Chodron, a Buddhist monk, is one of the most readable, practical, and enjoyable writers of books on meditation.  Along with Tara Brach and the late Thich Nhat Hanh, she provides an excellent introduction to meditation, a practice designed to ‘perceive reality correctly’ enabling one to live in the moment, aware and awake to the world.

Combining simple practical steps for getting started along with more in depth direction for addressing life long habitual pattern, obstructions,  conditioning, emotions, and reflex reactions that get in the way of enjoying one’s life and the people that fill it, Chodron has written what I consider the best book for learning about meditation practice.  She is a kind and gentle teacher providing solid advice with humor and those are the three hallmarks of her theme:  gentleness, kindliness, and humor all combined to support the new meditator in their quest to answer Chodron’s basic question: ‘What kind of person do you want to be?”  and her challenge to “Cultivate a sense of wonder”.

I particularly found this observation of hers in a chapter “Beliefs” to be relevant to some of my own struggles:  “This righteous indignation, this panic that someone is going to do it wrong, this dogma you feel that the world will go under if things don’t go your way, is actually a form of aggression.  This is true even if the belief is so called good…When we hold tightly to a certain way of seeing things, we’re poisoning ourselves, and it doesn’t bring any happiness to ourselves or to anyone else.  Our good views don’t produce good results because they’re coming from such panic, such aggression, and such determination to have it our way.”   And, “So we need to make space for an attitude of honoring things completely and at the same time not making them a big deal”.

If you’re an experienced meditator, Chodron will add insight and practical tips to your practice.  If you have never meditated and are interested in doing so, this is the right book to get started with.