Love Your Enemies

When people and circumstances upset us, how do we deal with them? Often, we feel victimized. We become hurt, angry and defensive. We end up seeing others as enemies, and when things don't go our way, we become enemies to ourselves. But what if we could move past this pain, anger, and defensiveness? Inspired by Buddhist philosophy, this book introduces us to the four kinds of enemies we encounter in life- the outer enemy - people, institutions, and situations that mean to harm us; the inner enemy - anger, hatred, fear, and other destructive emotions; the secret enemy - self-obsession that isolates us from others; and the super-secret enemy - deep-seated self-loathing that prevents us from finding inner freedom and true happiness. In this practical guide, we learn not only how to identify our enemies, but more important, how to transform our relationship with them. Love Your Enemies teaches us how to . . . Break free from the mode of 'us' versus 'them' thinking Develop compassion, patience and love Accept what is beyond our control Embrace loving kindness, right speech, and other core concepts Throughout, authors Sharon Salzberg and Robert Thurman share stories and exercises for finding peace within yourself and with the world. Drawing from ancient spiritual wisdom and modern psychology, Love Your Enemiespresents tools that are useful for all readers. 'Brilliant! Love Your Enemiesis possibly the most inspiring and liberating meditation on love ever written.'Robert Holden, Ph.D., author of Shift Happens!and Loveability