In this book Tibetan Buddhist nun Pema Chodron offers short, stand-alone readings designed to help us cultivate compassion and awareness amid the challenges of daily living.

More than a collection of thoughts for the day, Comfortable with Uncertainty offers a progressive program of spiritual study. Inspired by the Buddhist tradition of the 108-day retreat, the book leads the reader through essential concepts, themes, and practices on the Buddhist path.

Comfortable with Uncertainty does not assume prior knowledge of Buddhist thought or practice, making it a perfect introduction to Chodron's teaching. It features the most essential and stirring passages from Chodron's previous books, exploring topics such as loving-kindness, meditation, mindfulness, "nowness," letting go, and working with fear and other emotions.

Through the course of the book, readers will learn practical methods for heightening awareness and overcoming habitual patterns that block compassion.

Comfortable with Uncertainty, like a set of traditional prayer beads, strings together 108 gems that will guide and inspire us.
Comfortable with Uncertainty: 108 Teachings on Cultivating Fearlessness and Compassion, Pema Chodron, Shambhala Publications, Paperback, 130 pages, $16.25

Ani Pema Chodron was born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown in 1936, in New York City. She attended Miss Porter's School in Connecticut and graduated from the University of California at Berkeley. She taught as an elementary school teacher for many years in both New Mexico and California. Pema has two children and three grandchildren. While in her mid-thirties, Ani Pema traveled to the French Alps and encountered Lama Chime Rinpoche, with whom she studied for several years. She became a novice nun in 1974 while studying with Lama Chime in London. His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa came to Scotland at that time, and Ani Pema received her ordination from him. Pema first met her root guru, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, in 1972. Lama Chime encouraged her to work with Rinpoche, and it was with him that she ultimately made her most profound connection, studying with him from 1974 until his death in 1987. At the request of the Sixteenth Karmapa, she received the full bikshuni ordination in the Chinese lineage of Buddhism in 1981 in Hong Kong.

Ani Pema served as the director of Karma Dzong in Boulder, Colorado until moving in 1984 to rural Cape Breton, Nova Scotia to be the director of Gampo Abbey. Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche gave her explicit instructions on establishing this monastery for western monks and nuns. Ani Pema currently teaches in the United States and Canada and plans for an increased amount of time in solitary retreat under the guidance of Venerable Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. She is also a student of Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, the oldest son and lineage holder of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Ani Pema is interested in helping establish Tibetan Buddhist monasticism in the West, as well as continuing her work with western Buddhists of all traditions, sharing ideas and teachings. Her non-profit, The Pema Chodron Foundation, was set up to assist in this purpose.

She has written several books: The Wisdom of No Escape, Start Where You Are, When Things Fall Apart, The Places that Scare You, No Time To Lose, Practicing Peace in Times of War, How to Meditate, and Living Beautifully.

CONTENTS: Comfortable with Uncertainty
Editor's Preface		xiii
1.	The Love That Will Not Die	1
2.	The Healing Power of Bodhichitta	2
3.	Comfortable with Uncertainty	3
4.	The Wisdom of No Escape	4
5.	Loving-Kindness: The Essential Practice	5
6.	Loving-Kindness and Meditation	6
7.	Why Meditate?	7
8.	The Six Points of Posture	8
9.	No Such Thing as a True Story	9
10.	Sitting Meditation	10
11.	Four Qualities of Maitri	11
12.	The Root of Suffering	12
13.	Weather and the Four Noble Truths	13
14.	The Facts of Life: Impermanence	14
15.	Not Causing Harm	16
16.	The Dharma	17
17.	The Practice of Mindfulness and Refraining	18
18.	Relax as It Is	19
19.	Working with Slogans	20
20.	Slogan: "All activities should be done with one intention"	21
21.	Turning Arrows into Flowers	22
22.	Nothing Solid	24
23.	The Facts of Life: Egolessness	25
24.	Staying in the Middle	26
25.	Slogan: "Of the two witnesses, hold the principal one"	27
26.	Encountering the Edge	28
27.	The Facts of Life: Suffering	29
28.	Hope and Fear	30
29.	Lighten Up (and Do Something Different)	31
30.	The Four Reminders	32
31.	Heaven and Hell	33
32.	The Three Futile Strategies	34
33.	The Opposite of Samsara	35
34.	Cultivating the Four Limitless Qualities	36
35.	The Practice of Loving-Kindness	38
36.	Cultivating Compassion	40
37.	The Practice of Compassion	41
38.	Cultivating the Ability to Rejoice	42
39.	The Practice of Equanimity	44
40.	Thinking Bigger	45
41.	Be Where You Are	46
42.	Tonglen and Fearlessness	47
43.	Tonglen: The Key to Realizing Interconnectedness	48
44.	The Four Stages of Tonglen	50
45.	Start Where You Are	51
46.	Getting to Know Fear	52
47.	Recognize Suffering	53
48.	Slogan: "Change your attitude, but remain natural"	54
49.	Loving-Kindness and Tonglen	55
50.	Slogan: "If you can practice even when distracted, you are well trained"	56
51.	Deepening Tonglen	57
52.	The Empty Boat	58
53.	The Three Poisons	59
54.	On-the-Spot Tonglen	60
55.	Start Where You Are (Again and Again)	61
56.	Experience Your Life	62
57.	See What Is	63
58.	The Buddha	64
59.	Nowness	66
60.	The Heart of Everyday Life	67
61.	Widening the Circle of Compassion	68
62.	Inconvenience	69
63.	Widening the Circle Further	70
64.	What Is Karma?	71
65.	Growing Up	72
66.	Slogan: "Don't expect applause"	73
67.	Six Ways of Compassionate Living	74
68.	Prajna	75
69.	Generosity	76
70.	Discipline	77
71.	Patience	78
72.	Joyous Exertion	79
73.	Meditation	80
74.	Letting the World Speak for Itself ("Don't Misinterpret")	81
75.	Meditation and Prajna	82
76.	Plan to Stay Open	83
77.	Slogan: "Abandon any hope of fruition"	84
78.	Cool Loneliness	86
79.	Slogan: "Practice the three difficulties"	87
80.	Communicating from the Heart	88
81.	The Big Squeeze	89
82.	Curiosity and the Circle of Compassion	90
83.	Take Tonglen Further	91
84.	Slogan: "Be grateful to everyone"	92
85.	Obstacles as Questions	93
86.	Six Ways to Be Lonely	94
87.	Thoroughly Processed	95
88.	Commitment	96
89.	Three Methods for Working with Chaos	97
90.	On-the-Spot Equanimity	98
91.	The Truth Is Inconvenient	99.
92.	Abiding in the Fearless State	100
93.	The Essential Paradox	101
94.	Nothing to Hold on To	102
95.	Slogan: "Drive all blames into one"	103
96.	This Very Moment Is the Perfect Teacher	104
97.	Inviting Your Unfinished Business	105
98.	Four Methods for Holding Your Seat	106
99.	Cultivating Forgiveness	107
100.	Containing the Paradox	108
101.	The Sangha	110
102.	Just Like Me (On-the-Spot Compassion)	111
103.	Slogan: "Practice the five strengths, the condensed heart instructions"	112
104.	Reversing the Wheel of Samsara	113
105.	The Path Is the Goal	114
106.	Heightened Neurosis	115
107.	Compassionate Inquiry	116
108.	Slogan: "Always maintain only a joyful mind"	117
	Dedication of Merit	119
	Glossary	121
	Bibliography	125
	Resources	129