Reviews

When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times by Pema Chödrön

prairiegirljen's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

Am getting ready to dive in again to this book. It is one of my most treasured.

agracefulllifekari's review against another edition

Go to review page

hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.5

tracykathryne's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

amazing read, I return to it often!

chelseahilton's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

Will keep reading this forever.

nikki_levinson's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

I would recommend this book to anyone at anytime. How you digest the information of this book is really dependent on where you are in your life. The teachings of this book are so relevant to our baseline of humanity that it will grow and evolve with you.

omcruz's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

Amazing and super helpful. Things fall apart and come together all the time in every way; things change, Kundun...

wilder_tingz's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

4 / 5

this book is full of extremely important shit. i love buddhism, have always been enamored with its simplicity and care for the body and the spirit - i especially love buddhist teachings that incorporate true stories of personal suffering. because when things fall apart, we don’t know what to do or how to pick up the pieces. this book is a how-to in picking up the pieces.

one thing i can and must say: this book was adapted from a series of talks from a while ago. this means that the structure of the book is a little hard to follow. also, it’s really hard to glean EVERYTHING from every chapter. this is a book you have to read again, and again, and again to fully understand the importance of what CHÖDRON is talking about. that said, what i did glean from this book changed my outlook on a lot of things. fear, control, suffering, self-compassion, being connected to your body - this book is a must have for anyone who has struggled with emotional regulation.

it took me much, much longer to get through than i thought it would. despite the language being accessible, the ideas are not as accessible - for a western audience, this book does a pretty good job at bridging the gap to buddhism, but there’s still some concepts that escape me. i plan to read this again, and again. whenever i feel like my life is falling apart, im gonna pick up this book. breakups, job transitions, you name it - this book will be helpful for you.

i can’t in good faith give it 5 stars, because it is a little dense. there’s just so much great information that it gets boring and hard to parse through after a couple of chapters. this is not a light read, despite its length.

i’ve learned a lot and intend to keep learning about buddhism. of course, i’m in my early 20s, and everyone in their early 20s has a brief love affair with buddhism. but i’m hoping that i can take these lessons beyond my youth - i know this book will be helpful to me when i’m 70 (if the world hasn’t been consumed by fire by then). i loved it, i learned from it, and you will too. 4 stars!

here_goes_books's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

Pema Chodron invites readers to pause, take a deep breath, and let the emotion pass by. It's an old Buddhist tradition to let emotional upheaval to pass beyond without assigning it a feeling like guilt, shame, anger, or a need to do better. It is what it is.

In these trying times when the norm is abnormal and life is going all over the place, remembering these ideas has been very grounding. Chodren argues that change is a part of life, "To live fully is to be always in no-man's-land, to experience each moment as completely new and fresh. To live is to be willing to die over and over again."

Those changes that crop up help us determine what really matters to us. We find after each iteration who we really are.

mlw0415's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging informative inspiring fast-paced

4.0

m_abigail758's review against another edition

Go to review page

Just too many other reads to do at the time. Will come back later.