A Quote by Pema Chodron

It isn't the things that happen to us in our lives that cause us to suffer, it's how we relate to the things that happen to us that causes us to suffer.

Pema Chodron

Quote Topics

Cause Causes Happen How Lives Our Our Lives Relate Suffer Things Us

Quote Author

Pema Chodron
American - Priest
Born: July 14, 1936

When we have anger in us, we suffer. When we have discrimination in us, we suffer. When we have the complex of superiority, we suffer. When we have the complex of inferiority, we suffer also. So when we are capable of transforming these negative things in us, we are free and happiness is possible.

Nhat Hanh

Sometimes the bad things that happen in our lives put us directly on the path to the best things that will ever happen to us.

Paul Millsap

I think God causes things to happen sometimes to get our attention. But I also know that God loves us and cares for us and knows the details in our lives.

Sara Evans

God has made us humans in God's own image. So therefore the highest way to talk about God is by some kind of analogy with ourselves. So, naturally, if we who are finite and sinful suffer in multiple ways because of sin and evil and the horrible things that happen in our world, how much more does God, who is infinite, sinless, and knows the totality of all that happens to everybody, suffer pain and heartache at the suffering of his human and non-human creation - and be angry at all that causes it?

Christopher J. H. Wright

Little things happen to us during the course of our lives when we were children that stay with us.

Judy Sheindlin

Adversity is a severe instructor, set over us by one who knows us better than we do ourselves, as he loves us better too. He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper. This conflict with difficulty makes us acquainted with our object, and compels us to consider it in all its relations. It will not suffer us to be superficial.

Edmund Burke

It isn't the things that are happening to us that cause us to suffer, it's what we say to ourselves about the things that are happening. The truth you believe and cling to makes you unavailable to hear anything new.

Pema Chodron

One of the unexpectedly important things that art can do for us is to teach us how to suffer more successfully.

Alain de Botton

Wishing is good for us. Daydreams, fantasies, castles in the air, and aspirations All drive us forward, Impel us to make things happen. They also tell us a lot about ourselves. Our wishes come straight from our core, And they are loaded with vital information About who we are and who we can become. Keeping track of our wishes Helps us tap into the energy That propels us to go after our happiness.

Barbara Ann Kipfer

God gives us hopes and dreams for certain things to happen in our lives, but He doesn't always allow us to see the exact timing of His plan.

Joyce Meyer

The good things that happen to us were meant to happen, and the bad things that happen are lessons meant to teach us to be better.

Adriana Trigiani

Now what kind of an attitude is that, 'These things happen?' They only happen because this whole country is just full of people who, when these things happen, they just say, 'These things happen,' and that's why they happen! We gotta have control of what happens to us.

Ethel Merman

It is not impermanence that makes us suffer. What makes us suffer is wanting things to be permanent when they are not.

Nhat Hanh

Love and intimacy are at the roots of what makes us sick and what makes us well, what causes sadness and what brings happiness, what makes us suffer and what leads to healing...I am not aware of any other factor in medicine- not diet, not smoking, not exercise, not stress, not genetics, not drugs, not surgery- that has a greater impact on our quality of life, incidence of illness and premature death from all causes.

Dean Ornish

God has plans and purposes for each of our lives. But the beauty is that He doesn't call us and leave us on our own. Jesus actually lives in us to pull off the amazing things that He has invited us into.