Merging the insights of inspiring voices with her own understanding of mindfulness, New York Times bestselling author Sharon Salzberg shows us how we can recover from the emotional effects of crisis. When confronted with pain and obstacles, we often shrink back and contract out of fear and disappointment. That can become a way of life. In Real Life, Sharon Salzberg lets us know it doesn't have to be that way. When we feel alone, cut off, or trapped, we can let those difficulties steer us onto a path toward an authentic, flourishing life--living in a way that allows us to find the wholeness that lies within. Even when we're alone, a sense of community can accompany us through the stormy times. Our words, hearts, and actions can line up with a larger vision, rather than the smaller views our anxious, fearful thoughts arouse in us. To live in a less constricted way--with a more spacious, open sense of possibility, creativity, connection, and joy--Salzberg says we need to get real about what's most important, to ask ourselves, "What do I most deeply yearn for?" "What would I benefit from letting go of?" "What do I believe is possible for me?" We accomplish the journey to expansive freedom (Real Life) through developing tools like mindful awareness, friendship, and a greater sense of purpose/aspiration. We learn to: - take some risks with what we dare to imagine - take an interest in internal states we might normally try to avoid - take an interest in people we might normally try to avoid Real Life is about the journey we make when we decide to live the life that speaks to our innermost longing to live free.

Finding Your Way is the newest book from the one of the most beloved and bestselling meditation teachers. In dozens of clear and inspiring entries, readers will be reminded that there are many ways to stay calm and move forward. From choosing to simply "do the good that is in front of you," to reading a meaningful piece from an interview with a kind leader, to quotes from people Sharon admires, and reminders of how to practice meditation, Finding Your Way will show readers that they are always on the right path, because it is their own. Each thought, whether a single quote or a short essay, is presented in a visually calm manner, with dozens of four colour illustrations to enhance and inspire the experience throughout the book.

From one of most prominent figures in the field of meditation comes a guidebook for how to use mindfulness to build our inner strength, find balance, and help create a better world. In today's fractured world, we're constantly flooded with breaking news that causes anger, grief, and pain. People are feeling more stressed out than ever, and in the face of this fear and anxiety they can feel so burnt out and overwhelmed that they end up frozen in their tracks and unable to do anything. In Real Change, Sharon Salzberg, a leading expert in lovingkindness meditation, shares sage advice and indispensable techniques to help free ourselves from these negative feelings and actions. She teaches us that meditation is not a replacement for action, but rather a way to practice generosity with ourselves and summon the courage to break through boundaries, reconnect to a movement that's bigger than ourselves, and have the energy to stay active. Consulting with veteran activists and social-change agents in a variety of fields, Salzberg collects and shares their wisdom and offers the best practical advice to foster transformation in both ourselves and in society. To help tame our inner landscape or chaos, Salzberg offers mindfulness practices that will help readers cultivate a sense of agency and stay engaged in the long-term struggle for social change. Whether you're resolving conflicts with a crotchety neighbor or combating global warming, Real Change will provide the fundamental principles and mindfulness practices to help guide you to the clarity and confidence to lift a foot and take the next step into a better world.

When people and circumstances upset us, how do we deal with them? Often, we feel victimized. We become hurt, angry, and defensive. We end up seeing others as enemies, and when things don't go our way, we become enemies to ourselves. But what if we could move past this pain, anger, and defensiveness? Inspired by Buddhist philosophy, this book introduces us to the four kinds of enemies we encounter in life: the outer enemy, people, institutions, and situations that mean to harm us; the inner enemy, anger, hatred, fear, and other destructive emotions; the secret enemy, self-obsession that isolates us from others; and the super-secret enemy, deep-seated self-loathing that prevents us from finding inner freedom and true happiness. In this practical guide, we learn not only how to identify our enemies, but more important, how to transform our relationship to them. Love Your Enemies teaches us how to: - Break free from the mode of "us" versus "them" thinking - develop compassion, patience, and love - Accept what is beyond our control - Embrace lovingkindness, right speech, and other core concepts Throughout, authors Sharon Salzberg and Robert Thurman share stories and exercises for achieving finding peace within yourself and with the world. Drawing from ancient spiritual wisdom and modern psychology, Love Your Enemies presents tools that are useful for all readers.

From one of most prominent figures in the field of meditation comes a guidebook for how to use mindfulness to build our inner strength, find balance, and help create a better world. In today's fractured world, we're constantly flooded with breaking news that causes anger, grief, and pain. People are feeling more stressed out than ever, and in the face of this fear and anxiety they can feel so burnt out and overwhelmed that they end up frozen in their tracks and unable to do anything. In Real Change, Sharon Salzberg, a leading expert in lovingkindness meditation, shares sage advice and indispensable techniques to help free ourselves from these negative feelings and actions. She teaches us that meditation is not a replacement for action, but rather a way to practice generosity with ourselves and summon the courage to break through boundaries, reconnect to a movement that's bigger than ourselves, and have the energy to stay active. Consulting with veteran activists and social-change agents in a variety of fields, Salzberg collects and shares their wisdom and offers the best practical advice to foster transformation in both ourselves and in society. To help tame our inner landscape or chaos, Salzberg offers mindfulness practices that will help readers cultivate a sense of agency and stay engaged in the long-term struggle for social change. Whether you're resolving conflicts with a crotchety neighbor or combating global warming, Real Change will provide the fundamental principles and mindfulness practices to help guide you to the clarity and confidence to lift a foot and take the next step into a better world.

In this beautifully written work, one of America's most beloved meditation teachers offers discerning wisdom on understanding faith as a healing quality. Through the teachings of Buddha and insight gained from her lifelong spiritual quest, Salzberg provides us with a road map for cultivating a feeling of peace that can be practiced by anyone of any tradition.

A New York Times best seller—now revised and updated with new exercises and guided meditations.

“An inviting gateway to the interior territory of profound well-being and wisdom.”—Jon Kabat-Zinn, author of Wherever You Go, There You Are

From Sharon Salzberg, a pioneer in the field of meditation and world-renowned teacher acclaimed for her down-to-earth style, Real Happiness is a complete guide to starting and maintaining a meditation practice. Beginning with the simplest breathing and sitting techniques, and based on three key skills—concentration, mindfulness, and lovingkindness—it’s a practice anyone can do and that can transform our lives by bringing us greater resiliency, creativity, peace, clarity, and balance.

This updated 10th anniversary edition includes exercises, journal prompts, and ten guided meditations available for download online and through scannable QR codes.

This biography of one of the few women in her generation to devote herself entirely to the pursuit of meditation also includes Dipa Ma's spiritual teachings, which have made her a major figure in contemporary Buddhism.

In Real Love, one of the world's leading authorities on love tells us how to find it, how to nurture it, how to honor it-and most of all how to rethink it ... This book has the power to set your heart at peace.' -Susan Cain, author of Quiet What is love? Sharon Salzberg believes that love is a powerful healing force for us all, and that modern associations with romance and adoration are limiting. By redefining love, she helps us to recognize our desire for happiness and enhance our connections with each other. Real Love is a creative toolkit of mindfulness exercises and meditation techniques that can help you to truly engage with your present experience and create deeper love relationships - with yourself, your partner, friends and family, and with life itself. The book encourages us to strip away layers of negative habits and obstacles and to improve deeper connections, helping us to experience authentic love based on direct experience, rather than preconceptions.

Real Happiness at Work brings the profound benefits of meditation to an area where people could use it most the workplace. And it s written by one of the world s leading meditation teachers.A follow-up to Real Happiness, the New York Times bestseller, Sharon Salzberg s Real Happiness at Work is a practical guide to improving work life through mindfulness, compassion, and ingenuity. It s about being committed without being consumed, competitive without being cruel, managing time and emotions to counterbalance stress and frustration. It shows readers how to be more creative, organized, and accomplished in order to do better, more productive work.Dividing the idea of workplace satisfaction into eight pillars, Real Happiness at Work is filled with secular wisdom; core meditations on broad themes like motivation, awareness, and seeing the good in others; and more than a dozen exercises, including Moving From Me to We and When Things Go Wrong. Sprinkled throughout the book are short stealth meditations, the kind that are quick, private, and doable anywhere Let the phone ring three times, follow your breath, then pick it up and For an upcoming one-on-one conversation, resolve to listen more and speak less. Even the best jobs are filled with stress, tough deadlines, impatient bosses, seemingly endless meetings all the ills of harried life. But as science increasingly shows, meditation is the antidote."

Throughout our lives we long to love ourselves more deeply and find a greater sense of connection with others. Our fear of intimacy—both with others and with ourselves—creates feelings of pain and longing. But these feelings can awaken in us the desire for freedom and the willingness to take up the spiritual path.

In this inspiring book, Sharon Salzberg, one of America's leading spiritual teachers, shows us how the Buddhist path of lovingkindness can help us discover the radiant, joyful heart within each of us. This practice of lovingkindness is revolutionary because it has the power to radically change our lives, helping us cultivate true happiness in ourselves and genuine compassion for others. The author draws on simple Buddhist teachings, wisdom stories from various traditions, guided meditation practices, and her own experience from twenty-five years of practice and teaching to illustrate how each one of us can cultivate love, compassion, joy, and equanimity.

In A Heart as Wide as the World, one of America's most popular Buddhist teachers offers a book of encouragement and inspiration for anyone on the spiritual path. In short sections that include many stories and anecdotes culled from her twenty-five years as a student and teacher of Buddhist meditation, Sharon Salzberg reveals how our own happiness is found in the capacity to open our hearts to others. And that this capacity is far more vast than we ever thought possible. Through meditation and the practice of lovingkindness, we can discover our intimate connection to those around us and to the world as a whole. This realization acts like a hidden storehouse of strength, allowing us to face whatever the world offers us with wisdom and compassion. In these pages, Sharon Salzberg shows us that our heart can be truly as wide as the world.

The 10th anniversary edition of this essential guide to developing a daily meditation practice shares key exercises and guidance to finding balance, peace and clarity. "Wonderfully clear, remarkably accessible, warm-hearted and wise" (Jack Kornfield). From Sharon Salzberg, a pioneer in the field of meditation and world-renowned teacher acclaimed for her down-to-earth style, Real Happiness is a complete guide to starting and maintaining a meditation practice. Beginning with the simplest breathing and sitting techniques, and based on three key skills - concentration, mindfulness and lovingkindness - it's a practice anyone can do and that can transform our lives by bringing us greater resiliency, creativity, peace, clarity and balance. This updated 10th anniversary edition includes exercises, journal prompts and ten guided meditations available for download online.