The older I get the more nourished I am by poetry, and Pema Chodron is a poet I love.
As a writer I’m pretty much at home with metaphors. People talk a lot about soul and they talk about spirit. The soul, to me, is like the flame that can get snuffed out, and the spirit is like the glass chimney that contains it, that keeps the soul from being extinguished. If your spirit is low, your life is low.
I don’t think it’s a male/female thing, but I think women are probably more at home talking about their spiritual life because it informs everything else. It informs your whole life. If your spirit is strong, your life is strong. So you’ve got to pay attention to it.
I think one of Pema Chodron’s great insights is to mine negative feelings; to not run from them, to sit with them and to really allow them to become teachers. She has many things to say, but that was one of the first things that struck me as really worth thinking about. And I’ve tried to do it. It’s so easy to want to run from negative feelings. But those are the ones that can probably teach you more: the things you’re afraid of.
I remember thinking that I’d discovered Eckhart Tolle for myself all alone. Of course, he was a household word in all of California by the time I stumbled onto him. But it’s fun to do that: to find someone who says something that is so true and straight. It just sheds light on your life.
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Thanks for sharing 
I also love Pema Chodron. My daughter sent me her cd- When Things Fall Apart-at a difficult time in my life. It was very helpful and the thing I remember most is to “lean into the sharp points of pain” and experience it. I try to remember this.
I haven’t listened to a lot of her CD’s, but she is one wise lady!!! My daughter in law loves Pema!! She’s always quoting her during our conversations! My dil lives across country in California where so many of the great teachers live!
I listen to Tony Parsons, a Brit. He wrote “As it Is”. He is sort of ‘my teacher’. There are two writers by that name and one of them is, well…not good.
thanks for this. I was not aware of Pema Chodren but I so am looking forward to checking her out.
I read Eckhart Tolle years before he wrote his latest book. He’s not my fave although I know lots of people love him. I tend to back off from anything or anyone or any web site……..that makes me consistently believe there is something inherantly wrong with me and only getting their particular message could sort me out.
I like things that tell me what is right with me. And other women. Thanks for the link.
I, too, love Pema Chodron. During difficult times I remember her book When Things Fall Apart and how her husband told her he was leaving when she was in her 50′s. What a turning point for her!!! I Love Eckhart Tolle. Think he is straight and to the point-simple but complicated. He reminds me of my teacher J. Krishnamruti. My daughter went to Australia last year to see Eckhart. So nice to sit with her and discuss philosophical ideas. Thanks, for your comments. Love VN where we can meet such a diverse group of women!!
i love pema chodron’s books. one year, in an e-group we discussed ‘when things fall apart’ – reading one chapter a week until the book was done.
thank you for starting this thread.
annie!
I will be checking this out. My daughter has mentioned her.
Thanks.
As someone who also loves Pema and Eckhart, I would also recommend “Handbook to Higher Consciousness” written by Ken Keyes, who has since passed, in the 70′s. It makes us realizes these words have been around for a long time (actually thousands of years) but we all tend to be listening now. Perhaps we truly are at a turning point.
Love that you said “we all tend to be listening now”. What a wonderful thought to start my day! Thank you!
I don’t know which I love more. Your post or all the responses. Yep! You’ve nailed a few of the great ones worth reading. Love to be part of such kindred spirits.
Pema Chodron’s writings on negative feelings have reached deep into my heart – of course, so have her other writings. She’s a companion for the quiet times, the reflective times. Anne Lamott is a companion for the times when I need to laugh and be reminded to love myself no matter what.
Thank you for starting this thread and thought. I love both Pema and Ekart Tolle. Yes, he does sometimes feel complex and what he teaches sometimes takes me two or three time reading to get it. But, yes thanks again.
I am so happy to connect with some women who love spiritual, mystical truths and are willing to talk about them. I am only vaguely familiar with Pema, but believe totally in allowing life’s experiences to flow through us, not resist them, and allow them to be our teacher. I have been studying A Course In Miracles for about 25 years and still see passages I think I have never seen. It is so powerful. A great book of explanation is “Path of Light,” by Robert Perry. I love Eckert Tolle, Emmett Fox, Tom Carpenter, Wayne Dyer and Deepak Chopra, to name a few. I am also visiting once a month or so with a wonderful man from India, who helps me to see who I am in truth. Thank you for all the wonderful comments.
I am struggling with a teenaged son. Each day I remind myself: I can’t change him. But I can change how I respond to the fear and the worry. That is the work I must do, and Pema Chodron is the perfect teacher. ”As a species,” she writes, “we should never underestimate our low tolerance for discomfort.” Truer words were never spoken. Reading her little book “Comfortable with Uncertainty” is helping me get a little more comfortable with mine. And I know that being a mother to my son is teaching me lessons I never could have learned otherwise.
I completely agree with you about the importance of learning from our negative feelings. It can be so hard to do, and so easy to find a minefield of distractions to keep the discomfort at bay. And yet, I believe that they usually come bearing gifts if we are able to sit with, listen to, ponder, wonder, muck around in, those difficult emotions and feelings. In our work (http://www.mattersthatmatter.com) we talk about finding Contentment (our definition – To be at peace with the contents of our lives). Contentment is so elusive if I am constantly wishing that life were different, rather than being present with what IS. The tension we create by wanting somthing different causes stress, discontent and an inability to learn from what is true. Thank you for the reminder about to glean the lessons from those feeleings we would rather avoid.
And thank you, Molly, for your definition of “contentment.” To be at peace with the contents of our lives – how perfect!
You are welcome… Please keep sharing your thoughts with us. Know that they add to my experience of contentmen!
Thank you for posting this. I’ve only read Tolle, but now will definitely check out Pema Chodron. I could use some insight after experiencing the death of my father and 2 other family members deaths in the past three months.