Freeing Ourselves from Old Habits and FearsAuthor: Pema Chodron
Info about author: click here
Subject: buddhism
My rating: 4*
About the book:
This is the first book I have read by Pema. She is currently running the first Tibetan monastery for Westerners in Nova Scotia, and studied many years with several rinpoches. Her book is an interpretation on Tibetan buddhism for Western audiences, herself being an American born teacher, who decided to follow the monastic path. I enjoyed the book- her style is simple but charming, with easy flowing passages on how to apply meditation in the everyday life. Many examples of parables from her teachers abound, and her friendly and approachable style is soothing. This is a book that does not give an easy answer to how to free ourselves from old habits and fears. Or perhaps the answer IS easy. It is just not that easy to put in application...
From the book:
'The urge to get even, the power of craving, the potency of sheer habit is like a magnetic force pulling us in a familiar direction. So we opt again and again for short-term gratification that in the long run keeps us stuck in the same cycle.'
'[...] take an interest in your pain and your fear. Move closer, lean in, get curious; even for a moment experience the feelings beyond labels, beyond being good or bad. Welcome them. Invite them. Do anything that helps melt the resistance'.
'Sometimes the Dalai Lama suggests not eating one day a week or skipping a meal one day a week to briefly put ourselves in the shoes of those who are starving all over the world. In practicing this kind of solidarity myself, I have found that it can bring up panic and self-protectiveness. So the question is, what do we do with our distress? Does it open your heart or close it? When we're hungry, does our discomfort increase our empathy for hungry people and animals, or does it increase our fear of hunger and intensify our selfishness?'
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