Taking the Leap by Pema Chodron
For many people the beginning of a New Year represents a time of self-reflection and self-improvement. One person might compose a list of New Year’s resolutions while another might pick up a self-help book. Your local library has a huge selection of books that can help you along the path to self-actualization.
Pema Chodron is one of the most influential voices in contemporary spirituality. She is the first American woman to become a fully ordained Buddhist nun in accordance with the Tibetan tradition. She is also the director of the Gampo Abbey, located in Nova Scotia, which is the first Tibetan monastery established in North America for Westerners. Chodron was born in 1936 in New York to a Catholic family and christened as Dierdre Blomfield-Brown. She married, had two children, and worked as an elementary school teacher in California. Then her life started to fall apart. She and her first husband divorced and she remarried only to have her second marriage fail as well. While trying to cope with a case of deep depression, she came across an article written by a Tibetan Buddhist meditation teacher. Although she knew nothing about Buddhism at the time, what she read started her on a path that would change her life.
In “Taking the Leap: Freeing Ourselves from Old Habits and Fears” Chodron discusses how to break free from destructive patterns and experience a new sense of freedom and happiness. Using the Buddhist concept of ‘shenpa’, which means getting stuck or getting hooked, Chodron offers ways in which the reader can arrive at a different and more positive perspective. You don’t have to be a Buddhist to benefit from reading Chodron’s book, you just have to be willing to approach new ideas with an open mind. After all, a willingness to consider things in a new light is surely the first step to changing them for the better.
The library’s online catalogue is available on the internet at www.city.kawarthalakes.on.ca/library and allows you to place a hold on any item.
Linda Kent is the Chief Librarian at the City of Kawartha Lakes Public Library.
