As long as we’re caught up in always looking for certainty and happiness, rather than honoring the taste and smell and quality of exactly what is happening, as long as we’re always running away from discomfort, we’re going to be caught in a cycle of unhappiness and disappointment, and we will feel weaker and weaker.
Instead of asking ourselves, “How can i find security and happiness?” we could ask ourselves, “Can i touch the centre of my pain? Can i sit with suffering, both yours and mine, without trying to make it go away? Can i stay present to the ache of loss or disgrace – disappointment in all its many forms – and let it open me?” This is the trick.
by Pema Chodron
