Radical Acceptance

Tara Brach

Nov 2004 · Sold by Bantam

About this ebook

In our current times of global crises and spiking collective anxiety, Tara Brach’s transformative practice of Radical Acceptance offers a pathway to inner freedom and a more compassionate world.

This classic work now features an insightful new introduction, an exclusive bonus chapter, and additional guided meditations.

“Radical Acceptance offers us an invitation to embrace ourselves with all our pain, fear, and anxieties, and to step lightly yet firmly on the path of understanding and compassion.”—Thich Nhat Hanh
 
“Believing that something is wrong with us is a deep and tenacious suffering,” says Tara Brach at the start of this illuminating book. This suffering emerges in crippling self-judgments and conflicts in our relationships, in addictions and perfectionism, in loneliness and overwork—all the forces that keep our lives constricted and unfulfilled. Radical Acceptance offers a path to freedom, including the day-to-day practical guidance developed over Dr. Brach’s forty years of work with therapy clients and Buddhist students.
 
Writing with great warmth and clarity, Tara Brach brings her teachings alive through personal stories and case histories, fresh interpretations of Buddhist tales, and guided meditations. Step by step, she shows us how we can stop being at war with ourselves and begin to live fully every precious moment of our lives.

Ratings and reviews

Stupendous. An approachable book about the concept of "radical acceptance," or an approach to living daily life without suffering, which is different from pain and other discomfort. It doesn't really belong in the "Religion" section of a bookstore, and it doesn't belong in "Self Help" either. In fact, it probably wouldn't fit comfortably in any typical bookstore section, which is one clue to its high quality. This book doesn't seek you out, hoping to convince you of any "message." If you decide to pick it up and read it, it will be open and friendly to you. If you decide against it, it will not harbor any grudge. Within, Tara Brach combines Buddhist philosophy, contemporary psychology, with an undercurrent of a secular or ecumenical approach with everyday language. In other words it's not a "New Agey" book for Buddhists or disciples of yoga or meditation. Instead, it's a book for anyone curious about meditation and the wisdom of Buddhist stories or simply a different way of approaching daily life that is a bit more comfortable than the anxious, stressed out, average American way. Radical Acceptance is the kind of book that's good to have handy in your personal library (or bookshelf) to read on a regular afternoon or when struggling with a difficult event. You can pick it up, open to any page, randomly, and get something out of it. Tara Brach has a free podcast of her talks available via her website and iTunes if you want to get a flavor of the book before purchasing it. I like the sound of her voice (again, not New Agey or stereotypically meditative) and her sense of humor too.

I only read up to page 39 because that the sample but so far from that I love this book so much its amazing !

Exceptional quality context. Great read for finding inner peace and love to yourself.

About the author

Tara Brach, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist as well as a Buddhist lay priest and popular teacher of mindfulness (vipassana) meditation. She is the founder of the Insight Meditation Community in Washington, D.C., and has conducted workshops at Spirit Rock Center, Omega Institute, the New York Open Center, and other retreat centers nationwide. She lives in Bethesda, Maryland, with her teenaged son.