"Before you know what kindness really is you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth,
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
~Naomi Shihab Nye
Sharon Salzberg presents kindness in a book about life lived with love and a CD to introduce kindness meditations. Through her work, you can learn how to bring more compassion into the world. She presents her ideas in six chapters:
Compassion in Action
Kindness Toward Ourselves
Overcoming Cruelty
How We See the World
Ethics and Kindness
The Intention of Kindness
Sharon Salzberg teaches us how to see the good inside us and to reflect on things we have done in the world that are positive and nurturing. She recommends spending 15-20 minutes a day on doing something to be kind to yourself. You can also repeat phrases like "May I live in safety," and "May I have mental happiness." She also shows how a natural sense of morality can be born from a sense of empathy and in understanding that hurting others will cause your own suffering.
How can we feel liberating joy?
What is an enlightened being?
Can you dedicate your life to kindness?
How can you become a bodhisattva?
While we all seem to move from unhappiness to happiness on a daily basis or a minute-by-minute cycle of life's ever changing circumstances, this book helps to bring us back to a more centered existence. Sharon Salzberg's teachings encourage you to live with an open heart and be a place of calm in the midst of the world's storms.
"Kindness is the foundation of unselfconscious generosity, natural inclusivity, and an unfeigned integrity. When we are devoted to the development of kindness, it becomes our ready response..." ~Sharon Salzberg
~The Rebecca Review
Product Description
In The Force of Kindness, Sharon Salzberg, one of the nations most respected Buddhist authors and meditation teachers, offers practical instruction on how we can cultivate this essential trait within ourselves.
Through her stories, teachings, and guided meditations, Sharon Salzberg takes readers on an exploration of what kindness truly means and the simple steps to realize its effects immediately. She reveals that kindness is not the sweet, nave sentiment that many of us assume it is, but rather an immensely powerful force that can transform individual lives and ripple out, changing and improving relationships, the environment, our communities, and ultimately the world. Readers will learn specific techniques for cultivating forgiveness; turning compassion into action; practicing speech that is truthful, helpful, and loving; and much more.
When we fan even the smallest ember of kindness, according to Sharon Salzberg, we begin to overcome our own fears, doubts, and personal attachmentsand tap an endless source of gentle strength that is always available to us. With her graceful writing and six guided meditations on CD, this beloved meditation master empowers readers to enhance The Force of Kindness in their own spiritual practice.
CD, 1.25 hours, 90-page hardback book
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