A perfect book for this new place in my life. ( )

As I was brushing my teeth this morning after finishing this book, this line came into my head:

When I find myself of times of trouble, Pema Chodron calls to me, speaking words of wisdom: Let it be...

Corny, huh? Totally true. I read When Things Fall Apart over a year ago when I was going through a really rough time, and when I hit a serious road block nearly two months ago, I picked this'n up. In similar fashion with my reading habits of late, I only just finished this wonderful morsel. I won't be stashing it away on the old bookshelf just yet though. I've still got tough times to face, so it will stay right where it is on my nightstand.

At first I was totally repelled by the title in accordance with my instant aversion to anything sounding like a self-help book (perhaps that's too telling...) (I bristled before falling in love with Amy Hempel's Reasons to Live), but then I thought, "You know what? I do need help." And then, "Yeah, 'cause you know what? I am freaked the F*** out right now." I love her. She is the most accesible Buddhist author I've yet encountered. Her approach is realistic--even though I am still struggling with the craziness, I am slowly able to incorporate the exercises, acting on the moment.

Favorite line: "All too frequently we relate like timid birds who don't dare to leave the nest. Here we sit in a nest that's getting pretty smelly and that hasn't served its function for a very long time" (8). You heard it, folks. Smelly nest. ( )

I loved this, listened to it last year ( )

While I have read another of Pema Chodron's books and therefore knew what to expect, this was a thought-provoking, mind-altering experience, and perhaps, I can hope, a life-changing one as well. One of the tenets of the book is that we experience everything that happens to us through our egos, and therefore do not experience anything clearly and unfiltered. Our egos are trying to limit or control the uncertainty and ambiguity in the world around us. Every experience, every conversation, every interaction is influenced by this internal dialogue that often has nothing to do with the experience itself. One of the suggestions which was helpful to me to try is to experience any emotion you feel separate from that internal story-telling. For instance, you get angry. How does it feel to be angry? What are you feeling in your body when you are angry? Do that without thinking about the event that you believe caused you to become angry or engaging in any internal dialogue that ties the emotion and the event together. How can you deal with the emotion completely separate from the event?

I may be misrepresenting the ideas in the book, but how do you explain the value of the book without describing some of the ideas and what they mean to you. I was only able to absorb a fraction of what was presented; that is my limitation. This will definitely be worth a second read, and perhaps a third, in an effort to absorb what I did not get the first time around and to better understand those ideas I did grasp. ( )

It sucked. It rocked! Doesn't really matter. This lady is smart. How exactly do you pronounce Chodron? Does it rhyme with scantron or Cam'ron?

I guess when life throws you or someone you know lemons it's best not to throw back shade or schadenfreude. ( )