The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times

by Pema Chödrön

Each of us has a variety of habitual tactics for avoiding life as it is. In a nutshell, that’s the message of the three lords of materialism. This simple teaching is, it seems, everyone’s autobiography. When we use these strategies we become less able to enjoy the tenderness and wonder that is available in the most unremarkable of times. Connecting with bodhichitta is ordinary. When we don’t run from everyday uncertainty, we can contact bodhichitta. It’s a natural force that wants to emerge. It is, in fact, unstoppable. Once we stop blocking it with ego’s strategies, the refreshing water of bodhichitta will definitely begin to flow. We can slow it down. We can dam it up. Nevertheless, whenever there’s an opening, bodhichitta will always appear, like those weeds and flowers that pop out of the sidewalk as soon as there’s a crack.