This is an amazing book! I was vaguely familiar with the author due to my interest in Buddhist wisdom and happened to pick this volume up thinking that it could be a guide during a challenging time of transition in my life. It turns out that it's a piercingly insightful guide to all of one's life experience, equally instructive in blissful times as well as challenging ones.

Pema Chodron is a Buddhist nun who's affiliated with Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia (which is apparently the first Tibetan Buddhist monastery in North American established for Westerners). She is also an incredibly "real" author who writes with a refreshingly straightforward style. Some of my favorite passages in the book involve her "keeping it real" by relating typical reactions to various situations, esp. the less flattering ones that we would try to deny if observed by others. By breaking her wisdom down into everyday, accessible terms, she enhances the impact of her message, which resonates powerfully.

The book is essentially a survey of major (Tibetan) Buddhist principles and how they relate to and apply in our everyday lives. In addition to the insight and clarity with which they are conveyed, the author's willingess to reveal her humanity is also powerful. Chodron often shares personal experiences that reflect her own fallibility. In sum, she effectively tells us that she struggles to practice what she preaches just as much as we will. As we work to reflect these principles in our lives, we always have her as a just as easily challenged, frustrated and/or joyful companion and guide.

In summary, I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Buddhist wisdom, in the potential for and path to self-development and -realization, in examining and coming to new understandings of human nature and possibility and in being lifted in spirit, mind and body. Pema Chodron is a gifted teacher and author whose work resonates, illuminates and elevates broadly.