When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times

When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times, written in 1996 by Pema Chödrön, is a self-help and spiritual guidance book that aims to teach readers how to transcend the pain and anguish of daily life through Tibetan Buddhist mindfulness techniques. The book also explains how to use these practices to help reduce suffering in others. The work became a bestseller and generated increased interest in mindfulness meditation as a therapeutic and spiritually uplifting technique. Through the lens of Buddhist philosophy, the book explores the importance of acceptance in attaining serenity, embracing groundlessness, and the ways mindfulness promotes compassion.

Chödrön has been a leader in the Shambhala sect of Tibetan Buddhism in the US and Canada for several decades. Her books, lectures, and teachings have introduced thousands to mindfulness meditation, a popular secular practice in Western societies today.

The e-book version of the 20th-anniversary edition forms the basis for this study guide.

Summary

When Things Fall Apart is a compilation of edited talks Pema Chödrön gave in the years leading up to the book’s publication. The talks all center on the book’s central theme, that serenity comes from one’s acceptance of the world—and the self—as it is, and with loving kindness.