All quotes from
Pema's book
We can
use everything we encounter in our lives -- pleasant or painful -- to awaken
genuine, uncontrived compassion.
Obsessing
about what you want and avoiding what you don't want does not result in
happiness.
Whatever
you experience in your life -- pain, pleasure, heat, cold, or anything else --
is like something happening in a dream.
Although you might think things are very solid, they are like passing
memory.
Everyone
is looking for someone to blame and therefore aggression and neurosis keep
expanding. Instead, pause and look at
what's happening with you. When you hold
on so tightly to your view of what they did; you get hooked.
Others
will always show you exactly where you are stuck. They say or do something and you
automatically get hooked into a familiar way of reacting -- shutting down,
speeding up, or getting all worked up.
The
unexpected will stop your mind: rest in that space.
Realizing
that this limited identity isn't solid and is dissolving, do not indulge in
trying to keep it from falling apart.
It is
important to include everyone and everything that you meet as part of your
practice.