You always have a choice! You can let the circumstances of your life harden you and make you increasingly resentful and afraid, or you can can let them soften you and make you kinder. Pema provides the tools to deal with the problems and difficulties that life throws at you. this wisdom is always available to you, but you usually block it with your habitual patterns rooted in fear. Beyond that fear lies a state of open heartedness and tenderness. This book shows you how to: Awaken your basic goodness and connect with others; Cultivate loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity; Accept yourself and others complete with faults and imperfections; Stay in the present moment by seeing through the strategies of ego that cause you to resist life as it is; Use "on-the-spot" practices to tap into natural reservoirs of humor, flexibility, courage, and wisdom.

Places that Scare You, Pema Chodron, Shambhala Publications, 4.5 hours/4 CDs, $19.95

Pema Chodron is an American Buddhist nun and one of the foremost students of Chogyam Trungpa, the renowned meditation master. She is director of Gampo Abbey, in Nova Scotia, the first Tibetan monastery in North America establied for Westerners. Ani (a Tibetan honorific for a nun) Pema has written many books, and has recorded on DVD, Video, Cd's and Cassettes many teachings, such as The Places That Scare You, Comfortable With Uncertainty, The Wisdom of No Escape, Start Where You Are, and the best seller, When Things Fall Apart.