Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach PhD is a superb book. Its recent appearance in my life is one of the delightfully synchronistic events that have begun to accumulate since the beginning of this dance. It jumped off the shelf at my local Barnes and Noble just after I learned of my rising PSA level. “This looks appropriate,” I thought. I had been occasionally practicing and frequently reading about Insight Meditation for several years but had not come across Tara’s work before. Some of the chapter headings spoke directly to me:
The Trance of Unworthiness (see the end of my previous post; ‘Receiving Support’)
Coming Home to Our Body (something was certainly changing in my body)
Opening Our Heart in the Face of Fear (the Opening the Heart Workshop™ is a workshop that I facilitate – and I was certainly fearful of the up-coming diagnosis)
The title and these chapter headings were more than enough reason for me to purchase the book. I have not been disappointed. This is the clearest, most helpful guide of how to come back into full connection with our center that I have ever read. It is a brilliant synthesis of Buddhist meditation practice and contemporary psychotherapy.
Over the last weeks the book has been my bedtime and breakfast reading. I have re-read some of the chapters several times – each time allowing the meaning to sink deeper. If there is one book that will support me through my treatment – this is it! I fully recommend it to anyone facing any kind of ‘acceptance challenge’, whether it be self acceptance, acceptance of a disturbing life circumstance, acceptance of a difficult relationship or acceptance of the current state of the world.
Buy it or borrow it soon!
