The book the places that scare you by Pema Chodron was very interesting. The
title itself Caught my attention right away, but what really got me to read this book is that
the author is a Buddhist nun, so she will not talk about religion or tell you what is right or
what wrong. Before I read this book I thought the book was going to be
about metal disorders only because of the title. I was completely wrong, this book is for
all types of people who desire to face our fears in life with an open heart.
The book is called The Places That Scare You, but this book also has a subtitle
Which is A Guide To Fearlessness In Difficult Times which is exactly what Pema
Chodron explains throughout the book. In the first few chapters she explains how everything Started, she was six years old when she first received the bodhichitta teaching. Chitta meaning “mind” also “heart” and Bodhi means “awake”. She talks about 2 levels of bodhichitta. The first level being unconditional bodhicitta, which is free of opinion and Concept. The second being relative bodhicitta, which is being open to suffering without shutting down. I really loved that she said there’s no lectures or prayers, but central teachings of the Buddha “Hatred never ceases by hatred, but by love alone is healed” how we have to be open to everything even if its negative or positive we have to go in with an open heart, how we will never learn if we always go in with a protected heart. We will always come out of that positive or negative experience with the same Outcome. We shouldn’t live in fear there’s negative things all around us but that shouldn’t keep us in our safe cocoon. After she explains that we should to be open to fear she then explains what we have to do when everything becomes too much, when someone can’t handle what’s going on, where someone should go look for strength. She than explains that Buddha teaches flexibility and openness brings strength running away will only make us weaker and brings us pain. We need to know our fears, we need to become familiar with our fears what makes us scared and what attracts us. knowing this will help us overcome anything that is thrown at us. This book is for everyone who has an open mind like I had mentioned before, but it attracts only a certain type of people, like me for example. People who are ready to accept everything and become fearless, people who aren’t close minded and people who are not looking for a quick fix because this isn’t a book to fix yourself but a book to help you understand your fears. the reason why I chose to read this book was because of the title of course, but at the time I was going through a rough patch in my life. I was confused, scared and I over analyzed everything. A constant battle, I …show more content…
Why do we down talk ourselves? In Cognitive psychology it’s all about
how people process information and what is going on in our minds. Aaron T. Beck
assumes that the way we think is how we have an outlook in life so if we have constant
negative thoughts, we will live in negativity. Pema explains this throughout the book she
constantly says our minds are our worst enemies at times, but that we do not have to
live like this.
This book is important in the field of psychology, because psychology is the study
of the human brain and how it works and this book is not the study of the brain but it is
why we do the things that we do. The book is about our biggest mental fears, and why
we act the way we do and what we can do to accept our fears and overcome them.
In conclusion, I really enjoyed reading this book. I did go back and reread a few
chapters this book. The only down side to The places that scare you is that she does
repeat a lot of things several times, also if you are religious this probably isn’t the best
book to read as she suggest that meditation is the answer she is very spiritual. To sum
things up, the main purpose is to stop running away, stop finding a temporary relief,
title itself Caught my attention right away, but what really got me to read this book is that
the author is a Buddhist nun, so she will not talk about religion or tell you what is right or
what wrong. Before I read this book I thought the book was going to be
about metal disorders only because of the title. I was completely wrong, this book is for
all types of people who desire to face our fears in life with an open heart.
The book is called The Places That Scare You, but this book also has a subtitle
Which is A Guide To Fearlessness In Difficult Times which is exactly what Pema
Chodron explains throughout the book. In the first few chapters she explains how everything Started, she was six years old when she first received the bodhichitta teaching. Chitta meaning “mind” also “heart” and Bodhi means “awake”. She talks about 2 levels of bodhichitta. The first level being unconditional bodhicitta, which is free of opinion and Concept. The second being relative bodhicitta, which is being open to suffering without shutting down. I really loved that she said there’s no lectures or prayers, but central teachings of the Buddha “Hatred never ceases by hatred, but by love alone is healed” how we have to be open to everything even if its negative or positive we have to go in with an open heart, how we will never learn if we always go in with a protected heart. We will always come out of that positive or negative experience with the same Outcome. We shouldn’t live in fear there’s negative things all around us but that shouldn’t keep us in our safe cocoon. After she explains that we should to be open to fear she then explains what we have to do when everything becomes too much, when someone can’t handle what’s going on, where someone should go look for strength. She than explains that Buddha teaches flexibility and openness brings strength running away will only make us weaker and brings us pain. We need to know our fears, we need to become familiar with our fears what makes us scared and what attracts us. knowing this will help us overcome anything that is thrown at us. This book is for everyone who has an open mind like I had mentioned before, but it attracts only a certain type of people, like me for example. People who are ready to accept everything and become fearless, people who aren’t close minded and people who are not looking for a quick fix because this isn’t a book to fix yourself but a book to help you understand your fears. the reason why I chose to read this book was because of the title of course, but at the time I was going through a rough patch in my life. I was confused, scared and I over analyzed everything. A constant battle, I …show more content…
Why do we down talk ourselves? In Cognitive psychology it’s all about
how people process information and what is going on in our minds. Aaron T. Beck
assumes that the way we think is how we have an outlook in life so if we have constant
negative thoughts, we will live in negativity. Pema explains this throughout the book she
constantly says our minds are our worst enemies at times, but that we do not have to
live like this.
This book is important in the field of psychology, because psychology is the study
of the human brain and how it works and this book is not the study of the brain but it is
why we do the things that we do. The book is about our biggest mental fears, and why
we act the way we do and what we can do to accept our fears and overcome them.
In conclusion, I really enjoyed reading this book. I did go back and reread a few
chapters this book. The only down side to The places that scare you is that she does
repeat a lot of things several times, also if you are religious this probably isn’t the best
book to read as she suggest that meditation is the answer she is very spiritual. To sum
things up, the main purpose is to stop running away, stop finding a temporary relief,