When circumstances are challenging, how do we react? This book offers methods to help us develop greater inner strength and openness to life by changing the habit of what Rob Preece calls "self-preoccupation"—the tendency to act from a narrow perspective dominated by insecurity and isolation. When we learn to look outside this mentality and truly cherish others as well as ourselves, we create a happier, relaxed mind and more fulfilling relationships, as well as realizing our life's purpose in a meaningful way.

 A long-time Buddhist practitioner and psychotherapist, Preece shares traditional meditations and practices for awakening the mind and heart including tonglen, but he also offers a Jungian perspective on these and his own sense—cultivated during many years' experience—of the ways in which Westerners may need to re-see these practices to benefit most from them. Preece's insightful fusion of East and West will help readers tap inner resources of compassion and integrity in order to flourish in times of uncertainty and ultimately generate the altruistic aspiration to realize the awakened mind for the benefit of all living beings. Rob offers meditation practices at the end of many chapters to help the reader digest and integrate the book's information.

Rob Preece has been a practicing Buddhist since 1973, principally within the Tibetan tradition. He has spent many years in intensive retreat in the Himalayas under the guidance of eminent Tibetan lamas. Preece has been working as a psychotherapist since 1987 and gives workshops on comparative Jungian and Buddhist psychology. An experienced meditation teacher and thangka painter, he is the author of The Wisdom of Imperfection and The Psychology of Buddhist Tantra.

	Contents: The Courage to Feel: Buddhist Practices for Opening to Others
	Introduction	1
1.	The Awakening Warrior	7
2.	Bodhichitta	12
3.	The Cultivation of Bodhichitta	36
4.	Preparing the Ground	39
5.	Equanimity	45
6.	Finding the Capacity to Care	66
7.	Remembering Their Kindness	74
8.	Repaying Their Kindness	82
9.	Exchanging Self with Others	93
10.	The Practice of Tonglen	111
11.	The Supreme Wish	131
12.	The Awakening Mind	136
13.	The Paradox of Awakening	140
14.	Our Place in the World	143
	Notes	147
	Bibliography	150