When Things Fall Apart Book Summary

Book Summary

15 min

Audio available

Brief Summary

You can better face challenging times when you find a way to incorporate things such as a self-acceptance, reflection, and an appreciation for living in the moment. By learning about the things you fear, as well as embracing being alone, you can learn to deal with life in a better manner than before.

And when you practice compassion with others, you will find that you are able to better love yourself as well.

Accept where you are in life right now and remember that meditation is about more than just a breathing technique, it is a way to become more mindful of the self, while also incorporating a sense of stability and calmness into your life.

About the Author

Pema Chödrön is an American Tibetan Buddhist, ordained nun, the former acharya of Shambhala Buddhism and disciple of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. She’s the author of several dozen books and audiobooks and a principal teacher at Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia, Canada.

She was born in 1936 in New York City. She grew up on a New Jersey farm with her sister and brother. She graduated from Sarah Lawrence College with a degree in English literature. She also obtained a master’s in elementary education from the University of California, Berkeley.

Topics

Self Development Religion & Spirituality

When Things Fall Apart Book Summary Preview

Life has a way of throwing things at us, and it can be hard to shake it off and keep moving. With the help of Pema Chödrön and When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times, readers get the guidance they need to handle life knocking you down.

While it can be hard to escape struggle, there are ways that we can learn to approach our lives so that even when we approach an obstacle, we can accept it and find a way to move forward.

Key Points

Self-knowledge comes from being able and willing to embrace your fears

While we may not like being scared, there are times when we should learn to embrace our fears.

Getting to know the things that make us afraid, rather than avoiding those fears, can allow us a chance to gain a new perspective on our lives. We can learn more about our past, the relationships we are in, or have been in, and we can even gain a better understanding of our own personalities.

When we are facing a problem, it is often fear that comes on first. And by embracing that fear, we can learn how to move past it.

In order to understand your fears, you must reflect on them, and why you are afraid, to begin with. When things go wrong in our lives, we often try to find a solution without spending enough time learning more about the situation we find ourselves in, particularly what led to this problem in the first place.

One of the first things we need to do is realize that life is always changing and evolving. Things will fall into place as they are meant to, just as they are likely to fall apart at times. And of course, there are times when things will come together in unusual ways.

The only way we can learn to really embrace our fear and learn from the process of life is to allow space for things to happen, both good and bad. Sometimes something positive can come because of those shocking moments in life.

Being lonely is an opportunity for both self-love and personal observation

Much like fear, we often try to avoid being lonely. However, there is something to be said for being on our own, as it gives a chance at a level of solitude that is relaxing, recuperative, and even recentering.

On a daily basis, many of us are juggling a social life with our work life. We are always trying to improve ourselves and achieve bigger and better things. However, there is an alternative to this high energy lifestyle, and that is the “middle way.”

In order to live life in the middle, we must find a way to observe life and problems for what they are. The only way to observe these things is to actually embark on a mission of solitude. It’s important to remember that solitude is not a negative thing.

If you find yourself feeling lonely, don’t think that there is anything wrong with you. Instead, you want to embrace...