After grappling with various medical issues intermittently since September, I have been experiencing a rather unpleasant state. The other day, as I was glancing at my bookshelf, "When Things Fall Apart" seemed to be practically shouting at me to pick it up and read. I truly believe that books have a way of presenting themselves to us precisely when we are in need of their wisdom and comfort. And I am extremely glad that I did pick up this particular book! It contains so many excellent reminders that I most definitely required at this moment. It's as if the universe knew exactly what I needed to hear and placed this book right in front of my eyes. The words within its pages have been a source of solace and inspiration, helping me to view my current situation in a more positive and hopeful light.

Sometimes you just have to let things fall apart.

This simple yet profound statement holds a great deal of truth. In life, we often find ourselves holding on tightly to things, whether it's a relationship, a job, or a particular situation. We are afraid of losing control and facing the unknown. However, there are times when it is necessary to let go and allow things to take their natural course.

Letting things fall apart can be a painful and scary process. It requires us to have the courage to face our fears and trust that something better will come along. When we release our grip on the past, we create space for new opportunities and experiences to enter our lives.

So, the next time you find yourself in a situation where you feel like you are holding on too tightly, remember this quote. Sometimes, the best thing you can do is to let things fall apart and see where the pieces land.

When I read the title WHEN THINGS FALL APART, it initially gave the impression that the book would offer practical advice and a step-by-step guide on how to handle life's most challenging situations. These could include the loss of a loved one, being diagnosed with cancer, or facing a divorce. And to some extent, it does just that. However, upon closer examination, it becomes clear that the book mostly provides words of wisdom that can be applied to our daily lives. In essence, to navigate through difficult times, one must prepare by meditating and, more importantly, by making positive changes in their life today and every day thereafter.

I discovered several profound and inspiring words to live by within the pages of this book. They rang true and had the power to motivate and transform. However, I also found that a more in-depth and spiritually enriching explanation could be found in the Holy Bible (Christian). Apart from the few parallels I noticed between the two, most of the philosophy and advice in the book seemed to boil down to the fundamental concepts of non-aggression and acceptance of all that occurs. To me, it seemed to suggest a sense of "giving up." But life itself often contradicts such a philosophy.

One valuable pearl of wisdom that I believe should be shared with as many people as possible is the idea that "it's not the goal that's important, it's the journey." We are constantly in a rush to achieve our goals, often overlooking the important things we see, hear, and learn along the way. It is the journey that truly changes us, not the destination. Another crucial lesson I took from this book is the need to stop running away from our fears. Instead, we should turn around and face them head-on. Most of the time, we discover that our fears are not as monstrous as we initially thought. And even if they are, by confronting them, we may find that they actually turn and run from us. And if they do prove to be the great monster we feared, isn't it better to get it over with now rather than spend our entire lives living in terror?

Buddhism, as presented in this book, appears to be focused on helping humans explore themselves. The problem, however, is that we already have a fairly good understanding of ourselves, and what we know is that we all fall short. Unfortunately, all the self-improvement efforts in this world will not be of any use in the afterlife. It seems from this text that Buddhists do not believe in an afterlife, so they see no need to prepare for it. All the work, study, and meditation dedicated to perfecting a body, character, and mental state that will never be perfect in this life could perhaps be better spent in communication with our Maker and coming to terms with His plan for our brief time on this planet.

The author managed to make me agree in some aspects and disagree in others. Nevertheless, she seems to have provided a reasonably good foundation on how Buddhism trains individuals to cope with hard times. There were moments when I was confused by some of the terminology and explanations, but I suspect the fault lies more with me than with the author.

This book will无疑 be a great resource for anyone studying Buddhist meditation and their methods of dealing with stressful situations. The author's presentation of the techniques is quite excellent. However, for the average person with little knowledge of Buddhism, this book may be a bit overwhelming for a first encounter. A second reading might be advisable. I know that's exactly what I plan to do.

This was truly wonderful.

Pema Chodron has the remarkable ability to express profound Buddhist ideas in a manner that is not only joyful but also completely irresistible.

Her words have the power to captivate the reader and draw them into the rich and meaningful world of Buddhist teachings.

It is a book that has the potential to touch the hearts and minds of people from all walks of life.

Everyone should take the time to read this book, as it offers valuable insights and wisdom that can help us to better understand ourselves and the world around us.

Whether you are already familiar with Buddhism or are simply looking for a new source of inspiration and guidance, this book is sure to have something to offer.

So don't hesitate - pick up a copy today and discover the magic of Pema Chodron's words for yourself.

When does one pick up a book with this title? In my case, it was during the week when I came to a standstill. I had decided that I was losing my mind due to grief and exhaustion, and I simply wasn't sure how I was going to wake up and deal with the next day, and the next day, and the day after that.

My reviews on Goodreads have been grim and monotonous for the past year. As I type this sentence, I am losing my dad. Last weekend, my mom made it clear to me that she no longer wants to go on without him when she was taken to the ER for dehydration and begged us not to give her water. The stress is unrelenting. The pain is unbearable. The guilt is a staggering burden that I carry with me 24 hours a day. I fall asleep in knots of anxiety and disappear into a black void. Upon awakening, the load of chaos and sorrow crashes down on me each morning. A day feels like a week, and a week feels like an eternity. Today, I am feeling sluggish and ill, and I realize that this is NOT my time to be tired, to be sick, or to be unable to function. Yet, this is exactly how I feel. Denying it each day is not easy, and giving in to it is even harder. I would never be able to live with myself if I shrugged off the final responsibilities.

So, what should I do? How can I go on? I never knew what depression was until this year. I never truly understood what a crisis was. Now, I understand both. Reaching for Buddhist teachings is one way I hope to find positivity in this harrowing time. Can I crawl out of this bleakness with a revitalized empathy and a sense of connection with my fellow suffering members of the human race?

This month, I am grappling with my cowardice and my limitations as a caregiver. Our Western culture, especially in America, does not familiarize us with the realities of death and dying. We are taught to consume, to recreate, to numb our minds with cheap entertainment, alcohol, sports, cable TV, and to avoid thinking about the end of life at all costs. I always thought that my mom and dad would end their lives in the antiseptic environment of a hospital. I would be able to come and go, sit and hold their hands at the bedside, tell them stories, and just be. Nurses and doctors would take care of the mess, the chaos, and the pain.

Instead, my parents are in an assisted living facility down the street from me. I am consumed by the endless administrative details involved in dying. Each night, I go down to them to help my dad take his medications, lay out his clothing, wash his feet, and help him brush his teeth. I hear his labored breathing and see the strained look of pain on his face. We can no longer talk because of his constant shortness of breath. My mom lies listlessly in the next room. There are so many problems and concerns. She enumerates them for me each night in great detail. Some I can solve, while others are insurmountable. I never know what to say. In truth, I dread this nightly ritual. In truth, I cannot imagine not doing it. It is a psychological Catch-22 that has me in a cycle of stomach-churning stress each evening. And I feel tremendous guilt about my conflicted reactions.

A more Western traditional spiritual system would probably either assign me great guilt and recrimination for my limitations or tell me to "turn this over to a higher power." Neither approach helps me. More guilt and self-punishment would push me over the edge into that non-functional state that I must avoid. And I have never seen any evidence in my life of a higher power taking charge of a bad situation. (I live only a few miles away from the horror house where Ariel Castro confined 3 young women for 10 years. I cannot imagine that they did not implore a higher power on a daily basis to help them. In time, one of the young women was able to help herself.) On my good days, I tend to believe that the higher power has made a deal with each and every one of us: You will live with the following stresses and calamities in your life, and they will be an opportunity to teach you something profound. On my bad days, I see the higher power as the Eye in the Sky, setting in motion a chain of events and then stepping back to dispassionately observe what will happen.

In other words, I need to face my own problems and, eventually, try to find the will to address them. In doing so, I feel a whirlwind of emotions, and not all of them (in fact, not the majority of them) are positive and empowering.

"When Things Fall Apart" gives the reader permission to sit with pain, to sit with adversity, to sit with fear, to sit with failure, to sit with inadequacy, and to not assign further penance for those feelings. Once you have done your sitting and examining, somehow you get up again and do something. This is because you must. Another day comes.

"Don't give up hope!" people have continued to counsel me throughout this long year or two. These people mean well. But I take more counsel from Pema Chodron's advice herein: "In reality, however, when we feel suffering, we think that something is wrong. As long as we're addicted to hope, we feel that we can tone our experience down or liven it up or change it somehow, and we continue to suffer a lot. The word in Tibetan for hope is rewa; the word for fear is dokpa. More commonly, the word re-dok is used, which combines the two. Hope and fear is a feeling with two sides. As long as there's one, there's always the other."

She goes on to say, and this is something that I love right now: "Rather than letting our negativity get the better of us, we could acknowledge that right now we feel like a piece of shit and not be squeamish about taking a good look. That's the compassionate thing to do. That's the brave thing to do. We could smell that piece of shit. We could feel it, what is its texture, color, and shape? We can explore the nature of that piece of shit. We can know the nature of dislike, shame, and embarrassment and not believe there's something wrong with that. We can drop the fundamental hope that there is a better'me' who will one day emerge. We can't just jump over ourselves as if we are not there. It's better to take a straight look at all our hopes and fears. Then some kind of confidence in our basic sanity arises."

Impermanence is death, and death is impermanence. Impermanence is another fact of life that we struggle with in our society. Most Buddhist teachings touch on this, but right now is a crucial point in my life to embrace this teaching again.

Caregivers often struggle with "burnout" or feelings of apathy as they reach the limits of their energy and strength. I worry that I have entered this stage. I have gone from "energetic/organizer/let's get this accomplished!" to "freak out" to "numb" in the space of 2 or 3 weeks this month. The feelings are real, and the guilt is overwhelming. Pema Chodron makes me feel better about this too.

"Being compassionate is a pretty tall order. All of us are in relationships every day of our lives, but particularly if we are people who want to help others - people with cancer, people with AIDS, abused women or children, abused animals, anyone who's hurting - something we soon notice is that the person we set out to help may trigger unresolved issues in us. Even though we want to help, and maybe we do help for a few days or a month or two, sooner or later someone walks through that door and pushes all our buttons. We find ourselves hating those people or scared of them or feeling like we just can't handle them. This is true always, if we are sincere about wanting to benefit others. Sooner or later, all our own unresolved issues will come up; we'll be confronted with ourselves."

From the reviews I have read, this book has helped a lot of people cope with their issues. I have picked out and highlighted a few sections that seemed to speak directly to me and my situation. If you are in trouble, your own circumstances may be very different. However, pain is pain. I truly believe that this slender volume will provide most seekers with some straightforward, supportive talk and, as the title states, "heart advice." We all want to overcome our adversities and most of us want to do the right thing in life. There are times when this is极其困难, and you feel so very alone and not up to the task. This is the time to seek out this title. Good luck to all who need it.

I read this very slowly over the course of about 6 months.

I made detailed notes in the margin, carefully jotting down my thoughts and reflections as I went along.

I am certain that I will read it again in the future.

At times, I found the advice presented in the book a bit challenging and rather difficult to fully make sense of.

However, I believe this is because what the author is saying is so vastly unfamiliar in our modern world.

A significant portion of the book is about the concept of letting go and not centering your entire life around the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain.

During a period when I felt that life wasn't unfolding in the direction it should, this book really helped me find a sense of peace and tranquility.

I am fully aware that it is a book that I will return to and re-visit throughout the various stages of my life.

It has left a profound impact on me and I look forward to uncovering new insights and wisdom with each subsequent reading.

I have a deep affection for Pema Chodron's remarkable qualities of honesty, humour, and compassion. Her works are truly a treasure trove of valuable wisdom, and this particular book is no exception.

For me, the chapter on hopelessness and death was an absolute eye-opener. Pema's perspective that hope and fear both stem from the same sense of lacking something is truly profound. She argues that hope has the power to rob us of the present moment, and I find myself nodding in agreement.

Perhaps I will indeed take her ingenious suggestion to heart and create an inspirational fridge sticker that boldly proclaims "Abandon Hope." In these challenging and trying times, this book has become my trusted companion. I have no doubt that I will return to its pages time and time again in the weeks and months to come, seeking solace, guidance, and the wisdom that Pema so generously shares.

It is a book that has the potential to transform our lives if we are open to its teachings. I highly recommend it to anyone seeking a deeper understanding of themselves and the world around them.

On the cover, beneath the title, there is a statement that reads "heart advice for difficult times".

The back cover quote describes this as the Buddhist equivalent of Harold Kushner's "When Bad Things Happen to Good People". I have perused most of Kushner's works, and they are truly remarkable spiritual tomes.

This book presents traditional Buddhist wisdom. It offers clear, practical, and compassionate advice on what to do when things in our lives fall apart. It encourages us to go against the grain of our usual habits and expectations. This involves approaching painful situations with friendliness and curiosity, and relaxing into the fundamental groundlessness of our entire situation.

It emphasizes that in the midst of chaos, we can discover that truth and love are indestructible.

I came across this book many years ago in a used bookstore. Although it was written in 1997, it contains such profound and timeless words.

The chapters are concise yet informative.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone seeking to utilize painful emotions to cultivate wisdom, compassion, and courage. It also provides guidance on reversing habitual patterns, how to engage in easy meditation, and how to foster peace in one's life.

The significant takeaway for me is no longer longing for that "happily ever after" but rather learning to live in the moment and accept life as it unfolds.

This was more spiritual and hippie (respectfully) than I had initially expected it to be. However, I still managed to discover some truly great messages within it. In fact, it felt more like a meditation, especially since I listened to the audiobook. The short chapters made it an excellent way to take a moment, slow down, and really listen.

Overall, I don't believe that my life was transformed in any significant way. But I can clearly envision others deriving much more value from it. It just wasn't quite the right fit for me, and that's perfectly okay. I think it's important to recognize that different books resonate with different people in different ways. And while this particular one may not have had a profound impact on me, it could potentially be a life-changing read for someone else.

One time, a customer called our store looking for Pema Chodron books.

However, I couldn't understand him clearly because, at that time, I was completely unfamiliar with her and her work.

I tried my best to listen, but I kept mishearing him. Instead of patiently offering to spell her name for me, he became impatient and grumbled, "do you even speak English?"

This comment really made me angry. I felt that he was being disrespectful and unappreciative of my efforts to help.

In a moment of frustration, I hung up on him.

Looking back on it now, I wonder if this was the right thing to do. Maybe I should have been more patient and understanding.

But then again, I also think that the customer could have been more polite and cooperative.

Hopefully, this experience will teach both of us a lesson about the importance of communication and respect.

And maybe, just maybe, it still counts as a small act of loving-kindness on my part.

I think there is an abundance of truly excellent information within these pages regarding how to handle life in general.

However, I believe it is also highly targeted towards those individuals who already possess an understanding and a background in meditation, yoga, and the like.

This book presents facts in a straightforward and concise manner. Nevertheless, if one is not familiar with the terminology associated with the framework, it likely won't hold as much significance.

Nonetheless, I found it to be an enjoyable read and beneficial. It offers valuable insights and practical advice that can be applied to various aspects of life.

Even if one doesn't have prior knowledge of meditation and yoga, they can still gain something from this book by delving deeper into the concepts and terminology presented.

Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in improving their quality of life and seeking a more holistic approach to dealing with the challenges that come their way.

A kind invitation into the present moment!

This simple yet profound statement holds the key to a more fulfilling and meaningful life. In a world that is constantly moving at a rapid pace, it is all too easy to get caught up in the past or worry about the future. However, by accepting this invitation and focusing on the here and now, we can experience a sense of peace and contentment that is often overlooked.

The present moment is a precious gift, and it is within our power to make the most of it. We can choose to savor the beauty of nature, engage in a meaningful conversation, or simply take a deep breath and appreciate the stillness within. By doing so, we are able to let go of the distractions and stresses of everyday life and truly connect with ourselves and those around us.

So, the next time you find yourself lost in thought or consumed by worry, remember this kind invitation into the present moment. Open your heart and mind, and allow yourself to be fully present in the here and now. You may be surprised at the joy and fulfillment that awaits you.