This engaging contemplation of maturity addresses the long neglected topic of what it means to grow up, and provides a hands on guide for skillfully navigating the demands of our adult lives.Growing up happens whether we like it or not, but maturity must be cultivated. Challenged to consider his own sense of maturity while mentoring a group of teenage boys, Fischer began to investigate our preconceptions about what it means to be adult and shows how crucial true maturity is to leading an engaged, fulfilled life.

Taking Our Places details the marks of a mature person and shows how these attributes can help alleviate our suffering and enrich our relationships. Discussing such qualities as awareness, responsibility, humour, acceptance, and humility, Fischer brings a fresh, and at times surprising, new perspective that can turn old ideas on their heads and reinvigorate our understanding of what it means to be mature.

Taking Our Places: The Buddhist Path to Truly Growing Up, Norman Fischer, HarperSanFrancisco, Hardcover, 2003, 198 pages, $23.95

Norman Fischer is a Zen priest, poet, translator, and director of the Everyday Zen Foundation. His numerous books include What Is Zen? Plain Talk for a Beginner's Mind, Training in Compassion: Zen Teachings on the Practice of Lojong, and Opening to You: Zen-Inspired Translations of the Psalms.

Introduction: Ryokan's Tears	1
One: Meeting	7
Two: Maturity	15
Three: Listening	41
Four: Persistence	63
Five: Connection	85
Six: Meditation	105
Seven: Vowing	123
Eight: Conduct	141
Afterword: Buddha's Smile	185
Selected Mentoring Resources	197
Acknoaledgments	198