The Places That Scare You

The Places That Scare You
A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times
By Pëma Chöndrön

According to Pema Chondron, we can let the circumstances of our lives harden us and make us increasingly resentful and afraid, or we can let them soften us and make us kinder.  Here 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. Beyond that fear lies a state of openheartedness and tenderness. This book teaches us how to awaken our basic goodness and connect with others, to accept ourselves and others complete with faults and imperfections, and to stay in the present moment by seeing through the strategies of ego that cause us to resist life as it is.

So, this book is not at all what I was expecting.  Actually, it is a book about the cultivation of compassion for others and ourselves through the acceptance of our own suffering and pain.  I think the title is misguiding in that sense.  It is a fairly nice look at Buddhism for the layman, it is a nice introduction to those who are unfamiliar with how Buddhism can be used on a daily basis.  But it is definitely not a book about conquering your fears, which is what I was hoping for.