Advice Not Given: A Guide to Getting Over Yourself

The ego--intangible but ever-present--claims to have our best interests at heart in the constant pursuit to maintain control over our emotions. But this pursuit is accompanied by anxiety and frustration when we fail to rein them in, setting the stage for self-doubt. In Advice Not Given, psychiatrist and practicing Buddhist Dr. Mark Epstein gives us the tools to get over ourselves by taming our ego.

Epstein (The Trauma of Everyday Life) has never kept his Buddhism a secret from his patients, but has only recently begun to incorporate its principles into his therapeutic work by using the Eightfold Path as a guide. Beginning with Right View, Epstein cautions that "meditation is not to create a comfortable hiding place for oneself" as it has been adopted in the West. He challenges readers to break from the stories they tell themselves through Right Speech and, in Right Action, to be patient when relinquishing what ails them. Epstein addresses the trend of mindfulness as the key to personal transformation, and warns "not to turn it into another method of self-improvement" to achieve instant but short-lived gratification.

Through accessible stories of challenges and breakthroughs with his patients and timeless insight from Buddhist tales, Epstein gives readers the resources to move forward by learning to let go of the ego's grip over emotions. This is no easy task, and Epstein helpfully shares successes and failures from his own journey. --Frank Brasile, librarian

Powered by: Xtenit