Real Life: The Journey from Isolation to Openness and Freedom

In this mixed entry, meditation teacher Salzberg (Real Happiness) suggests ways for readers to free themselves from a fear-driven “contraction” mindset and enter a freeing “expansion” mindset. The state is based in greater mental flexibility, Salzberg explains, and allows “our fundamentally loving hearts [to] uncoil” and move toward compassion and love. To reach it, one can adopt a mindfulness and meditation practice (she draws on Buddhist teachings throughout), or reflect on personal experiences and morals. Salzberg mines examples from friends, spiritual figures, and popular culture: a scene from the movie Encanto, for instance, highlights the importance of love, a key component of the “expansion” mindset (though Salzberg warns against confusing it with “excessive self-sacrifice”). Elsewhere, an overheard comment from Alice Walker speaks to the importance of good-heartedness, and quotes from bell hooks underscore the importance of love as an impetus for positive change. Unfortunately, Salzberg covers too many topics in too cursory a fashion, quickly touching on, among other things, depression, addiction, chronic pain, shame, grief, and EDMR therapy, making for hard-to-follow advice and a sense of narrative disorganization. Those new to Salzberg will find this a tough place to start. (Apr.)