The Places That Scare You

Book

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Descriptionངོ་སྤྲོད།

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. (Source: Shambhala Publications)

Citation

Chödrön, Pema. The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2001.

Other editions

- Acknowledgmentsix
- Prologue1
1. The Excellence of Bodhichitta3
2. Tapping Into the Spring11
3. The Facts of Life22
4. Learning to Stay31
5. Warrior Slogans43
6. Four Limitless Qualities51
7. Loving-Kindness55
8. Compassion65
9. Tonglen73
10. Finding the Ability to Rejoice82
11. Enhancing the Training in Joy90
12. Thinking Bigger93
13. Meeting the Enemy100
14. Fresh Start109
15. Strength112
16. Three Kinds of Laziness120
17. Bodhisattva Activity126
18. Groundlessness135
19. Heightened Neurosis144
20. When the Going Gets Rough149
21. The Spiritual Friend155
22. The In-Between State162
- Concluding Aspiration167

- Appendix: Practices
- The Mind-Training Slogans of Atisha169
- The Four Limitless Ones Chant173
- Loving-Kindness Practice174
- Compassion Practice176
- The Three-Step Aspiration178

- Bibliography179
- Resources183