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:
- Drive all blames into oneself
- What is in front of us right in the moment
- It’s just like that
- How are you
- Just being here again and again and again
- Cultivating Peace
- Disappointment
- Undoing of old ways of seeing
- Moving closer to the truth
- The perfect teacher
- The courage to look at ourselves honestly and gently
- Opening our hearts and minds beyond limit
- Awakening is essential
- Being with us
- Negativity begets negativity
- The path of true awakening
- Finding out what is true
- Flooding the world with your kindness
- Exposing ourselves to annihilation