Our desires and our fears are woven into a tangled web of conflicts. We want both to eat dessert and to be thin. We want money don�t want to work. Anything that threatens our sense of self and its striving for happiness is perceived as a threat to our very lives-the response to which is defensiveness, anger, aggression, and violence.
Vinegar into Honey proposes a new paradigm for understanding the relationship between stress, anxiety, anger, and depression, with detailed instructions for working with anger and other painful emotions. The process of transforming suffering into equanimity and compassion is central in Buddhist psychology and practice. Each of the steps in Vinegar into Honey reflects views and methods drawn from Buddhist tradition. Leifer�s work holds promise from psychotherapists and their patients, individuals seeking to understand and work with their anger, and people interested in the interface of Buddhism and psychotherapy.

Vinegar into Honey : Seven Ways to Understanding and Transforming Anger, Agression and Violence, Ron Leifer, Snow Lion Publications, 144 Pages, 2008, $14.95

Ron Leifer, M.D., is a psychiatrist with more than forty-five years experience in the practice of private psychotherapy. He trained in psychiatry under Thomas Szasz and became a Buddhist practitioner in 1980 when he became a student of Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche. He founded the Ithaca Kharma Society and teaches meditation. He is the author of In the Name of Mental Health and The Happiness Project and more than fifty articles in professional journals on psychiatry and the interface of Buddhism and psychotherapy. He lives in Ithaca, New York.

	Contents: Vinegar into Honey: Seven Steps to Understanding and Transforming Anger, Agression, and Violence
	Preface	7
1.	The Mark of Cain	13
2.	On Human Nature	17
3.	Step One: Becoming Aware I	27
4.	Step One: Becoming Aware II	45
5.	Step Two: Taking Responsibility	59
6.	Step Three: Understanding Anger, Aggression, and Violence	73
7.	Step Four: Reflection	91
8.	Step Five: Decision	103
9.	Step Six: Relaxing and Letting Go	115
10.	Step Seven: Opening the Heart	133