"Zen and the Art of Dealing with Difficult People is a thought-provoking, conversational guide to help us improve our relationships and interactions with other people, backed by science and entertaining case studies."
We all have to deal with difficult or challenging people from time to time (and, let's admit it, at times we may also be a challenge for other people). They may be a stranger on train, an overly opinionated work colleague, a nosy neighbour, or even a close relative or friend. Zen and the Art of Dealing with Difficult People explains how, using Buddhist practices such as mindfulness, we can remain 'Zen' at all times. This book isn't about removing difficult people from our lives - we may even like some of them (most of the time). It's about learning how to use kindness, patience and honesty to remain calm and help other people remain calm too. The book is written in a chatty and conversational tone. The science of the body's emotional and physical reactions to tense situations is well explained, and there are realistic (and entertaining) case studies. By the end of the book, I was thinking a lot more about how I interact with other people - the importance of taking a step back and understanding their point of view, and that how we respond to others, and how they respond to us, can teach us a lot about ourselves. Zen and the Art of Dealing with Difficult People is a thought-provoking guide to improve relationships and interactions with other people.
This is a guide to applying the teachings of mindfulness and Zen to the troublesome or challenging people in our lives. Perhaps you can see there's often a pattern to your behaviour in relation to them and that it often causes pain - perhaps a great deal of pain. The only way we can grow is by facing this pain, acknowledging how we feel and how we've reacted, and making an intention or commitment to end this repeating pattern of suffering.
In this book, Mark Westmoquette speaks from a place of profound personal experience. A Zen monk, he has endured two life-changing traumas caused by other people: his sexual abuse by his own father; and his stepfather's death and mother's very serious injury in a car crash due to the careless driving of an off-duty policeman. He stresses that by bringing awareness and kindness to these relationships, our initial stance of I can't stand this person, they need to change will naturally shift into something much broader and more inclusive. The book makes playful use of Zen koans - apparently nonsensical phrases or stories - to help jar us out of habitual ways of perceiving the world and nudge us toward a new perspective of wisdom and compassion.
Zen and the Art of Dealing with Difficult People features in the following genres: Self Help and Personal Development, Health & Fitness, Mind, body, spirit, Philosophy and Religion, Philosophy, Philosophical traditions and schools of thought, East Asian and Indian philosophy, Religion and beliefs, Buddhism, Buddhism: branches and groups, Mahayana Buddhism, Zen Buddhism, Popular psychology, Mindfulness, Assertiveness, motivation, self-esteem and positive mental attitude, Mind, body, spirit: meditation and visualization
Zen and the Art of Dealing with Difficult People is available in Ebook, Paperback
Zen and the Art of Dealing with Difficult People was written by Mark Westmoquette and published by Watkins Publishing an imprint of Watkins Media
Zen and the Art of Dealing with Difficult People has 216 pages
£11.69
