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The Places that Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times (Shambhala Classics) (Paperback)

~ (Author) "When I was about six years old I recieved the essential bodhichitta teaching from an old woman sitting in the sun..." (more)
Key Phrases: bodhichitta training, bodhichitta teachings, bodhichitta practices, Trungpa Rinpoche, Finding the Ability (more...)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
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Frequently Bought Together

The Places that Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times (Shambhala Classics) + When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times (Shambhala Classics) + Taking the Leap: Freeing Ourselves from Old Habits and Fears
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  • This item: The Places that Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times (Shambhala Classics) by Pema Chodron

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Pema Chödrön may have more good one-liners than a Groucho Marx retrospective, but this nun's stingers go straight to the heart: "The essence of bravery is being without self-deception"; "When we practice generosity, we become intimate with our grasping"; "Difficult people are the greatest teachers." These are the punctuations to specific teachings of fearlessness. In The Places That Scare You, Chödrön introduces a host of the compassionate warriors' tools and concepts for transforming anxieties and negative emotions into positive living. Rather than steeling ourselves against hardship, she suggests we open ourselves to vulnerability; from this comes the loving kindness and compassion that are the wellsprings of joy. How do we achieve it? Through meditation, mindfulness, slogans, aspiration, and several other practices, such as tonglen, which is taking in the pain and suffering of others while sending out happiness to all--emphasis on the all. Chödrön introduces each of these practices in turn, backing them up with succinct practical reasoning and a framework of ideas that offers fresh interpretations of familiar words like strength, laziness, and groundlessness. Chödrön is the type of person you'd like to have with you in an emergency, and to deal with the extremes of daily life. In her absence, The Places That Scare You will do nicely. --Brian Bruya --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.


From Publishers Weekly

The Places That Scare You by Pema Chodron. Chodron, a Buddhist nun, offers plans of action for coping with anxiety, fear and uncertainty.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 160 pages
  • Publisher: Shambhala; 1 edition (August 13, 2002)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1570629218
  • ISBN-13: 978-1570629211
  • Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #52,091 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Pema Chodron
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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When I was about six years old I recieved the essential bodhichitta teaching from an old woman sitting in the sun. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
bodhichitta training, bodhichitta teachings, bodhichitta practices, awakening bodhichitta, doing tonglen, awaken compassion, compassion practice, aspiration practice
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Trungpa Rinpoche, Finding the Ability
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150 of 158 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars "May we lead the life of a warrior.", August 25, 2001
By G. Merritt (Boulder, CO) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
This review is from: The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times (Hardcover)
"I offer this guide on the training of the compassionate warrior," Pema Chodron writes in the Prologue of her newest book. "May it help move us toward the places that scare us. May it inform our lives and help us to die with no regrets" (p. 2). Chodron is a Buddhist nun, and the resident teacher at Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia. Chogyam Trungpa was her teacher. When Chodron was about six years old, an old woman told her, "Little girl, don't you go letting life harden your heart" (p. 3). Chodron offers this "pith instruction" as the central teaching of her this book. She writes, "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" (p. 3).

Chodron quotes Albert Einstein, who observed "a human being . . . experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separate from the rest--a kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening the circle of understanding and compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty" (p. 9). To escape this prison, Chodron encourages us to live life with an enlightened heart and mind ("bodhichitta"), and by analogy, with the "rawness of a broken heart" (p. 4). "This genuine heart of sadness can teach us great compassion. It can humble us when we're arrogant and soften us when we are unkind. It awakens us when we prefer to sleep and pierces through our indifference. This continual ache of the heart is a blessing that when accepted fully can be shared with all" (p. 4). "Each of us has a variety of habitual tactics for avoiding life as it is" (p. 15), Chodron writes. She teaches us that through the heart practices of sitting meditation (the "natural seat" and "home ground" of bodhichitta training, p. 23), loving-kindness, compassion, tonglen, joy, and equanimity, wherever we are, we can train as a bodhichitta warrior. "Bodhisattva training encourages us to have a passionate involvement with life," Chodron says, "regarding no emotion or action as unworthy of our love and compassion, regarding no person or situation as unacceptable" (p. 115).

"Warriors-in-training need someone to guide them," Chodron says, "a master warrior, a teacher, a spiritual friend, someone who knows the territory well and can help them find their way" (p. 113). For some people, reading this book along with Chodron's previous books, START WHERE YOU ARE and WHEN THINGS FALL APART, may be enough. Chodron is a wise teacher. Rather than praising these three books all day, I'll conclude by saying this book is sure to become one of the most trusted dharma resources on my bookshelf.

G. Merritt
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80 of 82 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Be. Here. Now., November 16, 2002
This review is from: The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times (Hardcover)
In the current age of anxiety, Pema Chödrön is both a refreshing and challenging voice. Basically, she encourages us to see problems as spiritual opportunities. Instead of trying to run from discomfort, she advocates staying put and learning about ourselves. Instead of habitually reaching for whatever palliative gives relief -- always temporary -- she suggests feeling and observing our discomforts, becoming more fully present in our lives, learning how to be truly here now. Only through this process, she says, can we experience the deep joy of being alive.

This is a great companion volume to her book "When Things Fall Apart." It elaborates on themes introduced there, describing several practices of Tibetan Buddhism, some ancient and long forgotten, which help us not only cope with anxiety but use it to overcome fearfulness. This is an important spiritual effort because while we typically think of hate as the enemy of love, it is really fear that makes love difficult. Fear immobilizes us, makes us pull the covers over our heads, and isolates us from others.

Chödrön, a student of Chögyam Trungpa, encourages the consistent practice of meditation. And she discounts the usual results-driven expectations people associate with it, pointing out that as we confront our true selves in meditation, it often becomes more and more difficult, not easier. And for those who have found meditation fiercely frustrating, as I have, she has alternatives. The practice of "tonglen" is one simple spiritual ritual that can be done anywhere, anytime, providing a dramatic and freeing shift in emotional perspective. Learning not to let disappointment, anger, and hurt trigger our personal melodramas, which sap our energy, we can find our way to greater equanimity and become a less destructive presence in the world.

I strongly recommend this book as a welcome spiritual tonic in troubled times, whether that trouble originates elsewhere or from within. As with her other books, you can read and reread it, each time discovering much to learn and reflect on -- and in her words, "this is news you can use."

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87 of 90 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Profound, practical guide to attaining wisdom, April 20, 2002
By "aregulardad" (Milwaukee, WI USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times (Hardcover)
I've read this book three times in two weeks. I read so many books about wisdom. The Four Agreements (not so good), meditation by Jack Kornfeld books, Nietzche, Don't Sweat the Small Stuff. I've read Pema Chodron's previous books, and those didn't speak to me as deeply as this one does. I don't read just to pass the time. I read to find wisdom. This book contains deep wisdom.
The author lays out ways to analyze ourselves, our emotions and our thoughts. She discusses how we as humans react to our thoughts and pain. Her book analyzes the causes and roots of suffering. She then asks "why do must people suffer in such a similar way?". Decades of acquired wisdom are then offered.
The causes and roots of suffering are our fleeing from pain, running for comfort. Fleeing without knowing why, fleeing without knowing where we are going. The descriptions of human behaivor are spot on accurate. This describes so many Western philosophers, political reformers, talented artists, and many people who are looking to find 'the one true way'.
After laying out the causes of suffering, she distills her understanding of human behaivor, and gives us ways to approach these problems. Practical, approachable ways that you can build on over time. This isn't a set of principles of "Look at the world with happiness, and you too will be happy", or a collection of trite sayings to convince yourself "You're good enough, you're smart enough, and doggone it, people like you". Slogans don't allow us to analyze and understand the root causes of our pain and suffering. This book lays out those causes. And it lays out ways we can study suffering, and use our efforts to transform our lives from unsure, troubled beings to people who have a firm grasp of themselves. This self understanding leads to lots of confidence. And she uses a scientific method for this analysis.
There are two books i read over and over. "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind", which i've been learning from regularly for 4 years. And now this one.
Suzuki Roshi said 'We are always looking for something, without knowing what we are doing'. We are looking for happiness. This book studies what is happiness, what is suffering, why is it so temporal, and what can i do about attaining it.
And it helps us understand what we are doing.

May you benefit from this wisdom as much as I have.

"Science is best defined as a careful, disciplined, logical search for knowledge about any and all aspects of the universe, obtained by examination of the best available evidence and always subject to correction and improvement upon discovery of better evidence. What's left is magic. And it doesn't work."
--James Randi

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3.0 out of 5 stars Thought it would be Pema's voice
I was looking forward to this and when I popped it in my CD player and heard the woman from Sounds True, I was disappointed (no offense to her, I just get so much from Pema's... Read more
Published 16 days ago by Traci Krall

5.0 out of 5 stars be a better person
In short, I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to make the world a better place through becoming a better person.
Published 2 months ago by erik

3.0 out of 5 stars Not too bad, but not the best either
It has its unique way of saying things, but sounds very much like a series of inspirational talks put together in a book. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Chacolex

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful book for being comfortable with life
The places that scare you aren't a haunted house, but the real things that happen to people, such as dealing with sickness, lonliness, or financial hardships. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Sarah

4.0 out of 5 stars love this book
this book is a compilation of quotes to live by. If you're looking for purpose and clarity she says the words you can say.
Published 10 months ago by Amalia V. Tazes

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't be scared to read or listen to it
In a nutshell, if you don't want to bring awareness to the places in yourself you avoid and would rather not deal with awakening, do not listen to or read this book... Read more
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1.0 out of 5 stars impossible
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5.0 out of 5 stars Calming, inspiring reminder...
I love listening to this tape. I put it on and start it over again when it is done. I find it totally inspiring to listen to the writing of this wise Buddhist monk. Read more
Published 14 months ago by im lolo

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Book
I loved this book -- it's practical and prescriptive. I applied her advice into both my personal and professional life. Next steps -- I will read her entire collection.
Published 14 months ago by Russell Milligan

4.0 out of 5 stars An insightful book
Pema Chrodon's work is, as always is an insightful read about human nature and emotions and how we come to term with those emotions. Read more
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