Pema Chödrön, whose Buddhist name means “Lotus Dharma Torch,” is an American Buddhist nun and one of the foremost students of Chogyam Trungpa. Having been through the wringer in her own life shows in her heartfelt clarity as she relates to the tangled, often distressing conditions of our lives.

In The Places That Scare You, Pema provides the tools to deal with the problems and difficulties that life throws our way. This wisdom is always available to us, she teaches, but we usually block it with habitual patterns rooted in fear.

When I was about six years old I received the essential bodhichitta teaching from an old woman sitting in the sun. I was walking by her house one day feeling lonely, unloved, and mad, kicking anything I could find. Laughing, she said to me, “Little girl, don’t you go letting life harden your heart.” Right there, I received this pith instruction: we can let the circumstances of our lives harden us so that we become increasingly resentful and afraid, or we can let them soften us and make us kinder and more open to what scares us. We always have this choice.

This book shows us how to:

ª  Awaken our basic goodness and connect with others

ª  Accept ourselves and others complete with faults and imperfections

ª  Stay in the present moment by seeing through the strategies of ego that cause us to resist life as it is

ª  Use “on-the-spot” practices to tap into natural reservoirs of humor, flexibility, courage, and wisdom.

In these transcribed talks, Pema has much of value to convey about “tapping into the spring,” “learning to stay,” “when the going gets rough,” and “finding the ability to rejoice.”

As we continue to train, we evolve beyond the little me who continually seeks zones of comfort. We gradually discover that we are big enough to hold something that is neither lie nor truth, neither pure nor impure, neither bad nor good. But first we have to appreciate the richness of the groundless state and hang in there… This juicy spot is a fruitful place to be. Resting here completely—steadfastly experiencing the clarity of the present moment—is called enlightenment.

Among Pema Chödrön’s other works are When Things Fall Apart, The Noble Heart (a 6-tape set), Start Where You Are, and Awakening Loving-Kindness