When the path ahead is dark, how can we keep from stumbling? How do we make our way with courage and dignity? Inside each of us is an eternal light that I call the One Who Knows, writes Jack Kornfield. Awakening to this wisdom can help us fin dour way through pain and suffering with grace and tenderness. For anyone seeking answer during a trying time, he offers A Lamp in the Darkness, a book-and-CD program filled with spiritual and psychological insights, hope-giving stories, and guided meditations for skillfully navigating lifes inevitable storms.
The practices in this book are not positive thinking, quick fixes, or simplistic self-help strategies. They are powerful tools for doing the work of the soul to access our inner knowing and to embrace the fullness of our life experience. With regularly practice these teachings and meditations enable you to transform your difficulties into a guiding light for the journey ahead. Join Jack Kornfeld as your trusted guide as you explore:
Table of Contents
Foreward by Jon Kabat-Zinn
Introduction: An Invitation to Awaken
Excerpt
If youre reading these words, youve probably hit hard times. Perhaps youve lost a loved one, or maybe youve lost your job, or received a difficult diagnosis, or someone close to you has. Maybe youre divorcing or youre in bankruptcy or youve been injured, or your life is falling apart in any number of ways. Maybe daily life itself has become too much for youor not enough. But even in the best of times theres plenty to worry about: seemingly endless wars and violence, racism, our accelerating environmental destruction. In difficult times, personally or collectively, we often begin to wonder not only how we can get through this difficult patch; we begin to question existence itself.
The practices in this book are not positive thinking, quick fixes, or simplistic self-help strategies. They are powerful tools for doing the work of the soul to access our inner knowing and to embrace the fullness of our life experience. With regularly practice these teachings and meditations enable you to transform your difficulties into a guiding light for the journey ahead. Join Jack Kornfeld as your trusted guide as you explore:
- Shared Compassiona guided practice for planting the seeds of compassion and opening the heart to all that life brings
- The Earth Is My Witnessa meditation to establish firm footing in the midst of darkness, centered by a steady witnessing presence
- The Practice of Forgivenesswhat Jack calls the only medicine that can release us from the past and allow us to truly begin anew.
- The Temple of Healinga guided visualization to meet our own inner healer
- Equanimity and Peacea meditation for maintaining balance and acceptance regardless of the situation
Table of Contents
Foreward by Jon Kabat-Zinn
Introduction: An Invitation to Awaken
- The Wisdom of Our Difficulties
- The Earth is My Witness
- Shared Compassion
- Awakening the Buddha of Wisdom in Difficulties
- The Practice of Forgiveness
- The Temple of Healing
- The Zen of an Aching Heart
- Equanimity and Peace
- Your Highest Intention
- The Four Foundations of Mindfulness and the Healing Journey
Excerpt
If youre reading these words, youve probably hit hard times. Perhaps youve lost a loved one, or maybe youve lost your job, or received a difficult diagnosis, or someone close to you has. Maybe youre divorcing or youre in bankruptcy or youve been injured, or your life is falling apart in any number of ways. Maybe daily life itself has become too much for youor not enough. But even in the best of times theres plenty to worry about: seemingly endless wars and violence, racism, our accelerating environmental destruction. In difficult times, personally or collectively, we often begin to wonder not only how we can get through this difficult patch; we begin to question existence itself.
