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Contents: Fearless Heart: How the Courage to Be Compassionate Can Transform Our Lives |
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| Introduction |
xiii |
| PART I |
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| WHY COMPASSION MATTERS |
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| 1. The Best Kept Secret of Happiness: Compassion |
3 |
| Born to Connect |
5 |
| I Am the Other |
7 |
| Where the Research Is Taking Us |
10 |
| The Benefits of Compassion |
11 |
| Receiving Kindness |
13 |
| The Helper's High |
14 |
| More Compassion, More Purpose |
16 |
| More Compassion, Less Stress |
17 |
| The Cure for Loneliness |
19 |
| Kindness Is Contagious |
21 |
| Hanging in There with Patience |
23 |
| 2. The Key to Self-Acceptance: Having Compassion for Yourself |
27 |
| What Self-Compassion Is Not |
28 |
| The High Cost of Low Self-Compassion |
36 |
| The Benefits of Self-Compassion |
40 |
| Renewing Our Resources |
40 |
| Setting Realistic Goals |
40 |
| Learning from Our Experience |
40 |
| Feeling Less Alone |
41 |
| "Be Kind, and Be Happy" |
41 |
| It Comes Back to Connection |
44 |
| 3. From Fear to Courage: Breaking Through Our Resistance |
47 |
| The Courage of Compassion |
48 |
| Fear of Compassion |
54 |
| Pride: The False Guard |
58 |
| A Culture of Kindness |
59 |
| Letting Go of Our Resistance |
60 |
| Building Our Compassion Muscle: Compassion Cultivation at Stanford University |
63 |
| PART II |
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| TRAINING OUR MIND AND HEART |
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| 4. From Compassion to Action: Turning Intention into Motivation |
69 |
| The Four Immeasurables |
70 |
| Setting Conscious Intention |
73 |
| Exercise: Setting an Intention |
74 |
| Dedicating Our Experience |
76 |
| Exercise: Making a Dedication |
77 |
| The Benefits of Intention and Dedication |
78 |
| How Intention Becomes Motivation |
83 |
| 5. Making Way for Compassion: How Focused Awareness Keeps Us on Track |
89 |
| Mind Wandering: A Default State of Our Brain? |
90 |
| Quieting the Mind |
93 |
| Exercise: Deep Breathing |
95 |
| Exercise: Spacious Mind |
98 |
| Focusing the Mind |
99 |
| Exercise: Focused Attention Through Mindful Breathing |
100 |
| Exercise: Focused Attention Using an Image |
104 |
| Strengthening Meta-Awareness |
107 |
| Exercise: Meta-Awareness |
108 |
| 6. Getting Unstuck: Escaping the Prison of Excessive Self-Involvement |
113 |
| Opening Your Heart in Everyday Life |
114 |
| Opening Your Heart Through Loving-Kindness and Compassion Meditation |
119 |
| Exercise: Loving-Kindness Meditation |
121 |
| Exercise: Compassion Meditation |
123 |
| A Quiet Practice with Powerful Results |
125 |
| There Is More to Loving-Kindness and Compassion Than Wishing |
128 |
| It Comes Back to Connection Again |
131 |
| 7. "May I Be Happy": Caring for Ourselves |
133 |
| Self-Compassion and Attachment Style |
134 |
| Learning to Be with Our Suffering |
135 |
| Cultivating Self-Forgiveness |
139 |
| Exercise: Forgiving Ourselves |
141 |
| Self-Acceptance |
143 |
| Exercise: Accepting Ourselves |
144 |
| Self-Kindness |
146 |
| Exercise: Self-Kindness |
147 |
| Loving-Kindness for Ourselves |
150 |
| Replenishing Our Inner Wellspring |
151 |
| 8. "Just Like Me": Expanding Our Circle of Concern |
153 |
| The Power of Perceived Similarity |
156 |
| Embracing Our Common Humanity |
159 |
| Exercise: Embracing Common Humanity |
160 |
| Cultivating Appreciation of Others |
164 |
| Exercise: Appreciating Others |
166 |
| Expanding Our Circle of Concern |
167 |
| Exercise: Expanding Our Circle of Concern |
168 |
| Priming Our Heart for a More Active Compassion |
171 |
| Exercise: Priming Our Heart (Tonglen) |
175 |
| PART III |
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| A NEW WAY OF BEING |
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| 9. Greater Well-Being: How Compassion Makes Us Healthy and Strong |
181 |
| Compassion Training for Psychological Well-Being |
183 |
| A Compassionate Mind Is a Resilient Mind |
185 |
| Compassion Training and Emotion Regulation |
190 |
| Anchoring Our Personal Ethics |
192 |
| 10. More Courage, Less Stress, Greater Freedom: Making Compassion Our Basic Stance |
197 |
| Compassion in Everyday Life |
199 |
| A Theory of Personal Transformation |
201 |
| Seeing, Feeling, and Acting |
204 |
| A Perceptual Shift Can Change How We Actually Feel |
207 |
| A Way of Being in the World |
209 |
| From a Feeling to Our Very Way of Being |
212 |
| 11. The Power of One: The Way to a More Compassionate World |
215 |
| Compassion in Our Health Care Systems |
216 |
| Reenvisioning How We Educate Our Children |
219 |
| Caring Workplace, Caring Economics |
224 |
| "A Very Different Company" |
227 |
| Toward a More Just and Compassionate Society |
230 |
| Acknowledgments |
235 |
| Notes |
239 |
