There’s a common misunderstanding among all the human beings who have ever been born on the earth that the best way to live is to try to avoid pain and just try to get comfortable. You can see this even in insects and animals and birds. All of us are the same.
A much more interesting, kind, adventurous, and joyful approach to life is to begin to develop our curiosity, not caring whether the object of our inquisitiveness is bitter or sweet. To lead a life that goes beyond pettiness and prejudice and always wanting to make sure that everything turns out on our own terms, to lead a more passionate, full, and delightful life than that, we must realize that we can endure a lot of pain and pleasure for the sake of finding out who we are and what this world is, how we tick and how our world ticks, how the whole thing just is.
” —Pema Chodron (via psychotherapy)
A friend of mine posted a similar, if not the same, Chodron quote on his Facebook a few days ago that really brightened my day. I’m not that familiar with her writings/teachings, so I looked her up on Amazon and my mind exploded when I saw this:
Pema Chodron and Alice Walker in Conversation: On the Meaning of Suffering and the Mystery of Joy
O.M.F.G. If only I had known this existed a month ago. It would have been the first Christmas present to make me weep with excitement since 1990, when I received a full set of encyclopedias.
The tears of a overjoyed nerd are the most elusive and precious tears on earth.
