Lamp in the Darkness: Illuminating the Path Through Difficult Times

Description

When the path ahead is dark, how can we keep from stumbling? How do we make our way with courage and dignity? Inside each of us is an eternal light that I call the One Who Knows, writes Jack Kornfield. Awakening to this wisdom can help us fin dour way through pain and suffering with grace and tenderness. For anyone seeking answer during a trying time, he offers A Lamp in the Darkness, a book-and-CD program filled with spiritual and psychological insights, hope-giving stories, and guided meditations for skillfully navigating life s inevitable storms. The practices in this book are not positive thinking, quick fixes, or simplistic self-help strategies. They are powerful tools for doing the work of the soul to access our inner knowing and to embrace the fullness of our life experience. With regularly practice these teachings and meditations enable you to transform your difficulties into a guiding light for the journey ahead. Join Jack Kornfeld as your trusted guide as you explore: Shared Compassion a guided practice for planting the seeds of compassion and opening the heart to all that life brings The Earth Is My Witness a meditation to establish firm footing in the midst of darkness, centered by a steady witnessing presence The Practice of Forgiveness what Jack calls the only medicine that can release us from the past and allow us to truly begin anew. The Temple of Healing a guided visualization to meet our own inner healer Equanimity and Peace a meditation for maintaining balance and acceptance regardless of the situation Just as it is certain that each life will include suffering, explains Kornfield, it is also true that in every moment there is the possibility of transcending your difficulties to discover the heart s eternal freedom. With A Lamp in the Darkness, he offers you a beacon for yourself and others until joy returns again. Table of Contents Foreward by Jon Kabat-Zinn Introduction: An Invitation to Awaken The Wisdom of Our Difficulties The Earth is My Witness Shared Compassion Awakening the Buddha of Wisdom in Difficulties The Practice of Forgiveness The Temple of Healing The Zen of an Aching Heart Equanimity and Peace Your Highest Intention The Four Foundations of Mindfulness and the Healing Journey Afterword: The Return of Joy Excerpt If you re reading these words, you ve probably hit hard times. Perhaps you ve lost a loved one, or maybe you ve lost your job, or received a difficult diagnosis, or someone close to you has. Maybe you re divorcing or you re in bankruptcy or you ve been injured, or your life is falling apart in any number of ways. Maybe daily life itself has become too much for you or not enough. But even in the best of times there s plenty to worry about: seemingly endless wars and violence, racism, our accelerating environmental destruction. In difficult times, personally or collectively, we often begin to wonder not only how we can get through this difficult patch; we begin to question existence itself."

Jack Kornfield Jack Kornfield, PhD, trained as a Buddhist monk in Thailand, Burma, and India and has been teaching meditation internationally since 1974. He is one of the key teachers to introduce mindfulness practices to the West. He co-founded the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts and founded the Spirit Rock Center in Woodacre California. He holds a PhD in clinical psychology and has taught in centers and universities worldwide. Jack has led International Buddhist Teacher meetings with the Dalai Lama, worked with many of the great teachers of our time, and is a father and activist. He is co-creator of the Awareness Training Institute and has written more than a dozen books, including Meditation for Beginners; A Path With Heart; After the Ecstasy, the Laundry; and more. Jon Kabat-Zinn Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, is the founder and director of the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center and associate professor of medicine in the Division of Preventative and Behavioral Medicine. His clinic was featured in 1993 in the public television series Healing and the Mind with Bill Moyers. Jon Kabat-Zinn is the author of Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life and Full-Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain and Illness.

"I will make sure to keep several copies on hand to give to friends in times of need." --ELIZABETH LESSER, author of Broken Open ". . . rich with practical lessons in truth and love, compassion and mindful awareness- and will help guide us home for decades to come." --LAMA SURYA DAS, author of Buddha is As Buddha Does