Timothy Phillips > Timothy's Quotes

“There is a story of a woman running away from tigers. She runs and runs and the tigers are getting closer and closer. When she comes to the edge of a cliff, she sees some vines there, so she climbs down and holds on to the vines. Looking down, she sees that there are tigers below her as well. She then notices that a mouse is gnawing away at the vine to which she is clinging. She also sees a beautiful little bunch of strawberries close to her, growing out of a clump of grass. She looks up and she looks down. She looks at the mouse. Then she just takes a strawberry, puts it in her mouth, and enjoys it thoroughly. Tigers above, tigers below. This is actually the predicament that we are always in, in terms of our birth and death. Each moment is just what it is. It might be the only moment of our life; it might be the only strawberry we’ll ever eat. We could get depressed about it, or we could finally appreciate it and delight in the preciousness of every single moment of our life.”
― Pema Chödrön, The Wisdom of No Escape: How to Love Yourself and Your World

“Generally speaking, we regard discomfort in any form as bad
news. But for practitioners or spiritual warriors-people who
have a certain hunger to know what is true-feelings like disappointment,
embarrassment, irritation, resentment, anger,
jealousy, and fear, instead of being bad news, are actually
very clear moments that teach us where it is that we're holding
back. They teach us to perk up and lean in when we feel
we'd rather collapse and back away. They're like messengers
that show us, with terrifying clarity, exactly where we're
stuck.”
― Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times