No one ever tells us to stop running away from fear. We are very rarely told to move closer, to just be there, to become familiar with fear. I once asked the Zen master Kobun Chino Roshi how he related with fear, and he said, “I agree. I agree.” But the advice we usually get is to sweeten it up, smooth it over, take a pill, or distract ourselves, but by all means make it go away.

Pema Chödron

from the book When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times

Read a random quote or see all quotes by Pema Chödron.

Further quotes from the book When Things Fall Apart:

• No fresh air
• Finding out what is true
• Abandoning hope
• Becoming unstuck
• Moving closer to the truth
• Just being here again and again and again
• The courage to look at ourselves honestly and gently
• Opening our hearts and minds beyond limit
• Being with us
• Cultivating Peace
• It’s just like that
• The path of true awakening
• Undoing of old ways of seeing
• Awakening is essential
• Exposing ourselves to annihilation
• Negativity begets negativity
• Until we got it
• Fully alive
• Disappointment