I’ve never written a book review and I haven’t read any reviews of this book.
I am simply writing from the heart. If you are a multi tasker, if you have too many “shoulds” in your life, if you ever doubt yourself then give yourself the gift of this book.
Seeking Peace: Chronicles of the Worst Buddhist in the World by Mary Pipher (2009).
I knew Mary Pipher as the Midwestern psychotherapist and well known and in demand author of 1990’s best sellers, Reviving Ophelia and The Shelter of Each Other. I still remember her writing about the importance of sitting down to family dinner without the distractions of TV (this was long before cell phones and texting) no matter how busy and over scheduled you are. What I didn’t know is that she dropped off the radar for years after running in to a brick wall.
I would be surprised if you don’t find something of yourself on almost every page of this memoir.
We are all so hard on ourselves. We are all so over scheduled and spread too thin. We are all regretting something we did and worrying about what we need to do next. If you still don’t get it about the importance of being “fully present”, if you still haven’t made the time to have a regular meditation practice, this gem might help.
We are what we pay attention to. Sadly, most of the time we are not attending to the world or ourselves. Psychologists estimate we have 60,000-70,000 thoughts a day, 99% of which are more or less what we thought yesterday. Our habits run our lives. Most of the time we are phoning it in. (p217)
Not all minutes are created equal and only a few become moments. We tend to greet every minute with demands such as: I want this. I don’t want this. I want more of this. I want less of that. We have ideas about what our minutes should or should not be. We want sunshine or rain, quiet or company, work or rest. We are such yearning organisms. Yet, there is a sense in which many of us are fighting for our lives. We are struggling to be present for our own experiences. (p212)
Do you want to rush past Joshua Bell? (p212) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnOPu0_YWhw
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