I recently finished another book by renowned author and Buddhist practitioner Pema Chödrön. I originally got this book in 2018 when I had several relapses back-to-back and a couple of trips to rehab. I was just trying to implement Buddhism into my life, so it sounded like a no-brainer to pick this book up. It took me this long to read it. I had a few start-and-stop moments where I got to the second chapter and then put it back down. This last time in rehab I decided to read it through since I had plenty of time.
I’m not sure what I was looking for in the book other than advice on how to get through something so severe in my life that a book was written about it. Although it can be a heavy read in parts, Pema wrote heavily about how Buddhism has a place in her life and how it can be implemented in the most basic of practitioners. Like the title says, “Heart Advice for Difficult Times.”
Pema starts with how fear is a natural reaction to life’s events. This hit home for me because I had always treated fear as a weakness and a non-starter. I never embraced it and had just used it as a tool to face life’s challenges. In the first chapter, she said, “Buddha nature, cleverly disguised as fear, kicks our ass into being receptive.” I love how raw she is, even as a Buddhist monk. She speaks in terms I understood which made the book an easier read for me.
She talks about how meditation can be the best coping tool for when things aren’t going as planned in your life. She mentions several types of meditation techniques, Maitri being my favorite. Maitri itself means developing a loving-kindness and an unconditional friendship with ourselves. We are our closest friends and always there for ourselves. It just reaffirms how important meditation is in our everyday lives, whether we are up or down.
My favorite part about her book is when she introduces me to Tonglen, another form of meditation that truly resonated with me. You are breathing in the bad, and breathe in out the positive of that situation. For example, if someone is being negative towards you, you can breathe in the negative of the situation, imagine the good you can gain from it, then breathe out that positivity and move on. It’s such a simple concept when you think about it. She goes into great detail about Tonglen in the book.
The only thing I think could be negative about the book is that it can become repetitive, especially when you get to the end chapters. And that’s the only thing, so this is a great book in my opinion. This is a must-read for anyone struggling and wanting to implement Buddhist-based practices into their lives to combat that.
You can get her book in print in major bookstores, and you can get the Kindle version if you are all digital like me from Amazon itself.