Offers advice on uncovering inner wisdom and opening one's heart while refusing to allow resentfulness and fear to block one's inner light.

Argues that failure is the most direct way to becoming a more complete, loving, and fulfilled human being.

"It's one thing to hear a life-changing truth or to have a conceptual grasp on spiritual wisdom. But it's another thing to "walk the walk"--or to put into practice the good advice we've been given. What does it mean to walk the walk in our everyday lives? According to Pema Chödrön, it means being down-to-earth, genuine, and perhaps most importantly, it means engaging in the teachings in order to actively confront anything and everything we've heretofo rejected in our attempts to find happiness." -- Container

What would happen if we looked with fresh eyes at the struggles and 'impossible situations' that we face every day, and found there four truths that changed everything. One of Buddhism's essential distillations of written wisdom known as The Four Marks of Existence. These marks that shape all of us, teaches Pema Chodron, are like forgotten gifts waiting to be found. And while they may ring familiar to some, they hold vast layers of often-unrealized understanding to both new and seasoned ears.

Teachings on bodhichitta and the bodhisattva path have been at the heart of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition for centuries. Drawing on the beloved classic, The Way of the Bodhisattva by Shantideva and many years of personal practice, Pema Chodron leads a retreat on cultivating practical wisdom and selfless compassion that will inspire both the experienced practitioner and the curious novice.

In this recorded retreat, based on the program 'Living beautifully with uncertainty and change' held at Omega Institute, Pema Chodron and her teaching assistant, Meg Wheatley, provide a wealth of wisdom for learning to step right into the river: to be completely, fearlessly present even in the hardest times, and the most difficult situations.