When Things Fall Apart is an insightful and very readable book. It is composed of 22 short meditations about how to be intimate with whatever arises, especially when whatever arises is difficult. As she says, our practice
“nails us. It nails us to right to the point of time and space that we are in. When we stop there and don’t act out, don’t repress, don’t blame it on anyone else, and also don’t blame it on ourselves, then we meet with an open-ended question that which has no conceptual answer.”
Pema tells us in an emotionally honest style what it is like to be challenged and how to work with it. I strongly recommend this book to people who have been practising for awhile and want to step things up a bit, but also to those with little meditation experience who have been thrown into the deep end of the pool by illness, loss or death. This is when you need to learn to swim fast and this book can help you do it. Pema is funny, clear, grounded and compassionate. It has a Buddhist tone but can be read by just about anyone. When Things Fall Apart is one of my favourites and highly recommended.
