A.Z. Eldritch &
Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach

I struggled to finish this book. While there’s wisdom in it, the repetitive storytelling and vague self-help language made it frustrating. It felt twice as long as necessary—maybe even better as a short pamphlet.

The endless anecdotes felt emotionally manipulative, and the constant “we” statements came off as coercive rather than insightful. On top of that, it’s just recycled Eastern philosophy, repackaged for a Western audience. Not inherently bad, but not new either. Not for me.

A therapist recommended this book to me. The library book was several weeks away from being available, but the audiobook was available right away, so this is my first audiobook read. I didn't love Cassandra's voice, but I did end up listening to the whole thing over the course of several days. Immediately, the first chapter sucked me in and I felt like she was talking about me. As the chapters continued, she talked about different meditations or practices to do, but as a reader, or listener in this case, I was focused on that part and not stopping to practice the meditation. The author also mentions Buddhism and being a yogi, so I didn't connect as much to those things, but I very much appreciated all of the stories she shared about other people who came to her with issues over the years including some of her own problems that she shared. Overall, I think it was a very good book, very informative, and lets me know that we are all dealing with issues, and there are some ways to try and work on those.

Goes rather deep into Buddhism and how the author herself went through different phases of less and more spirituality in her life. A great recollection how to connect your spiritual self with your ambitious and career-driven self. Great read overall.

Buddhist teachings to accepting life as it flows and raising our awareness. Somehow I expected a bit more from it in a more condensed writing. Was finally ok with few takeaways. [reading time: 11h20m]