This was a “wandering around Powell’s” find, and I picked it up, read the first line of the back, and accepted immediately that I was going to buy the book.
“Believing that something is wrong with us is a deep and tenacious suffering,” says Tara Brach at the start of this illuminating book.
Frankly, I didn’t even make it to the end of the sentence; just the quote was striking enough. It is, indeed, a deep and tenacious suffering; it’s something I’ve struggled with a great deal in my life, and keep coming back to, time and again.
For the most part, the book continued in that “this is about you, personally” kind of feeling as I read it. I suppose it is, at bare minimum, somewhat validating to hear that I’m not the only one who falls into these patterns? And it’s hopeful, to read through the standard self-help-book anecdotes about someone who had a problem, and how, with the help of the author, they were able to address it. And, honestly, bonus points for not promising to fix the problem, just address it; if the claim had been “follow these three simple steps and you’ll be cured forever!” I’d be rolling my eyes and tossing the book aside, but it’s willing to admit that the problem will remain. It doesn’t solve the problem, it addresses it; it teaches you ways to manage it, to keep it from overwhelming you, to work through it.
I’ll admit to having drifted off a bit towards the end, where the book started to shift from “meditation and psychology” into “spiritualism and Buddhism,” because I’m not exactly one for spiritualism or religion. But I’m already planning to reread this at some point in the future, so who knows, maybe once I’ve spent some time applying the earlier chapters, I’ll be more receptive to the latter ones?
Anyhow, just for the way it grabbed me, and how effectively it held on, I have to recommend this one. It was well worth the read, and I filled pages and pages of my notebook. Give it a go.1
- This is an Amazon affiliate link – if you buy it from here, I get a little bit of commission. It won’t hurt my feelings if you buy it elsewhere; honestly, I’d rather you check it out from your local library, or go to a local book store. I prefer Bookshop affiliate links to Amazon when possible, but in this case, the book wasn’t available there, so it’ll have to do. ↩