These words are the title of a book by Pema Chodron, whose writings I have been following for many years. It was published in 2019: did she know the pandemic was coming? Reading this book for short periods allows me to breathe in these pressing times.
The practice is not easy, but easing. And Pema's writing has always been simple and straightforward, not filled with Buddhist terms which are incomprehensible to many Western minds who have not embraced Buddhism. Pema is the perfect bridge.
Even saying
the subtitle gives me a deeper breath: "Wholehearted Living in a Brokenhearted World." From many meditation teachers we have all received the impression (though that is not their teaching) that we should reach a point where we have achieved - peace, love,
joy unending - but that was never the case, and never the teaching! Life itself - and meditation creates a path for this, is a PRACTICE, not a goal to be reached and achieved. Never have, by anyone, never will. But the simple practice steadies and grounds
us, even if only for a few moments. In this unpredictable world. it is the most we can hope for...