The Wisdom of No Escape: How to love yourself and your world

by Pema Chödrön

Pacifying acknowledges that when we’ve really committed ourselves to practice, when we have some passion for practice and we put our whole self into it, a very curious thing always happens: we get fed up, we lose heart, and we get discouraged. We might say, ‘I don’t want to do this,’ and just long to put on our backpack and hike down to the end of the point, or get into a boat and sail out to sea, or have longer breaks and more to eat, and ‘Let’s get a good night’s sleep for once!’ Pacifying is a teaching with a lot of good humor in it. It recognizes what it’s like for all of us (and apparently, since these teachings are over two thousand years old, it’s always been like this). It says, ‘First of all, recognize that a let-down feeling accompanies good practice, that this is the experience of someone who is very committed and has started on a journey, and pacify yourself. When that happens, see that there’s some humor in it, and just talk to yourself, encourage yourself.’ You can say things like, ‘Oh! Here it comes again. I thought I had gotten rid of this one, but here it is. Oh, my goodness! I had never experienced this, but this is just what she was talking about.’