The times when you are suffering can be those when you are most open, and where you are extremely vulnerable can be where you greatest strength really lies.
Say to yourself: ‘I am not going to run away from this suffering. I want to use it in the best and richest way I can, so that I can become more compassionate and more helpful to others.’
Suffering, after all, can teach us about compassion. If you suffer you will know how it is when others suffer. And if you are in a position to help others, it is through your suffering that you will find the understanding and compassion to do so.Tibetan Book of Living and Dying
--- 7 months ago --- 169 notes ---
The only reason we don’t open our hearts and minds to other people is that they trigger confusion in us that we don’t feel brave enough or sane enough to deal with. To the degree that we look clearly and compassionately at ourselves, we feel confident and fearless about looking into someone else’s eyes.Pema Chödrön
--- 11 months ago --- 193 notes ---
Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It’s a relationship between equals. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.Pema Chödrön
--- 1 year ago --- 985 notes ---
When you look deeply into your anger, you will see that the person you call your enemy is also suffering. As soon as you see that, the capacity of accepting and having compassion for them is there.Thich Nhat Hanh
--- 1 year ago --- 179 notes ---
Sarcasm and compassion are two of the qualities that make life on Earth tolerable.Nick Hornby, Songbook
--- 1 year ago --- 36 notes ---
The only reason we don’t open our hearts and minds to other people is that they trigger confusion in us that we don’t feel brave enough or sane enough to deal with. To the degree that we look clearly and compassionately at ourselves, we feel confident and fearless about looking into someone else’s eyes.Pema Chödrön
--- 1 year ago --- 142 notes ---
I would like my life to be a statement of love and compassion - and where it isn’t, that’s where my work lies.Ram Dass
--- 1 year ago --- 34 notes ---
Compassion hurts. When you feel connected to everything, you also feel responsible for everything. And you cannot turn away. Your destiny is bound with the destinies of others. You must either learn to carry the Universe or be crushed by it. You must grow strong enough to love the world, yet empty enough to sit down at the same table with its worst horrors.Andrew Boy
--- 1 year ago --- 161 notes ---
Sometimes we think that to develop an open heart, to be truly loving and compassionate, means that we need to be passive, to allow others to abuse us, to smile and let anyone do what they want with us. Yet this is not what is meant by compassion. Quite the contrary. Compassion is not at all weak. It is the strength that arises out of seeing the true nature of suffering in the world. Compassion allows us to bear witness to that suffering, whether it is in ourselves or others, without fear; it allows us to name injustice without hesitation, and to act strongly, with all the skill at our disposal. To develop this mind state of compassion … is to learn to live, as the Buddha put it, with sympathy for all living beings, without exception.Sharon Salzburg
--- 1 year ago --- 82 notes ---
