When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times by Pema Chodron Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times
Book Review: Deep Wisdom
Summary: 5 Stars
A Buddhist approach to all manifestations of despair and suffering. Wise, comforting, and empowering. If your world has collapsed, pick up this book.Book Review: big concepts, great comfort
Summary: 5 Stars
it was the day i took the books james couldn't carry home to nigeria back to border's. i found the sale table--3 for $15, and there were fun fiction titles with a sprinkling of books on zen. i bought 3 of each type of book, and this was one who's title sparked my interest, given the mood and theme of the year. since september, i've carried it with me on all our journeys. the thin volume offered an easy read, but the concepts introduced were so big it's taken me some time to turn through the 148 pages. i finished it yesterday, but in many ways, i'll never finish it. this introduction to buddhist principles, ideas and practice has already transformed my understanding of meditation and what the simple act of mindfully breathing in and out makes possible in the world. i've read similar stories about the powers of meditation and prayer, but none so simple, so compelling, so clearly stated, so inviting as pema chodron's heart advice for difficult times.Book Review: Some unanswered questions
Summary: 4 Stars
I agree with many of the other reviews of this book...it could indeed be the powerful message you need in your life.
However, the book leaves certain concepts quite open-ended. This isn't a bad thing necessarily; it just means you, like me, may have to pursue more literature on Eastern thought if you want a firm grasp on what Chodron introduces.
There are a few big dichotomies that are never addressed head-on. One of them is mindfulness vs. egolessness. Chodron implores us to be mindful, meditate, develop an awareness of ourselves and how we're affecting the world around us. Yet she also talks about the wonders of egolessness--dropping the awareness that you are a separate, special individual, distinct from those around you.
It seems we should simultaneously develop a strong personal awareness, and give up our separateness in favor of egolessness. I'm not calling Chodron a liar or a bad writer, but I believe this is a common source of confusion for those learning about Eastern thought, and you'll need to look elsewhere to work out a solution.
Chodron also implores us to give up hope--especially hope that there's a better person inside us we can actualize if we only work hard enough. Apparently, we can never improve upon ourselves: we are who we are.
Yet at the same time, a main tenet of mindfulness is to develop an awareness of how we affect people, so we can stop harming them unintentionally and spread warmth and compassion. By most definitions, doesn't a mastery of mindfulness make one a "better person," one who doesn't lash out or blame people, a "grown-up" who knows how to manage his/her emotions? And isn't the pursuit of meditation and mindfulness a sort of work that requires diligence and perseverence, with the main goal of freeing yourself from giving or receiving poison--probably an "improvement" on your current state of being?
There are answers to these confusing questions, but you won't find them in this book. Perhaps look into Chogyam Trungpa's (Chodron's mentor) work as a companion to "When Things Fall Apart".
Book Review: Don't despair: love will heal the tortured soul
Summary: 5 Stars
This is not a book that you read in one night and set aside. Pema Chodron writes pithily and there is a nugget in virtually every sentence.You have to learn to banish bad and destructive thoughts that come stealthily like thieves in the night. But you do not have to wear a hair shirt or flagellate yourself. You do not try to escape your woes by drugs or alcohol or sudden shopping spurts or over-eating. You have to find enlightenment and happiness by opening up your heart to love, so you can smell the flowers. You will learn of ways to reverse negative habits, of ways to calm cataclysmic situations, of ways to communicate with people soul to soul.You do not hide your head in the sand. You meet your demons face to face. You build on misfortune; it is your starting place.
Pema Chodron has a delicious sense of humor and she is often very funny. And that is one characteristic that seems to be so inherent in Buddhists. Joy.Can you imagine the Pope laughing at himself? Or giggling deliciously like the Dalai Lama does? The Dalai Lama wears sheer happiness on his sleeve. So does Pema Chodron. And this happiness comes from great inner strength when one is at peace with himself and the world. Finding true happiness takes a great deal of work.The pursuit of happiness.It takes a great deal of practice. I am not there, yet, and I haven't learned to meditate because I can't turn my mind off of unpleasant thoughts. But I am sure that in time I will dispel angry, hurt, destructive thoughts and fractured feelings. Just reading "When Things Fall Apart" left me with a curious sense of peace. And I have hardly yet begun to fight.
Five stars. A beautiful book. A beautiful experience.
Book Review: This book is a treasure !
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is a treasure ! If you don`t believe in God or have enough of the "everything will be fine" brain wash, this book is for you. Far away from any other self help book or from any religious miracle recipe, Pema brings spiritual concepts than even a non buddhist is able to understand and appreciate.
She tells it to you right away from the beginning: there`s no way to solve your life main issues. But instead of escaping, she shows a way to look at it and help us cope with it in a peaceful way.
She is right to the point, no bla-bla here, but you can recognize yourself in many of her points.
I don t know Pema Chodron personnally, but she is the kind of person I wish I could !