Zen and the Art of Falling in Love [Hardcover]

Brenda Shoshanna (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 7, 2003

An award-winning author, relationship expert and long-time Zen practitioner takes readers on an illuminating journey that reveals the secrets of falling in love - and staying that way. As a great teacher once said, 'We never ask the meaning of life when we're in love'. But the real question is, 'why aren't we in love all the time?', ZEN AND THE ART OF FALLING IN LOVE answers that question. By combining the psychological understanding of relationships with the principles of Zen practice, this book offers a completely different way of looking at love and relationships. Each chapter is structured around a different Zen practice, giving us thirteen steps we can easily take to learn how to reclaim love and our true selves. Readers will learn new means of dealing with the usual trouble spots in relationships, such as miscommunication, lies, betrayal, jealousy, insecurity, loss and disappointment. As readers look at these issues through the eyes of Zen practice, they will receive life-changing perspectives, instructions and outcomes.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

To find love, take off your shoes, sit on a cushion and do nothing, advises the author of Zen Miracles. These and 10 other Zen-based practices, Shoshanna says, will help prepare you to receive love, and, eventually, to build lasting, meaningful relationships. Each Zen instruction is like "a metaphor for our entire lives": consciously taking off our shoes teaches us about mindfulness; sitting quietly on a cushion allows us to get to know ourselves and our patterns of behavior; doing nothing helps us learn to let go of our need to control things and people. Shoshanna goes on to explain how other practices, from cooking to "struggling with your koan," also help us find our way to being in love, "our natural state." For readers seeking hands-on, practical advice for romantic rejuvenation, Shoshanna's guide may feel as weightless as the smoke rising from the nearest incense burner: there are no chapters on the Zen method to approaching that office crush, or dating someone who already has children, for example. But readers searching for broader meaning will revel in her ability to weave together the basic tenets of relationship psychology with the self-realization techniques of Zen practice. Nor is Shoshanna's advice limited to affairs of the heart; much of her counsel-to be open, loving and full of faith-feels relevant to all aspects of life.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Marianne Williamsonbestselling author of A Return to LoveDr. Brenda Shoshanna's words are wonderful. -- Review

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; 1st edition (January 7, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743243358
• ISBN-13: 978-0743243353
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #758,858 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

A psychologist and therapist for 28 years, Dr. Brenda Shoshanna published work has integrated psychology and spirituality in facing life's crucial questions. She is the author of numerous books in the spirituality, zen, psychology and relationship genres, including FEARLESS: 7 PRINCIPLES TO PEACE OF MIND, THE ANGER DIET: 30 DAYS TO STRESS FREE LIVING (listed as one of the best books of the year by Spirituality and Health), JEWISH DHARMA, ZEN AND THE ART OF FALLING IN LOVE, ZEN MIRACLES, WHY MEN LEAVE, GETTING HIM TO TALK, SAVE YOUR RELATIONSHIP, LIVING BY ZEN, EVERYDAY GRATITUDE and THE HAPPY MARRIAGE MANUAL.

Her books all offer psychological, practical and spiritual guidance, combining spiritual wisdom with psychological insight and practical advice. She has received wide critical-acclaim for all of her books, with excellent reviews from publications such as Tricycle, Publishers Weekly, Body & Soul and others, and she has won the NABE Award for the Best Book of the Year in the Category of Health. Her books have been translated into 18 languages, and she appears frequently on national television, in national print, and in major venues online (she is the Relationship Expert on iVillage.com). She has spoken and taught at many universities and has offered over 500 talks and workshops nationally on all aspects of psychology, spirituality and fulfilling one's potential. She also hosted her own radio show on the Gary Null network, which offered her a weekly platform to address a wide range of issues dealing with spirituality and self-help.

Please visit her website at www.drshoshanna.com, to learn more, and to watch video.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars it opened my eyes!, February 23, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Zen and the Art of Falling in Love (Hardcover)

i highly recommend this book! i have read many books on zen. i have also read many books on relationships. but not until i read this book did i have a clear picture on what zen practice really is. i was finally able to grasp its concepts and approach, which i found elusive in other books. thank you, Dr. Shoshanna! it made me want to practice. i used to think of zen as this mystical, unapproachable thing. now i see that i can do it too. i especially loved the zen stories. some were quite funny! i also loved the stories of the girls in the book that were having trouble with love. like i said, i've read many other relationship books, but this one really clicked for me. i liked how it looked at relationships through the eyes of zen practice, which is a nice fit. i found there were many profound insights to be gained! i also like the fact that Dr. Shoshanna is a Ph.D. psychologist. i feel ready to start over again on the rocky road of love!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars breathe, September 10, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Zen and the Art of Falling in Love (Hardcover)

The most important love relationship one can have is the relationship with the source of the questions within. From there, all love grows. Brenda Shoshanna has written an engaging, thoughtful book. In it, she illustrates the ways in which we thwart our opportunities to know this inner source, and the ways in which we can let go of the desire and proclivity to do so. In letting go, beauty and love become self-evident - waking from a dream. Shoshanna's book is brilliant not only in demystifying Zen practice, but in applying it in real terms to relationships of all kinds. This is not a book to be read in one shot on a transatlantic flight. It is more a book to be digested thoroughly, chapter by chapter, in one's own time. Highly recommend, highly, highly.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Zen and the Art of Falling in Love...A Simple Review, August 8, 2005

By 

JoAnn C. Lee "All about an easy read!" (Meadville, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Zen and the Art of Falling in Love (Hardcover)

This book has most definetly changed my outlook on how I see myself in relationships. It has helped me to take a more realistic and responsible stance when it comes to developing and maintaining loving relationships. It was a great and easy read. It was also one of those books where I got out my highlighter and marked all of the places in the book where I really wanted to remember that particular message or lesson. This book is one that I have recommended and even purchased for some of my good friends...it has really changed a lot for me! I am so glad this book popped into my life. I know it's one I'll continue to go back and read whenever I find myself struggling in relationships. Brenda Shoshanna is an utter genius!