There is a fundamental happiness right within our reach, yet we usually miss it -- ironically, while caught up in attempts to escape pain and suffering. Pema Chodron's radical and compassionate advice for what to do when things fall apart in our lives goes against the grain of our usual habits and expectations and confronts us with traditional Buddhist wisdom. There is only one approach to suffering that is of lasting benefit, Pema teaches, and that approach involves moving toward painful situations to the best of our ability with friendliness and curiosity, relaxing into the essential groundlessness of our entire situation. It is there, in the midst of chaos, that we can discover the truth and love that are indestructible.
When Things Fall Apart, Pema Chodron, Shambhala Publications, Paperback, 147 pages, $16.95

Pema Chodron is an American Buddhist nun and one of the foremost students of Chogyam Trungpa, the renowned meditation master. She is director of Gampo Abbey, in Nova Scotia, the first Tibetan monastery in North America established for Westerners. Ani (a Tibetan honorific for a nun) Pema has written many books, and has recorded on DVD, Video, Cd's and Cassettes many teachings, such as The Places That Scare You, Comfortable With Uncertainty, The Wisdom of No Escape, Start Where You Are, and the best seller, When Things Fall Apart.

CONTENTS: When Things Fall Apart
Acknowledgments		viii
Introduction		ix
1.	Intimacy with Fear	1
2.	When Things Fall Apart	7
3.	This Very Moment Is the Perfect Teacher	13
4.	Relax As It Is	19
5.	It's Never Too Late	25
6.	Not Causing Harm	31
7.	Hopelessness and Death	37
8.	Eight Worldly Dharmas	45
9.	Six Kinds of Loneliness	51
10.	Curious about Existence	59
11.	Nonaggression and the Four Maras	65
12.	Growing Up	73
13.	Widening the Circle of Compassion	79
14.	The Love That Will Not Die	87
15.	Going against the Grain	93
16.	Servants of Peace	97
17.	Opinions	107
18.	Secret Oral Instructions	113
19.	Three methods for Working with Chaos	119
20.	The Trick of Choicelessness	127
21.	Reversing the Wheel of Samsara	137
22.	The Path Is the Goal	143
Afterword to the 20th Anniversary Edition		147
Bibliography		151
Resources		153