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Trusting the Gold: Learning to nurture your inner light
'One of the leaders in the world of meditation' Forbes
'Tara Brach has an uncanny ability to home in precisely on what we need in the moment, so we can meet that need from within' Kristin Neff
Within us all live an innate goodness, our gold, that often gets covered over as we navigate the challenges of daily life. In this beautifully illustrated gift book, beloved meditation teacher Tara Brach shares personal stories and valuable practices to release layers of doubts and fears and allow the light of your natural loving awareness to shine freely.
'Tara Brach has an uncanny ability to home in precisely on what we need in the moment, so we can meet that need from within' Kristin Neff
Within us all live an innate goodness, our gold, that often gets covered over as we navigate the challenges of daily life. In this beautifully illustrated gift book, beloved meditation teacher Tara Brach shares personal stories and valuable practices to release layers of doubts and fears and allow the light of your natural loving awareness to shine freely.
176 pages, Hardcover
Published June 3, 2021
341 people are currently reading
1410 people want to read
About the author
Tara Brach
38 books2,048 followersTara Brach is a leading western teacher of Buddhist meditation, emotional healing and spiritual awakening. She has practiced and taught meditation for over 40 years, with an emphasis on vipassana (mindfulness or insight) meditation. Tara is the senior teacher and founder of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington. A clinical psychologist, Tara is the author of Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life With the Heart of a Buddha, True Refuge: Finding Peace & Freedom in Your Own Awakened Heart and Radical Compassion: Learning to Love Yourself and Your World with the Practice of R.A.I.N. (Viking, Dec. 31, 2019).
Tara is nationally known for her skill in weaving western psychological wisdom with a range of meditative practices. Her approach emphasizes compassion for oneself and others, mindful presence and the direct realization and embodiment of natural awareness.
Tara is nationally known for her skill in weaving western psychological wisdom with a range of meditative practices. Her approach emphasizes compassion for oneself and others, mindful presence and the direct realization and embodiment of natural awareness.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 84 reviews
May 6, 2021
Over 10 years ago when I read Tara Branch’s book, Radical Acceptance, it changed my life. It changed how I saw myself, and how I saw my life. And I have never been the same! I am delighted to be one of the first to read and review her newest book. This is a treasure, a beautiful treasure of a book that I will keep by my bedside and/or in my purse to take out and read a little bit of the richness at a time . . . Savoring the serene watercolor images that accompany the stories and the wisdom that she shares with us here.
Thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
January 30, 2022
this little book came home with me from @theivybookshop on my solo road-trip and i finally read it, and really liked it! brach comes from a Buddhist background (aka different than me! 🙌🏼) and i found so many of her thoughts striking, poignant, and beautiful. the writing style here is so lovely!
ps— read books by people who believe different things than you!!!
ps— read books by people who believe different things than you!!!
June 20, 2021
I’m so glad I got the audiobook version in addition to the hard copy of this book. Tara is a light to our world and she takes the time to share how we all can pause and experience the goodness that lies within each of us. Highly recommend.
June 1, 2024
Listened to the audio, read by the author. Walking the dogs with a Tara Brach in your ear is always a soothing experience. I appreciate her sharing from her own life.
January 9, 2022
“I have discovered that enoughness has absolutely zero to do with accomplishing, nothing to do with achieving, and is not at all about trying to be good enough. Rather, the realization of enough is right here in the fullness of presence, in the tenderness of an open heart, in the silence that is listening to this life. These are the moments when the glow of gold shines through."
“If you practice obsessive worry or blame, these pathways in your body and mind become deeply grooved and familiar. They imprison you in a small, tight, and endangered sense of self. If you practice thoughts of gratitude, curiosity, and care, the ego-self becomes porous and your goodness easily shines through. You can choose what you practice. Why not choose to cultivate the goodness and let the gold shine through?”
“The great spiritual teacher J. Krishnamurti taught that if we are truly paying attention, we are expressing love. When we pause and remain present with any part of this living world—the person we’re with, the tree in our front yard, a squirrel perched on a branch—we allow our hearts to open and be touched by life. With loving attention, the living energy all around us becomes an intimate part of who we are.”
I read 3 books at the same time this first week of the year: this, Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World by Tyson Yunkaporta, and Communion: the female search for love by bell hooks. Mind blown, I am going to go nonlinear and create a little sand talk about how these books guided by Aboriginal wisdom has taught me how to save the world. Yunkaporta writes, “Move with the land. Maintain diverse languages, cultures, and systems that reflect the ecosystems of the shifting landscapes you inhabit over time. That is the blueprint, and we are not the only people who know it—you might recall a similar biblical story in Genesis about the Tower of Babel.”
bell hooks died recently, a feminist and warrior of love that influenced me greatly. She writes, “We begin to see clearly how much love matters, not the old patriarchal versions of “love” but a deeper understanding of love as a transformational force demanding of each individual accountability and responsibility for nurturing our spiritual growth.
My sand drawing shows the sitting side by side that wisdom gleaned from disparate, robust, contradictory, gorgeous traditions (represented by 3 wavy lines) does with our ability to be present and mindful (the candle inside all of us) and love (represented by a heart on a planet type object.) If you think of a life as this simple juxtaposition, wisdom, mindfulness and love, doesn’t that free something in you that is exposed to their opposites day by day by day? It is certain there is a lot of evil in the world. It is certain there is a lot of good that is drowned out by the evil.
I didn’t plan to be reading these 3 books at the same time. I didn’t plan for my wisdom teachers to be these 3 authors. While reading them, it didn’t occur to me to put the 3 together in a sand drawing, I actually felt they were all so different, and what a beautiful start to the year. But I found a pattern, I found how these traditions rest easily in my heart and head and I find peace there. Maybe others can also, but you have to do the work yourself and find the patterns and then as we share them, we change. And as we change, we can hope for better.
And that, my friends, is how you start to learn to save the world.
At a certain point, I found myself standing perfectly still, realizing that my body and my mind were in the same place at the same time. I wasn’t rushing ahead with my thoughts; I wasn’t mulling over the past. There was a simple sense of presence, and everything was sacred, mysterious, and entirely alive. Our bodies live in the present moment, but our minds time travel. When body and mind are in the same place at the same time, we discover the creative presence that animates our Being.
The space within our bodies and the space that fills this universe is one continuous space, filled with the light of awareness. No inside, no outside. No self, no other. This boundless, undivided space of awareness, with its infinite expressions of aliveness, is our true home.
As the Indian sage Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj so beautifully teaches: “Love says ‘I am everything.’ Wisdom says ‘I am nothing.’ Between these two my life flows.”
The light and love of our true nature cannot be dimmed, tarnished, or erased. It calls to us daily through our longing for connection, our urge to understand reality, our delight in beauty, our natural desire to help others. Our deepest intuition is that there is something beyond our habitual story of a separate and isolated self: something vast, mysterious, and sacred.
May we trust and live from the purity of our boundless, radiant heart. And may we hold hands as we awaken together, bringing our shared caring to this precious, troubled, mysterious, and beautiful world.
The words of a Tibetan teacher came to mind—the essence of spiritual practice is “to meet our edge and soften.” I was at that edge, facing fear, aloneness, despair. How could I soften in the face of that? Gently I encouraged myself to go right into the painful edge of fear and soften there.
Poet Adrienne Rich wrote: “An honorable human relationship, that is, one in which two people have the right to use the word ‘love,’ is a process of deepening the truths they can tell each other. It is important to do this because it breaks down human self-delusion and isolation.”
“Every time I think there is a problem,” he said, “I decide there isn’t one.” I have found that simple guideline to be helpful in so many situations! When we label some situation as “a problem,” we easily get caught inside our “small self.” The mind tightens and we see things from only one perspective. But when we can let go of that negative frame, we can begin to unwind our stories and conclusions and start seeing a situation with a fresh perspective.
The Tibetan teacher Tsoknyi Rinpoche offers a simple phrase that can be a liberating reminder: “Real but not true.” It means that although the thoughts and feelings we are experiencing are real—they are really happening—their message and our interpretations are not the truth itself.
“Every day no matter what” is a gift to your soul, a gift of remembering. As Zen master Suzuki Roshi puts it: The most important thing is remembering the most important thing. Every day. The daily pause to just be present builds on itself and creates a gravitational field that increasingly calls you to presence throughout all the moments of your life.
Asking myself questions like, “In this moment, am I living from love?” reminds me of what’s possible and calls me back into alignment with my true nature. The longing to live true to ourselves is a natural and beautiful calling from our most pure and loving heart.
Along with the wash of sorrow still flowing through me came a sweet sense of belonging to a world of living beings who are not objects for our enjoyment or consumption but, like us, are aware and feeling. As I opened to that shared aliveness and sentience, I realized with a surge of gladness that I am never alone. Not in any way separate from all of life. With the knowing that “We are friends,” invisible threads of connection had come alive in a sacred way, and I could feel the peace of being embedded in life itself.
Thomas Merton. In his book Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, Merton tells the story of a profound realization he had one day. It was not during prayer or in the monastery but on a busy street corner in Louisville, Kentucky, when he was suddenly flooded with the sense that he loved everyone around him. “They were mine and I theirs,” he writes. ‘I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts, the depth of their hearts where neither sin nor knowledge could reach, the core of reality, the person that each one is in the eyes of the divine. If only they could see themselves as they really are. If only we could see each other that way all the time. There would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed. I suppose the big problem would be that we would fall down and worship each other.’
“If you practice obsessive worry or blame, these pathways in your body and mind become deeply grooved and familiar. They imprison you in a small, tight, and endangered sense of self. If you practice thoughts of gratitude, curiosity, and care, the ego-self becomes porous and your goodness easily shines through. You can choose what you practice. Why not choose to cultivate the goodness and let the gold shine through?”
“The great spiritual teacher J. Krishnamurti taught that if we are truly paying attention, we are expressing love. When we pause and remain present with any part of this living world—the person we’re with, the tree in our front yard, a squirrel perched on a branch—we allow our hearts to open and be touched by life. With loving attention, the living energy all around us becomes an intimate part of who we are.”
I read 3 books at the same time this first week of the year: this, Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World by Tyson Yunkaporta, and Communion: the female search for love by bell hooks. Mind blown, I am going to go nonlinear and create a little sand talk about how these books guided by Aboriginal wisdom has taught me how to save the world. Yunkaporta writes, “Move with the land. Maintain diverse languages, cultures, and systems that reflect the ecosystems of the shifting landscapes you inhabit over time. That is the blueprint, and we are not the only people who know it—you might recall a similar biblical story in Genesis about the Tower of Babel.”
bell hooks died recently, a feminist and warrior of love that influenced me greatly. She writes, “We begin to see clearly how much love matters, not the old patriarchal versions of “love” but a deeper understanding of love as a transformational force demanding of each individual accountability and responsibility for nurturing our spiritual growth.
My sand drawing shows the sitting side by side that wisdom gleaned from disparate, robust, contradictory, gorgeous traditions (represented by 3 wavy lines) does with our ability to be present and mindful (the candle inside all of us) and love (represented by a heart on a planet type object.) If you think of a life as this simple juxtaposition, wisdom, mindfulness and love, doesn’t that free something in you that is exposed to their opposites day by day by day? It is certain there is a lot of evil in the world. It is certain there is a lot of good that is drowned out by the evil.
I didn’t plan to be reading these 3 books at the same time. I didn’t plan for my wisdom teachers to be these 3 authors. While reading them, it didn’t occur to me to put the 3 together in a sand drawing, I actually felt they were all so different, and what a beautiful start to the year. But I found a pattern, I found how these traditions rest easily in my heart and head and I find peace there. Maybe others can also, but you have to do the work yourself and find the patterns and then as we share them, we change. And as we change, we can hope for better.
And that, my friends, is how you start to learn to save the world.
At a certain point, I found myself standing perfectly still, realizing that my body and my mind were in the same place at the same time. I wasn’t rushing ahead with my thoughts; I wasn’t mulling over the past. There was a simple sense of presence, and everything was sacred, mysterious, and entirely alive. Our bodies live in the present moment, but our minds time travel. When body and mind are in the same place at the same time, we discover the creative presence that animates our Being.
The space within our bodies and the space that fills this universe is one continuous space, filled with the light of awareness. No inside, no outside. No self, no other. This boundless, undivided space of awareness, with its infinite expressions of aliveness, is our true home.
As the Indian sage Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj so beautifully teaches: “Love says ‘I am everything.’ Wisdom says ‘I am nothing.’ Between these two my life flows.”
The light and love of our true nature cannot be dimmed, tarnished, or erased. It calls to us daily through our longing for connection, our urge to understand reality, our delight in beauty, our natural desire to help others. Our deepest intuition is that there is something beyond our habitual story of a separate and isolated self: something vast, mysterious, and sacred.
May we trust and live from the purity of our boundless, radiant heart. And may we hold hands as we awaken together, bringing our shared caring to this precious, troubled, mysterious, and beautiful world.
The words of a Tibetan teacher came to mind—the essence of spiritual practice is “to meet our edge and soften.” I was at that edge, facing fear, aloneness, despair. How could I soften in the face of that? Gently I encouraged myself to go right into the painful edge of fear and soften there.
Poet Adrienne Rich wrote: “An honorable human relationship, that is, one in which two people have the right to use the word ‘love,’ is a process of deepening the truths they can tell each other. It is important to do this because it breaks down human self-delusion and isolation.”
“Every time I think there is a problem,” he said, “I decide there isn’t one.” I have found that simple guideline to be helpful in so many situations! When we label some situation as “a problem,” we easily get caught inside our “small self.” The mind tightens and we see things from only one perspective. But when we can let go of that negative frame, we can begin to unwind our stories and conclusions and start seeing a situation with a fresh perspective.
The Tibetan teacher Tsoknyi Rinpoche offers a simple phrase that can be a liberating reminder: “Real but not true.” It means that although the thoughts and feelings we are experiencing are real—they are really happening—their message and our interpretations are not the truth itself.
“Every day no matter what” is a gift to your soul, a gift of remembering. As Zen master Suzuki Roshi puts it: The most important thing is remembering the most important thing. Every day. The daily pause to just be present builds on itself and creates a gravitational field that increasingly calls you to presence throughout all the moments of your life.
Asking myself questions like, “In this moment, am I living from love?” reminds me of what’s possible and calls me back into alignment with my true nature. The longing to live true to ourselves is a natural and beautiful calling from our most pure and loving heart.
Along with the wash of sorrow still flowing through me came a sweet sense of belonging to a world of living beings who are not objects for our enjoyment or consumption but, like us, are aware and feeling. As I opened to that shared aliveness and sentience, I realized with a surge of gladness that I am never alone. Not in any way separate from all of life. With the knowing that “We are friends,” invisible threads of connection had come alive in a sacred way, and I could feel the peace of being embedded in life itself.
Thomas Merton. In his book Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, Merton tells the story of a profound realization he had one day. It was not during prayer or in the monastery but on a busy street corner in Louisville, Kentucky, when he was suddenly flooded with the sense that he loved everyone around him. “They were mine and I theirs,” he writes. ‘I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts, the depth of their hearts where neither sin nor knowledge could reach, the core of reality, the person that each one is in the eyes of the divine. If only they could see themselves as they really are. If only we could see each other that way all the time. There would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed. I suppose the big problem would be that we would fall down and worship each other.’
February 13, 2025
Love tara brach. I feel like this is one of those books I will keep forever by my bed
Here are some of my favorite lines:
“The more we become mindful of passing thoughts, emotions, and sensations, the more we find ourselves abiding in the sky of awareness itself. This gives rise to a liberating insight: I am not my thoughts. I don’t have to believe my thoughts.”
“We long to feel connection with others, beyond the inevitable conflicts. We long to belong to a timeless, loving presence that can carry us through this living dying world. And embedded in and giving rise to our longing is the deep sense that what we belong for is possible. In quiet moments of genuine presence and caring do we not feel a homecoming, an experience that we are part of something whole and connected?”
“Believing we are separate selves is one of our deepest illusions and the source of our suffering. If we try to hide our feelings of unworthiness or unlovable, we deepen the sense of separation from others. Taking the risk to be vulnerable and real reveals the truth of our belonging to each other, to ourselves, to this world we share.”
“I have discovered that enoughness has absolutely zero to do with accomplishing, nothing to do with achieving, and is not at all about trying to be good enough. Rather the realization of enough is right here in the fullness of presence, and the tenderness of an open heart, in the silence that is listening to this life. These are the moments when the glow of gold shines through.”
Here are some of my favorite lines:
“The more we become mindful of passing thoughts, emotions, and sensations, the more we find ourselves abiding in the sky of awareness itself. This gives rise to a liberating insight: I am not my thoughts. I don’t have to believe my thoughts.”
“We long to feel connection with others, beyond the inevitable conflicts. We long to belong to a timeless, loving presence that can carry us through this living dying world. And embedded in and giving rise to our longing is the deep sense that what we belong for is possible. In quiet moments of genuine presence and caring do we not feel a homecoming, an experience that we are part of something whole and connected?”
“Believing we are separate selves is one of our deepest illusions and the source of our suffering. If we try to hide our feelings of unworthiness or unlovable, we deepen the sense of separation from others. Taking the risk to be vulnerable and real reveals the truth of our belonging to each other, to ourselves, to this world we share.”
“I have discovered that enoughness has absolutely zero to do with accomplishing, nothing to do with achieving, and is not at all about trying to be good enough. Rather the realization of enough is right here in the fullness of presence, and the tenderness of an open heart, in the silence that is listening to this life. These are the moments when the glow of gold shines through.”
June 15, 2021
This is a beautiful little book filled with soothing watercolor paintings and gentle instruction to encourage kindness and compassion for self and others. Through sharing personal experiences, Buddhist and other teaching stories, psychological insight, and questions for reflection, Tara Brach gently helps the reader discover how to live with more peace, love, and contentment.
I’ve read many books on mindfulness, meditation, and happiness, so many of these teachings were familiar to me. However, I loved the presentation here. Tara offers her wisdom with such graciousness, humor, and vulnerability. It’s easy to relate when she shares about preparing for a talk on presence while distractedly rubbing shaving cream into her hair.
The paintings by Vicky Alvarez were the perfect accompaniment for the text. They encourage a meditative state.
This book would make a lovely gift for anyone interested in spiritual growth or seeking a contemplative respite from distraction and stress.
Thanks to Sounds True for providing me with an unproofed ARC through NetGalley. I volunteered to provide an honest review.
I’ve read many books on mindfulness, meditation, and happiness, so many of these teachings were familiar to me. However, I loved the presentation here. Tara offers her wisdom with such graciousness, humor, and vulnerability. It’s easy to relate when she shares about preparing for a talk on presence while distractedly rubbing shaving cream into her hair.
The paintings by Vicky Alvarez were the perfect accompaniment for the text. They encourage a meditative state.
This book would make a lovely gift for anyone interested in spiritual growth or seeking a contemplative respite from distraction and stress.
Thanks to Sounds True for providing me with an unproofed ARC through NetGalley. I volunteered to provide an honest review.
August 28, 2021
Tara Brach is right at the top of my list of people whom I can never read enough. I've listened to her classes for years, I've read all of her books and I've learned something new each time. I'm reminded of things I'd learned and forgotten already and things that I know I need to hear again and again. She never ever disappoints and I cannot recommend this book enough. It's a distillation of a lot of her stories, thoughts, encouragements, and lessons. As always, it's told in her gentle style and it's gold.
December 18, 2025
I am blown away. This was written and illustrated so beautifully. It’s the kind of book you read and then write notes to come back to when needed to navigate through life. Superb, I truly recommend to everyone.
July 24, 2022
If you have read Tara Brach or listened to her podcast, then this little book will likely be a repeat. However, it would make a lovely little gift book for someone unfamiliar with her offerings, but interested in Bhuddism. The short (and potent) teachings in this book are often followed by reflections that could give direction to a meditation session. I’ve read this straight through, but can now open to a page at random and rediscover something good for my morning sit. Thank you, Tara.
April 6, 2023
This book felt like a balm for the soul
It's composed of short stories and short moments from which the author gathers snippets of wisdom, about being present, handling uncomfortable feelings, etc. It's all beauty and tenderness.
It's composed of short stories and short moments from which the author gathers snippets of wisdom, about being present, handling uncomfortable feelings, etc. It's all beauty and tenderness.
April 27, 2025
Very helpful and beautifully illustrated
August 2, 2021
Book 33 of 50 for 2021. Tara Brach is one of the wisest people on this earth. Her writing abounds with love. This is another instant classic. I can’t wait to return to this book. It stands our from others of its genre, even Tara’s other books, by also being beautifully illustrated.
November 4, 2023
Tara's writing is so pure and vulnerable. The advice she shares, is so important for everyone in every season of their life. Also, visuals are noteworthy!
Notes:
- There is Gold inside each of us
- Don't shoot the second arrow on yourself; treat yourself with compassion
- Repeat- "Thank you for everything. I have nothing to complain."
- Have the courage to deepen your surrender - place your head in the mouth of the demon
- Accept what arises and feel the tenderness of your caring and vulnerable heart
- Admit our imperfections; Let go and be real
- Grieving breaks our heart open and that tender spaciousness can now hold our hurting world with compassion
- lf you want to realize who you are and who others are, avoid making any living being better or worse than you, superior or inferior. [...]. awaken to the Oneness that is the fabric of all Being and reverence for the infinite and ever-changing expressions of life
- Love is the process of deepening the truths we tell each other
- I want to unfold... for when I am closed, I am false
- What you practice grows stronger
- Real but not true
- By meeting pain with tender presence, we transform our wounds and losses into fierce grace
- The boundary to what I can accept is the boundary to my freedom
- When we feel held by a caring presence, by something larger than our small, frightened self, we begin to find room in our heart for the fragments of our life, and for the lives of others. The suffering that might have seemed "too much" can awaken us to the sweetness of compassion.
- The real courage to be our true selves begins with holding our inner experience with compassion
- To be kind, you must swerve regularly from your path, and open your heart to those around you
- In the safe haven of belonging to others, we can begin to discover the sanctuary of peace that dwells within our own being
-Become aware of the goodness in others
- We share pain and compassion in our hearts
- Release yourself vulnerably into prayer
- RAIN - recognize, allow, investigate, nurture
- I could loose everything I cared about and that love would always be there, a timeless essence of my heart
- Wisdom and Love are inseparable expressions of our natural awareness
- Three qualities of awareness -> open, wakeful and tender
- This is it... No wait... this is it. This moment is all we have, this precious moment
- Take a pause from all "doing" and see yourself lighten up again
- See another human being... as someone with a heart, consciousness and worthy of love and care
- I am an undo
- Happy for no reason
- Trust the power of their hearts and awareness to awaken through all circumstances
- I am doing to die... you are going to die... we just have these precious moments together
- The space that fills our bodies and the space that fills this universe is a continuous space
- When our hearts are ready for anything, we are free to love without holding back
- Truth and love are intertwined. Truth reflected through the mind and love through the heart. Together they express the freedom of our awakening spirit.
Notes:
- There is Gold inside each of us
- Don't shoot the second arrow on yourself; treat yourself with compassion
- Repeat- "Thank you for everything. I have nothing to complain."
- Have the courage to deepen your surrender - place your head in the mouth of the demon
- Accept what arises and feel the tenderness of your caring and vulnerable heart
- Admit our imperfections; Let go and be real
- Grieving breaks our heart open and that tender spaciousness can now hold our hurting world with compassion
- lf you want to realize who you are and who others are, avoid making any living being better or worse than you, superior or inferior. [...]. awaken to the Oneness that is the fabric of all Being and reverence for the infinite and ever-changing expressions of life
- Love is the process of deepening the truths we tell each other
- I want to unfold... for when I am closed, I am false
- What you practice grows stronger
- Real but not true
- By meeting pain with tender presence, we transform our wounds and losses into fierce grace
- The boundary to what I can accept is the boundary to my freedom
- When we feel held by a caring presence, by something larger than our small, frightened self, we begin to find room in our heart for the fragments of our life, and for the lives of others. The suffering that might have seemed "too much" can awaken us to the sweetness of compassion.
- The real courage to be our true selves begins with holding our inner experience with compassion
- To be kind, you must swerve regularly from your path, and open your heart to those around you
- In the safe haven of belonging to others, we can begin to discover the sanctuary of peace that dwells within our own being
-Become aware of the goodness in others
- We share pain and compassion in our hearts
- Release yourself vulnerably into prayer
- RAIN - recognize, allow, investigate, nurture
- I could loose everything I cared about and that love would always be there, a timeless essence of my heart
- Wisdom and Love are inseparable expressions of our natural awareness
- Three qualities of awareness -> open, wakeful and tender
- This is it... No wait... this is it. This moment is all we have, this precious moment
- Take a pause from all "doing" and see yourself lighten up again
- See another human being... as someone with a heart, consciousness and worthy of love and care
- I am an undo
- Happy for no reason
- Trust the power of their hearts and awareness to awaken through all circumstances
- I am doing to die... you are going to die... we just have these precious moments together
- The space that fills our bodies and the space that fills this universe is a continuous space
- When our hearts are ready for anything, we are free to love without holding back
- Truth and love are intertwined. Truth reflected through the mind and love through the heart. Together they express the freedom of our awakening spirit.
Read
December 5, 2025I've read a lot about love in the past years, getting to know the "theory" of it while being a selfish, lost and broken passenger at the same time, shitting where I eat and not understanding why I seemed to do everything wrong, all the time. Not seeing I was myself in the way. I'm trying to slowly pick up the pieces and understand where I can grow, what I didn't see and what I want to become. And from that perspective I remember how Tara Brach resonated with me, in theory, years ago when she wrote about Radical Acceptance. It's still the best book on the subject of love I've read and lately I've been radiated by it, in practice, breathing and meditating and focusing on what matters: doing the next right thing. I've felt like the worst person in the world and I've believed that, because I always thought it's good to just sit down and listen and see what you can do. Now I felt like I've done that a lot and I feel like whipping oneself is actually a very catholic practice, almost like a kink, dwelling in the notion of human beings being inherently bad. I've chosen to believe in good, in myself and in others, focusing on the soft, tender and beautiful inner world and soul that is within all of us and letting go, letting go, letting go... while understanding deeply that it's not closing your eyes, it's not thinking there isn't any issues. It's just a tool of trying to grasp actual issues and thinking: what can I do, how can I love more, how can I trust the loving-kindness of the world and in myself in a way that it manifests itself in a form that makes all of us grow. This book was a wonderful companion, holding some true virtue between its covers and telling with simple examples how goodness is godness. I admire you so much, Brach, thank you for everything, I'll keep you next to my heart for the rest of my days.
Read
August 29, 2021In “Trusting the Gold: Learning to Nurture Your Inner Light”, the author Dr Tara Brach reminds us of the value of trusting the profound human nature within us while moving through life. When entangled with challenging and stressful situations in life, we tend to demonstrate harmful or less appropriate behaviours to ourselves and others. However, Dr Brach argues, using numerous real-life examples, our natural propensity is to be aware, tender, loving and compassionate deep within. The difficulty lies with maintaining the trust in those treasures in us and using appropriate measures in accessing them. When buried in busy schedules, as is the case for many, we forget to pause and reflect to access these gold mines within. As Dr Brach highlights, we tend to overly focus on the negativity of not good enough within us and others in these busy situations. Even in the most active days of life, regular practices of mindful awareness and loving-kindness meditation would be the measures we can rely on to access our true, gold nature within. In short, Dr Brach suggests the development of a mindset of being aware, loving, compassionate and accepting to actualise our innate capacities in this book.
August 1, 2024
I love Tara Brach's voice and speaking style, and her audio books are good when you need something to calm and stabilize you. If you are in a period of struggle that has persistent notes of hopelessness, she's an incredible gift - and I encourage anyone to find her work on YouTube and elsewhere (for free).
This is a good collection of observations and contemplative stories that she, in her preface, says you can absorb in any order. True enough.
On a downside - if *not being perfect* can be considered a downside - there is sometimes a sense (in the calm) that seekers can just assume an out-of-reach mindset. She tempers this by encouraging people to start small, to take the small wins, and to be gentle with yourself. If you are in a serious state of overwhelm, where injustice and anger and hurt are all sinking their teeth into you, the calm recommendation to let it go can make you feel worse - angrier, more hopeless, and like solutions are out of reach. I don't think there's necessarily a solution for this, without seeking another resource that specifically addresses anger and very strong feelings.
I will be relistening to this, sometimes in place of meditation - when listening is all I can handle, and *doing* is temporarily out of reach.
This is a good collection of observations and contemplative stories that she, in her preface, says you can absorb in any order. True enough.
On a downside - if *not being perfect* can be considered a downside - there is sometimes a sense (in the calm) that seekers can just assume an out-of-reach mindset. She tempers this by encouraging people to start small, to take the small wins, and to be gentle with yourself. If you are in a serious state of overwhelm, where injustice and anger and hurt are all sinking their teeth into you, the calm recommendation to let it go can make you feel worse - angrier, more hopeless, and like solutions are out of reach. I don't think there's necessarily a solution for this, without seeking another resource that specifically addresses anger and very strong feelings.
I will be relistening to this, sometimes in place of meditation - when listening is all I can handle, and *doing* is temporarily out of reach.
October 16, 2023
I've wanted to read one of Tara Brach's books for some time. I listened to a podcast where she was interviewed and in her voice it sounded like she cared deeply and that was pretty cool.
For a bit I read this book, and in each small section, about a page or two, there is a short story from her life and then some nugget or advice she used to keep her heart open and let her kindness shine forth. At first I thought, man she's goofy look at all these things she does, wowee I can't believe she did that. After some reflection I discovered I have done many of the things I thought she was goofy for, and not only that each thing she brought up was some thing we do to keep us removed from right here right now. Her advice on each topic cut through our own silliness. Allowing a more authentic version of ourselves shine through, where perhaps instead of getting up in arms about things, we can respond more wholeheartedly and with love.
For a bit I read this book, and in each small section, about a page or two, there is a short story from her life and then some nugget or advice she used to keep her heart open and let her kindness shine forth. At first I thought, man she's goofy look at all these things she does, wowee I can't believe she did that. After some reflection I discovered I have done many of the things I thought she was goofy for, and not only that each thing she brought up was some thing we do to keep us removed from right here right now. Her advice on each topic cut through our own silliness. Allowing a more authentic version of ourselves shine through, where perhaps instead of getting up in arms about things, we can respond more wholeheartedly and with love.
December 12, 2024
Short writings of her teachings and learnings, of her beliefs and experiences on her life journey as a Meditation Instructor and Clinical Psychologist.
"Happy for No Reason - doesn't depend on what is happening in our life, but rather is the freedom of our heart when we are unconditionally present, resting in an awake, open awareness. No matter what is going on, we basically sense that all is well."
The Dalai Lama was asked, "... what he thought was most important to convey to those seeking spiritual inspiration. His immediate response was they should encourage students '... to trust the power of their hearts and awareness to awaken through all circumstances.' In Tibetan teachings, this level of trust is sometimes referred to as the Lion's Roar, expressing the confidence, power, and joy that comes from knowing that we can open to life, that our heart can be present with whatever comes our way."
"Happy for No Reason - doesn't depend on what is happening in our life, but rather is the freedom of our heart when we are unconditionally present, resting in an awake, open awareness. No matter what is going on, we basically sense that all is well."
The Dalai Lama was asked, "... what he thought was most important to convey to those seeking spiritual inspiration. His immediate response was they should encourage students '... to trust the power of their hearts and awareness to awaken through all circumstances.' In Tibetan teachings, this level of trust is sometimes referred to as the Lion's Roar, expressing the confidence, power, and joy that comes from knowing that we can open to life, that our heart can be present with whatever comes our way."
August 1, 2023
Although I usually prefer mental health advice that's more scientific than philosophical or spiritual, I feel like I gained a lot from this book and that I would probably get even more from it on another listen. Many self-help books rely on shaming us to just be better, to be different, and they fail when our willpower doesn't measure up. Brach's compassionate approach meets us where we are, acknowledges our flaws as human beings, and even shares stories of her own failures with humour and humility. The audiobook was a really pleasant listen, as Brach's narration was gentle and engaging. For me a successful book is one that helps me to see the world in a new way and at that, this book absolutely succeeds.
July 26, 2024
Tara Brach has been a meditation teacher since 1975. I read her book "Radical Acceptance" and was greatly influenced by that book in accepting more of myself and who I am in the present than any other book I had read. This book doesn't conflict at all with my beliefs as a follower of Jesus. It just enhances them. I wish "Christianity" dealt more with our innate goodness as opposed to our innate sinfulness. Although Christ died for our sins, I have never read that Jesus eradicated sin in anyone through severe punishment and deprivation. In all of my years of teaching, I did not observe severe punishment as doing nothing more than harming. Christians could learn a lot about Christ's love for us translating to Christ's love for all of those around us.
November 6, 2021
Having already read: Radical Compassion, Radical Acceptance, and True Refuge I was excited to see that Tara had released another book! This book is in a different format that her other books, but I have found it very useful. Since it is broken up into smaller sections I have found it useful as light morning reading to get the day going. Originally her books were referred to me by someone else and I'm very grateful for that. One of the main things I appreciate about her books is that she shares wisdom through real life experiences (both hers and others). Until reading her books I had no idea what meditation consisted of or have any basic knowledge of Buddhism. Her gentle approach makes it easy for someone new to these topics to understand and benefit from practicing them.
December 31, 2022
Soothing, inspiring and enlightening, "Trusting the Gold" was the perfect ending to my reading adventures of 2022. Tara Brach offers wisdom, compassion and inspiration for self-reflection and re-evaluation. The book felt like a warm hug I didn't know I needed and helped me look at this past year and my failures and victories from new perspectives. I will keep many of Tara Brach's words in mind in 2023 and revisit this beautiful book very soon.
Thank you, Tara!
Thank you, Tara!
September 9, 2021
Beautifully writen book from the inside. Sometimes it happens you read a book within the hunderd percent right timing. I cryed, grinced, laughed but above all wass open to receive and or to let come out or simply pass through ............................
First book of Tara Brach I read and I recommend it tremendously to all to whom it calls. :)
Enjoy
First book of Tara Brach I read and I recommend it tremendously to all to whom it calls. :)
Enjoy
July 11, 2022
Tara Brach inspires me and motivates my spiritual practice. Her voice is so soothing (I listened to the audio version) and I turned it on every night before bed. I looked forward to this book every single night. It is something I will continue to revisit. The book’s lessons and insights are timeless and universal. Thank you Tara for your continual guidance, wisdom, and love.
December 31, 2022
This book packed a powerful punch through bite size stories, ideas and concepts. I flagged many many pages in this book for later reference when I sit down to journal or write. I especially love how simple but deep the writing style is. Highly recommend this book for anyone interested in spiritual awakening & personal evolution.
January 1, 2023
My first book of 2023 and as with all Tara's books, it is an absolute gem that I can see myself coming back to over and over again. I love her ability to share profound wisdom through real life experiences and weave sacred into mundane. The book is centred around exploring our natural good nature, self-inquiry process and kindness and compassion for ourselves. An absolute jewel of enlightenment
July 27, 2023
Tara Brach is incredible. This is a compilation of short stories she share on her meditations and podcast episodes about love, freedom and truth. Her teachings have been a key factor for the last 2 years and I’m grateful for finding her content that gives peace, meaning and hope through unexpected things in life.
I didn’t give a 5 ⭐️ as I prefer her other books.
I didn’t give a 5 ⭐️ as I prefer her other books.
July 21, 2021
A little book with so much "wisdom" packed into it. This is a book I will keep by my bed and I'm sure I'll reread numerous times. Lovely watercolor prints throughout the book give it a very calming feel.
August 1, 2021
I’ve been reading this book a little at a time for the month of July. This is meant to be read in small doses, as chapters are very short— about two pages long on ebook—and end with a small reflection.
Truly comforting read
Truly comforting read
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