Start Where You Are

Start Where You Are is an indispensable handbook for cultivating fearlessness and awakening a compassionate heart, from bestselling author Pema Chödrön. With insight and humour, she presents down-to-earth guidance on how to make friends with ourselves and develop genuine compassion towards others.


This book shows how we can 'start where we are' by embracing rather than denying the painful aspects of our lives.


Pema Chödrön frames her teachings on compassion around fifty-nine traditional Tibetan Buddhist maxims, or slogans, such as: ‘Always apply a joyful state of mind’, ‘Always meditate on whatever provokes resentment’ and ‘Be grateful to everyone’.


Working with these slogans and through the practice of meditation, Start Where You Are shows how we can all develop the courage to work with our own inner pain and discover joy, well-being and confidence.