It all comes through learning to pause for a moment, learning not to just impulsively do the same thing again and again. It’s a transformative experi… - Pema Chödrön

"It's a transformative experience to simply pause instead of immediately fill up the space. By waiting, we begin to connect with fundamental restlessness as well as fundamental spaciousness.

-Pema Chodron, from "When Things Fall Apart

It’s a transformative experience to simply pause instead of immediately filling up the space. By waiting, we begin to connect with fundamental restlessness as well as fundamental spaciousness.

"But as we let go of our repetitive stories and fixed ideas about ourselves — particularly deep-seated feelings of "I'm not okay" — the armor starts to fall apart, and we open into the spaciousness of our true nature, into who we really are beyond the transitory thoughts and emotions. We see that our armor is made up of nothing more than habits and fears, and we begin to feel that we can let those go."

Transformation occurs only when we remember, breath by breath, year after year, to move toward our emotional distress without condemning or justifying our experience.

True compassion does not come from wanting to help out those less fortunate than ourselves but from realizing our kinship with all beings.