Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living (Revised) | 
pickPema offers much wisdom and practical guidance with this book. There are several lessons that resonated with me. Pema initially talked about how to awaken compassion with openness and freshness. To continue reading my review, please visit my book blog https://abookandadog.com #MountTBR
I had monkey mind last night , my mind full of worries I could do nothing about .Or things to take care of that I wouldn‘t be able to in the middle of the night anyway.It‘s sad and can even make you feel a little ill.I‘m sure most people get it from time to time.
I flipped open to this Pema passage that made me feel better.
#KeepLitsyPositive
"Always maintain only a joyful mind." Well, ain't that a kick in the teeth! Bear with me, though.
I've been working with these cards and their companion book for over a year now. As someone with a long history of depression and anxiety, this card used to really push my buttons. And then it dawned on me that a joyful mind doesn't depend on my being happy or calm, but a willingness to be open helps.
āYou can talk about lightening up till you‘re purple in the face, but then you have the opportunity to practice lightening up with the outbreath, lightening up with the labeling.ā
āEvery time your stream of thoughts solidifies into a heavy story line that seems to be taking you elsewhere, label that āthinking.‘ Then you will be able to see how all the passion that‘s connected with these thoughts, or all the aggression or all the heartbreak, is simply a passing memory. Even if for a second you actually had a full experience that it was all just a thought, that would be a moment of full awakening.ā
āThe armor we erect around our soft hearts causes a lot of misery.ā
āThe key is, it‘s no big deal. We could just all lighten up. Regard all dharmas as dreams. With our minds we make a big deal out of ourselves, out of our pain, and out of our problems.ā
Just started this as it‘s been on my TBR pile for ages ... quite liking the insights into knowing yourself and taking down the internal defences ... only a few chapters in so we shall see how it goes šššš
Buddha nature/basic goodness "is already there; with warmth and moisture it sprouts and becomes visible above the ground, you find yourself looking like a daffodil, or feeling like one, anyway."
I don't have the unabashed confidence and exuberance of these guys. Mind you, I wouldn't want to be cut off at the knee and crammed in a caper jar with a bunch of others superficially identical to me, either.
All joking aside, this book is excellent. ?
pickThis isn't really a book one finishes but I've read and returned the library's copy and bought my own so as to have an ongoing conversation with it in the margins. I've been doing mindfulness-based CBT for two years or so. It helps a lot. I'm wary of the Western habit of isolating the supposed "active ingredient" though, and I've a curious mind so here we are! I like Pema Chodron: she's down-to-earth, humorous and as compassionate as you'd expect.
#24B42019 @TheReadingMermaid @Andrew65
These should keep me going for a while: two I'm currently reading and the next one from my library stack. I've also got an Inspector Montalbano audiobook and some poetry (Mimi Khalvati), both on Overdrive. š
These are my #tbr shelves. Trying to put a dent in them before book sale season begins. Where to start? š¤ #shelfie #mounttbrreadathon
Dewey #30daysofreadathon Day 29 is short books. #pemachodron Start Where You Are is not only short in length but short in stature. It's only about nine book spines tall! š
Finally getting around to #riotgrams - day 1 #shelfie. This is what happens when you have too many books and not enough bookshelves for the weight. They are bowing and always falling off. Here's to new #bookshelves this summer!
My grandma is the cutest grandmaš«šæ
