The only requirement for membership is that there be a problem of addiction in a relative or friend. We just need to be right in this moment, and if we touch it deeply, mind and body united, we will find we have all that we need to meet the present. A normal aspect of growing up is that we are taught what constitutes appropriate social behavior and what does not. We may have faced or will face times of loss, confusion, or heartbreak, when we realize we cannot control the way our life is unfolding, whether in our personal lives or in the world around us.

It almost seemed like a book to read when you’re going through a breakup, which I am not, so some parts didn’t feel as relevant to me.

Safely kept in check for as long as I could remember, the rarified energy of this meditative environment was revealing my long lost friend, the “shadow. Their ability to be at home soaring in the heavens, and equally at home nesting in a bramble bush close to the earth reminds us that home is within us, not without us. Instead, what we must do is wake up to what we are repressing, own what we are “putting out there,” and re-claim our inherent gifts, skills, and talents.

She spent fifteen years as a nun in Thich Nhat Hanh’s monastic community and is now a lay dharma teacher in both the Zen and Vipassana traditions, with a focus on racial, climate, and social justice. This book is a catalyst for transformation, a guide to letting go, surrendering to solitude, and discovering one’s authenticity and purpose. But the real me – underneath all my learned coping patterns, how I tried to feel loved and get my needs met.When you conform to gain acceptance, you pretty much have to slice and rearrange bits of yourself to fit into that particular puzzle.

As much work as I had already done, it was only when my son died that I finally had no energy left for pretense or hiding. One of the ways is to stay with what is here and now, on the platform of the train station so to speak, watching the trains of our thoughts and plans come and go, rather than jumping on a thought-train that is heading into the future, or another thought-train that takes us into the past. In early 2001, after taking leave of my job and arriving at an ashram in India, I anticipated the months there would be filled with experiences of light, peace, and expansion.

How I hid from fear, and I hid from rejection, and I hid from the belief that I didn’t have what it takes to survive this world. We gather these lost pieces back to us only once, so, as spiritual teacher Matt Kahn says, „Whatever arises… Love that. This cadence has been around longer than I have been alive, and has resonated with troops of all generations. My feet touched the feet of a lonely, isolated person, and someone carried away by hatred and anger. For the first time I began to recognize that this woman’s anger belonged to me, and what’s more, what I was seeing was just the tip of the iceberg.

This home inside of us is a home no one can take away from us, and it cannot be damaged or destroyed. There are numerous ways we can go home to ourselves: by being aware of our breath, by being aware of body sensations or bodily movements, and by connecting with the reality around us, like the sounds in our environment. I can see why people would like this book so I wouldn’t necessarily dissuade anyone from reading it—it’s not inherently bad, it just didn’t work for me.To begin, create an altar area or a small safe place in your home that seems inviting—if you have an altar already that would work. For all ebook purchases, you will be prompted to create an account or login with your existing HarperCollins username and password.