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| When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times | 
 enlarge | Author: Pema Chodron
Publisher: Shambhala
Category: Book
List Price: $6.99
Buy New: $2.32
You Save: $4.67 (67%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (129 reviews)
Sales Rank: 2303
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 208
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 6.8 x 3.9 x 0.8
ISBN: 1590302265
Dewey Decimal Number: 294.3444
EAN: 9781590302262
ASIN: 1590302265
Publication Date: January 11, 2005
Release Date: January 11, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Truth not false sunshine August 31, 2008
I found this book amazingly fresh. All the other self-help books tell you how to mask the problems in your life and push them under the rug. Thinking positive is a great thing too, but you do have to deal with reality when things do go bad ... and they always do and always will. Life is a rollercoaster ... always. As this book teaches if you can make friends with your life as it is, you will be much happier and your life will inevitably be better. The main thing I have learned from this book is to be PRESENT for your life and don't spend it wishing and hoping for it to be different. It is what it is and it is your life, so you might as well experience it, appreciate it and enjoy it.
A book full of hope for those right in the midst of suffering. August 17, 2008
I have been meditating for years and appreciate Pema Chodron's practical wisdom for those with deep tendencies toward doubt and fear. No book can replace a live teacher and practice with others, but this book gives encouragement and clearly points out the way through doubt and fear. Hard as it is, I've learned that the most important teaching and the most vital experience of our lives is right in the midst of suffering. While all the book is insightful, I especially recommend chapters 6, 7, 9, and 18.
 Perfect, short chapters - easy to read in sections! August 9, 2008
This book is so full of beautifully worded advice, using stories from the author's life and is comprised of short chapters, so it's perfect to read one "lesson" and wait to absorb it before reading on. It's great bedtime reading...and the lessons are so rich, yet the author makes them seem possible to include in daily life.
This book can change how you see life! July 19, 2008
I just could not put this book down. It is so real and at the same time profund. Honest, pure and addresses all the questions you have in your mind about life. It makes you realise that where you are and what is happening in your life, no matter how dark and hopeless it might seem - that this is what life is and we could not appreciate and enjoy the great times in life if we didn't know what pain and suffering is. It is meant to be and the important thing is to enjoy and bask in ALL of it - cause this is it. As Pema says in the final chapter THE PATH IS THE GOAL. Profund!
thoughtful and inspiring June 24, 2008
When Things Fall Apart is another compilation and distillation of several of the Pema Chodron's lecture and talks, in this case focusing on dealing with pain, anger, fear, and other emotional challenges that face us daily. Chodron's inspiring and gentle Tibetan Buddhism approaches every challenge in a positive way; rather than recoiling, retreating into an emotional shell, or attempting to fend off issues, Chodron argues that the constructive, liberating and ultimately best approach is the opposite, to make friends with our fear, or pain, to investigate it, look at it from every angle, and we will find our fears shrinking, disappearing, leaving us with a richer and more positive life experience.
Much of the book's theme could be considered simply as letting go...letting go of our dependence on stability, our need for explanations and justifications, and so on. Life on earth is inherently unstable, and the things we initially most think we need or want or depend on are actually hindrances to us in living complete lives, acting as faulty crutches. By letting go of these things we come closer to what is real.
Chodron also addresses our responsibility to others, the benefits to others but also to ourselves of maitri, of giving of ourselves to all, regardless of the perceived payback.
Chodron's is a gentle, introspective Buddhism, and reading this book allows a glimpse of what it would be like to live a courageous, generous and fully emotionally independent life based on a full understanding of what is needed to enjoy real inner peace. Her voice, her stories, her approach all inspire us to follow such a path. It is easy to underestimate the effort and dedication required to do so. Our crutches *seem* to make life easier for us, and we resist letting them go. But with time, dedication, and consistent effort, dedicated students could find the same courage to live their lives in this kind of pure and positive way.
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