How to Stay Human in a F*cked-Up World: Mindfulness Practices for Real Life

by Tim Desmond, Tim Desmond (Read by)

Overview

How can we be more mindful when the world is this f*cked up?

How to Stay Human in a F*cked Up World is the fresh, engaging answer to this important question. If you’ve tried mindfulness before and failed, we get it. Likely you were told to sit on a pillow in a dark room, meditate, or count your breaths. But mindfulness isn’t about separating ourselves from the problems in the world. Instead, it is about re-learning how to get out there, connect with the suffering of every living being and in so doing, embrace your own personal suffering to heal, transform, grow, and finally find peace.

Tim Desmond—an esteemed Buddhist philosopher who has lectured on psychology at both Harvard and Yale and studied under Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh—has spent his life cultivating new ways to bridge the gap between the ancient tradition of mindfulness and modern life. With How to Stay Human in a F*cked Up World Desmond gets right to the heart of our collective pain with a life-changing mindfulness practice for surviving the sometimes-miserable world we live in, featuring strategies and guidance you can start using to feel more connected, joyful, and present today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781982660062
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	06/25/2019
Edition description:	Unabridged
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

TIMOTHY AMBROSE DESMOND is a Distinguished Faculty Scholar at Antioch University teaching professional psychology rooted in self-compassion. He has lectured at Yale School of Medicine, and taught mindfulness in all 50 states. After having grown up poor in Boston with a single alcoholic mother and having been homeless as a teenager, Desmond was exposed to the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh, and eventually studied closely with Thich Nhat Hanh and his senior monastics at Plum Village. In 2011, Desmond co-founded Morning Sun Mindfulness Center, an intentional community and retreat center in Alstead, NH.

When he isn’t teaching, advising, or on retreat, Desmond is organizing progressive political demonstrations, and was one of the core organizers of Occupy Wall Street. Tim spent a night in jail with Daniel Ellsberg during the anti-Iraq War demonstrations in San Francisco.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 Something Deeper Than Despair 5

Chapter 2 Finding Beauty in Life 15

Chapter 3 The Art of Unhappiness 25

Chapter 4 Know Yourself 49

Chapter 5 How to Stay Human When Other People Suck 63

Chapter 6 Why Do Bad Things Happen? 85

Chapter 7 The Art of Not Existing 101

Chapter 8 Healing Old Pain 115

Chapter 9 You're Not Crazy 131

Chapter 10 Becoming Fearless 147

Chapter 11 Community as Refuge, Community as Weapon 165

Chapter 12 Your Ten Thousand Hours 177

Afterword 197

Acknowledgments 198

About the Author 199