Going to Pieces without Falling Apart: A Buddhist Perspective on Wholeness

Being with the moment is happiness and meditation teaches how to achieve the same, it is told. Nice examples of cases; provides great opportunity to ponder.When you feel time is slipping, you are not with the moment. When you are with the moment, time does not slip and you are in sync with time. Anxiety removes the happiness in the moment. Anxiety can be caused by looking forward to the result.A nice case was told about a woman enjoying her moments waiting for her company, a married man. Perhaps she never took the risk of enjoying those moments when she was looking for bachelors, worrying about whether he will marry her. Strange the way mind works.So to be with time and enjoy the moment, one has to feel the transience of material and emotional relations. Nothing is permanent. Results can be changing and never easily predicted.This requires training from childhood. A child should be given enough room to experiment without supervision (intrusion) of the mother, so that it can manage to understand the transient nature, success or failure, of course without it feeling absence of the protection of the mother…In lighter vein; a Buddhist teacher who loses his dear one, cries his heart out for a quite a few days. The disciples confront him, telling him that he has been teaching them about illusionary nature of world and he is not practicing it. He told “losing a dear one is a Painful illusion”.

A well written book and informative, just not what I was looking for. It's very heavy on the psychotherapy; he blends it with Buddhist teachings quite well. So if you're intrigued by this concept of Western and Eastern practices, I recommend the book. If, like me, you're not looking to learn about psychotherapy (I find it ...creepy? A very personal opinion.), you might be more interested in Sharon Salzberg (the only other writer on this subject that I can recommend confidently).

Mark Epstein has done an excellent job of using timeless Buddhist sutras, pithy tales from therapy sessions, and relatable personal anecdotes to guide the reader to a greater understanding of what we really are (and aren't), and to liberation (or something closer to it).

The book is interesting. It is different of the kind of books I usually read. Full of abstractions and Buddhist concepts I've never seen before. However, for this reason, I've found very difficult to read. Most of the times, I've found myself trying to understand what the author meant about the subjects. Maybe, I was not prepared to read it. Or, I set my expectations to high for it. Consequently, I couldn't get enough to find it useful.

This is not a good book for either beginner meditation or beginner Buddhism. There are plenty of others that will get you started that are easier to read and understand. However this is a great book if you are already on the path and are looking to go deeper.He explores feelings of emptiness and the illusion of self. Although I had already studied these ideas elsewhere it was great to read about them from a more mental health perspective. I have been able to put into practice some of the teachings and they are proving so far to be life-changing. My relationship with both myself and others has improved and I’m in a happier place.

Here's the quick summary of this book: there are issues, like existential aloneness and death as the end of consciousness that most of us like to dress up in opposition to their Ultimate Truth. We prefer to believe, for example, that we aren't alone, after all, there are all of those people at work that report to us that naturally think we are messianic. As for death, well, probably it's a Big Picnic and Elvis, JFK, and our favorite comedian will be there (see Echo Bodine's books for details). These are issues, which if confronted honestly, aren't going away with 100 mg of Zoloft or a nice walk in the park. Nor are they classic phobias in which putting a bottle of spiders on your bed stand for a week will freak you out so badly via the somewhat euphemistically entitled technique of "flooding" that soon you will think of spiders as your Little Helpers, catching and eating all those nasty flies that are in your house. Epstein has a different answer: meditate and get right into the issues; they aren't going anywhere and you can't resolve them by doodling in the external world. Stand right in the middle of the fire of the fear of death and the depression upon the conclusion that you are ultimately alone; meditate on the issues and pursue them by looking within...and therein is the only chance of peaceful acceptance, which Epstein asserts is lots better than denial. I would have given the book five stars, but I took one star off for the author's picture on the back of the book. The photographer was apparently fond of the "look at me pull my own finger" look for his subjects.

Referencing psychotherapy, Buddhism and meditation in a uniquely blended way, Mark addresses human neuroses that undermine our lives via multiple examples, all leading to one conclusion that one need not be perfect to be happy. The books leaves a strong feeling of kindness and empathy towards our apparent shortcomings.Although on occasion it didn't seem like an easy read due to a slightly scholastic style, I found it immensely valuable for myself as an intermediate practitioner. The book resonated with a lot of my personal experience in self discovery and growth.

We saw the Netflix movie based on this "Fishermen's Friends" singing group of actual fishermen in a small coastal British town (Same actual town as wonderful PBS series "Doc Martin" was filmed coincidentally!). The movie was so good, upon further exploration, we found four of their Cds available and ordered them. This CD, and the other three, are so fabulous, we are listening to them over and over on our 5-CD player. Though of course Sea Shanties are big with this group, a wide variety of folk tunes are covered by their many other songs on the CD! We HIGHLY recommend, AND. IF you like to dance to your folk music, this CD will have you dancing all over the house!!

Usually there are two camps that divide people into the meditators or the therapy people ... this book shows how both can contribute to the same amazing way of being with the "big blue sky" of the mind. I enjoyed the mashup of neurosis and Buddhist parables. Well written and enjoyable to read.

A must read... I recommend doing it in a slow-paced manner to gain all the knowledge!!!

Una prospettiva nuova e vincente sulla psicodinamica e la meditazione tradizionale. Interessanti spunti per la gestione delle relazioni nella vita di tutti i giorni.

I came to this book after reading '10% happier' and 'Real happiness'. I have been practicing meditation for about six months only. I wish I had started before but knew very little about it. I feel it's a fundamental part of my life now and I will want to practice until the end. It has changed my life in such a profound way that I don't understand why it isn't something taught at school. As my father was a psychiatrist and psychoanalist, I am deeply grateful for this book reconciling therapy and Buddhism.

Absolutely loved this book an read it in a matter of days.An inspiring story of how we could find inner comfort and help to overcome deep fears and everyday challenges.Is an easy read that I really recommend to anyone that appreciate the value of Buddhist religion even without being a deep believer.