Practicing Peace in Times of War by Pema Chödrön is the Royal Book of the Week. For Duke Augustus, this book is a necessity to anyone trying to lead a more nonviolent life. It is the perfect follow-up to the Monday 7/25/11 Royal Book of the Week Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg. Rosenberg’s book explores our emotional reactions to other people’s behavior, and tries to give us back control of interactions with other people by separating the emotions we are feeling from what our response to the person is in order to resolve conflict instead of increasing it. Chödrön’s book takes us inside those emotions second-by-second so that our thought and action can be separated from our emotions rather than controlled by them.
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War and peace begin in the hearts of individuals.
Initially, I was attracted by the titleof this book because in our violence-prone society I often feel at a loss for how to respond to the endless and expanding war that we are responsible for. From the outset of the book, Chödrön follows the same path as Dr. King and Thich Nhat Hanh, who have said that the path to peace begins within
Pema Chödrön is an American Buddhist nun in the lineage of Chögyam Trungpa. She is resident teacher at Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia, the first Tibetan monastery in North America established for Westerners. She is also the author of many books and audiobooks, including the best-selling When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times and Don’t Bite the Hook: Finding Freedom from Anger, Resentment, and Other Destructive Emotions.
Related articles
- Royal Book of the Week: July 18, 2011 (peacecouple.com)
- Royal Book of the Week: Monday 8/1/11 (peacecouple.com)
