Product Description

We always have a choice, Pema Chödrön teaches: We can let the circumstances of our lives harden us and make us increasingly resentful and afraid, or we can let them soften us and make us kinder. Here Pema provides the tools to deal with the problems and difficulties that life throws our way. This wisdom is always available to us, she teaches, but we usually block it with habitual patterns rooted in fear. Beyond that fear lies a state of openheartedness and tenderness. This book teaches us how to awaken our basic goodness and connect with others, to accept ourselves and others complete with faults and imperfections, and to stay in the present moment by seeing through the strategies of ego that cause us to resist life as it is.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #190497 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-27
• Released on: 2007-03-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 208 pages

Amazon.com Review
Pema Chödrön may have more good one-liners than a Groucho Marx retrospective, but this nun's stingers go straight to the heart: "The essence of bravery is being without self-deception"; "When we practice generosity, we become intimate with our grasping"; "Difficult people are the greatest teachers." These are the punctuations to specific teachings of fearlessness. In The Places That Scare You, Chödrön introduces a host of the compassionate warriors' tools and concepts for transforming anxieties and negative emotions into positive living. Rather than steeling ourselves against hardship, she suggests we open ourselves to vulnerability; from this comes the loving kindness and compassion that are the wellsprings of joy. How do we achieve it? Through meditation, mindfulness, slogans, aspiration, and several other practices, such as tonglen, which is taking in the pain and suffering of others while sending out happiness to all--emphasis on the all. Chödrön introduces each of these practices in turn, backing them up with succinct practical reasoning and a framework of ideas that offers fresh interpretations of familiar words like strength, laziness, and groundlessness. Chödrön is the type of person you'd like to have with you in an emergency, and to deal with the extremes of daily life. In her absence, The Places That Scare You will do nicely. --Brian Bruya

From Publishers Weekly
The Places That Scare You by Pema Chodron. Chodron, a Buddhist nun, offers plans of action for coping with anxiety, fear and uncertainty.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Chodron, a student of Chogyam Trungpa, is well known for her clear and inspiring books on spiritual practice (e.g., The Wisdom of No Escape). Here she once again presents Tibetan Buddhist wisdom in a clear, engaging, and undiluted way, making it useful and relevant for newcomers and longtime practitioners alike. This time her focus is on bodhichitta, a concept that roughly translates as "open heart" or "awakened mind." As the text points out, this is a term more easily understood than translated, finding its ground in activities that embody compassion, tenderness, and awareness. In a series of short chapters, the reader is introduced to a number of ideas found in Tibetan Buddhist bodhichitta practice and is given practical exercises for daily life. Her clear and simple descriptions guide the reader through these powerful and sometimes difficult practices. Chodron has once again proven herself to be one of the very best working in this crowded field. Recommended for all collections. Mark Woodhouse, Elmira Coll. Lib., NY
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.