Throughout our lives we long to love ourselves more deeply and find a greater sense of connection with others. Our fear of intimacy—both with others and with ourselves—creates feelings of pain and longing. But these feelings can also awaken in us the desire for freedom and the willingness to take up the spiritual path. In this inspiring book, longtime meditation practitioner and teacher Sharon Salzberg shows how the Buddhist path can help us discover the radiant, joyful heart within each one of us, drawing on Buddhist teachings, wisdom from various traditions, her personal experiences, and guided meditation exercises. With these tools, she teaches how the practice of lovingkindness can illuminate a path to cultivating love, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity—the four “heavenly abodes” of traditional Buddhism. Reviews and Endorsements: “Sharon Salzberg’s book illuminates the heart of lovingkindness like a lamp in the darkness, like the clearing of fog, like a sunrise on a beautiful morning—it brings light so that all those with eyes may see.”—Jack Kornfield, author of After the Ecstasy, the Laundry
“Reading Salzberg’s book produces the sense of having been gifted abundantly.”—Sylvia Boorstein "The important Buddhist practice of lovingkindness is given a rounded and revealing treatment in this book. The author, who is a founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, uses 25 years of teaching experience to shed light on this "incandescent power of love" that is present in all of us. Salzberg talks about the significance of intimacy with ourselves as a prelude to reaching out to others. Some of the hindrances to lovingkindness are enslavement to desire and attachment as well as addiction to anger and aversion. Salzberg affirms equanimity and generosity as keys to developing a compassionate heart. This is the right book on the right subject for our troubled times."—Frederic A Brussat, Body Mind Spirit About the Author: Sharon Salzberg is one of America’s leading spiritual teachers and authors and has been a practitioner of Buddhist meditation for over forty years. She is a co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, and teaches meditation across the country, online, and abroad. To learn more, visit sharonsalzberg.com | 
