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A Guide to Fearlessness - The Wisdom of Pema Chodron

Updated on March 13, 2014

I have always believed that everything happens for a reason, and I have also always refused to have regrets, because everything that has happened to me has made me the person I am today. Each and every event that occurs leads us to another, and another, forming an intricate and unique personal web that forms the life we live.

This book works on these principles, teaching us how to deal with the more difficult times in our lives and allow them to soften and guide us, rather than harden us and make us fearful.

By accepting ourselves, and others, including all our faults, and by staying in the moment and allowing life to move through us rather than resisting the change, we can allow the magic of the universe to bring us what we desire.

All things, good and bad, have lessons for us. I am a firm believer that life will keep throwing the same hardship at you until you learn the lesson it has to teach, thus allowing you to move on. Instead of running from the darker times, instead of being rooted in fear, Chodron encourages us to see it as the spiritual opportunity that it is, and embrace it, live it, and learn from it.

There is much wisdom in this book, and while I love all of her works, I do think this is the most profound and life changing. She looks at human behaviour, the patterns of Ego and the way in which we instinctively run from fear, avoid the pain of facing things head on, and seek comfort instead. These are the things we do which keep us from realising our potential, from achieving our dreams, and from living the life we want to live.

Chodron uses Buddhist techniques to teach us how to stay in the moment, and how to have compassion for ourselves and others, so that we can face the scarier moments of life without running or hiding. She talks about bodhichitta and tonglen and how we can apply them to our lives.

Reading this book and drinking in its wisdom will allow you to face your fears head on, and move forward with courage into those places that most scare us. It is definitely one of the most beautiful and inspiring books I have read in a long time.

Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity."

- Pema Chodron

The Places that Scare You

UK shoppers can purchase The Places that Scare You here.

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Taking the Leap: Freeing Ourselves from Old Habits and Fears
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In this book Chodron discusses shenpa, a Buddhist concept that helps us to be free of repeating patterns in which we have become stuck, allowing us to let go of negative emotions such as anger or hate, and move forward into more compassionate, heart-centered living.
 
Living Beautifully: with Uncertainty and Change
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This offering looks at becoming free from fear in depth. It helps us to understand and overcome the fact that we are afraid of uncertainty and that is what holds us back.
 

Pema Chodron: Fear and Fearlessness

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