Everything else—it’s just the weather.” – Pema Chödrön
4. “It isn’t what happens to us that causes us to suffer; it’s what we say to ourselves about what happens.” – Pema Chödrön
5. “Let difficulty transform you. And it will. In my experience, we just need help in learning how not to run away.” – Pema Chödrön
6. “The most difficult times for many of us are the ones we give ourselves.” – Pema Chödrön
7. “Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth.” – Pema Chödrön
8. “If someone comes along and shoots an arrow into your heart, it’s fruitless to stand there and yell at the person. It would be much better to turn your attention to the fact that there’s an arrow in your heart.” – Pema Chödrön
9. “To be fully alive, fully human and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest. To live fully is to be always in no-man’s land, to experience each moment as completely new and fresh. To live is to be willing to die over and over again.” – Pema Chödrön
10. “When we think that something is going to bring us pleasure, we don’t know what’s really going to happen. When we think something is going to give us misery, we don’t know. Letting there be room for not knowing is the most important thing of all.” – Pema Chödrön
11. “We sow the seeds of our future hells or happiness by the way we open or close our minds right now.” – Pema Chödrön
12. “We can make ourselves miserable or we can make ourselves strong. The amount of effort is the same. Right now we are creating our state of mind for tomorrow, not to mention this afternoon, next week, next year, and all the years of our lives.” – Pema Chödrön
13. “Inner peace begins the moment you choose not to allow another person or event to control your emotions.” – Pema Chödrön
14. “Sometimes when things fall apart, well, that’s the big opportunity to change.” – Pema Chödrön
15. “You must face annihilation over and over again to find what is indestructible in yourself.” – Pema Chödrön
16. “The future is completely open, and we are writing it moment to moment.” – Pema Chödrön
17. “When we protect ourselves so we won’t feel pain, that protection becomes armor, like armor that imprisons the softness of the heart.” – Pema Chödrön
18. “Resistance to unwanted circumstances has the power to keep those circumstances alive and well for a very long time.” – Pema Chödrön
19. “If you are invested in security and certainty, you are on the wrong planet.” – Pema Chödrön
20. “Nothing ever goes away until it teaches us what we need to know.” – Pema Chödrön
21. “The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can do to ourselves, is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently.” – Pema Chödrön
22. “The truth you believe and cling to makes you unavailable to hear anything new.” – Pema Chödrön
23. “This moving away from comfort and security, this stepping out into what is unknown, uncharted, and shaky – that’s called liberation.” – Pema Chödrön
24. “The experiences of your life are trying to tell you something about yourself. Don’t cop out on that. Don’t run away and hide under your cover. Lean into it.” – Pema Chödrön
25. “Look ahead to the rest of your life and ask yourself what you want it to add up to.” – Pema Chödrön
Enjoying these Pema Chödrön quotes? Then check out these Buddha quotes too.
26. “Suffering usually relates to wanting things to be different from the way they are.” – Pema Chödrön
27. “The ego seeks to divide and separate. Spirit seeks to unify and heal.” – Pema Chödrön
28. “The happiness we seek is already here and it will be found through letting go rather than through struggle.” – Pema Chödrön
29. “Never give up on yourself. Then you will never give up on others.” – Pema Chödrön
30. “We have a choice. We can spend our whole life suffering because we can’t relax with how things really are, or we can relax and embrace the open-endedness of the human situation, which is fresh, unfixated, unbiased.” – Pema Chödrön
31. “Each moment is just what it is. It might be the only moment of our life; it might be the only strawberry we’ll ever eat. We could get depressed about it, or we could finally appreciate it and delight in the preciousness of every single moment of our life.” – Pema Chödrön
32. “Life is a good teacher and a good friend.” – Pema Chödrön
33. “Each moment is an opportunity to make a fresh start.” – Pema Chödrön
34. “We can learn to rejoice even in the smallest blessings our life holds. It is easy to miss our own good fortune; often happiness comes in ways we don’t even notice.” – Pema Chödrön
35. “It is lack of love for ourselves that inhibits our compassion toward others. If we make friends with ourselves, then there is no obstacle to opening our hearts and minds to others.” – Pema Chödrön
36. “Don’t let people pull you into their storm. Pull them into your peace.” – Pema Chödrön
37. “Be kinder to yourself. And then let your kindness flood the world.” – Pema Chödrön
38. “One of the happiest moments ever is when you find the courage to let go of what you can’t change.” – Pema Chödrön
39. “Trying to run away is never the answer to being a fully human. Running away from the immediacy of our experience is like preferring death to life.” – Pema Chödrön
40. “Being satisfied with what we already have is a magical golden key to being alive in a full, unrestricted, and inspired way.” – Pema Chödrön
41. “Start now. Start where you are. Start with fear. Start with pain. Start with doubt. Start with hands shaking. Start with voice trembling but start. Start and don’t stop. Start where you are, with what you have. Just…Start.” – Pema Chödrön
42. “When we resist change, it’s called suffering. But when we can completely let go and not struggle against it, when we can embrace the groundlessness of our situation and relax into its dynamic quality, that’s called enlightenment.” – Pema Chödrön
43. “Trying to change ourselves doesn’t work in the long run because we’re resisting our own energy. Self-improvement can have temporary results, but lasting transformation occurs only when we honor ourselves as the source of wisdom and compassion.” – Pema Chödrön
44. “You should never have expectations for other people. Just be kind to them.” – Pema Chödrön
45. “All situations teach you, and often it’s the tough ones that teach you best.” – Pema Chödrön
46. “All the wars, all the hatred, all the ignorance in the world come out of being so invested in our opinions.” – Pema Chödrön
47. “At the root of all the harm we cause is ignorance.” – Pema Chödrön
48. “Usually we think that brave people have no fear. The truth is that they are intimate with fear.” – Pema Chödrön
49. “Whatever happens in your life, joyful or painful, do not be swept away by reactivity. Be patient with yourself and don’t lose your sense of perspective.” – Pema Chödrön
50. “Live your life as an experiment.” – Pema Chödrön
Did you like these inspirational quotes?
What are your favourite Pema Chödrön quotes? Let me know in the comments and please share this post to help and inspire others.
