This playful and accessible guide presents a Buddhist psychological system for enhancing self-awareness, interpersonal communication, and creativity This book invites us to celebrate our strengths and work with our weaknesses by learning to identify and utilize five basic personal styles or energies based on a Tibetan Buddhist practice. Each of the five wisdom energies is associated with particular ways of perceiving and interacting with the world and also with particular colors, elements, senses, seasons, and times of day. With easy, fun, and engaging exercises and stories, Irini Rockwell shows us how to identify which energies are active in our lives, and how we can work with them in any situation to improve self-awareness, communication, and creative expression.
According to the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, each of us has one or two dominant energies, but these can shift and change over time, and we can manifest different energies in different areas of our lives. Each of the five energies has its unique wisdom, but also its neurotic tendencies. By learning to recognize which energies we possess—and which are present in those around us—we can learn to relax and appreciate our natural traits and those of others, and we can move away from our neuroses toward the wisdom-aspects of our character.
This book invites us to celebrate our strengths and work with our weaknesses by learning to identify and utilize five basic personal styles or energies. Written in a playful and accessible way, this is the first general-audience book on a Tibetan Buddhist system known as "the five buddha families"--an insightful way of understanding human behavior and promoting personal growth. Each of the five wisdom energies is associated with particular ways of perceiving and interacting with the world and also with particular colors, elements, senses, seasons, and times of day. With easy, fun, and engaging exercises and stories, Irini Rockwell shows us how to identify which energies are active in our lives, and how we can work with them in any situation to improve self-awareness, communication, and creative expression. According to the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, each of us has one or two dominant energies, but these can shift and change over time, and we can manifest different energies in different areas of our lives. Each of the five energies has its unique wisdom, but also its neurotic tendencies. By learning to recognize which energies we possess--and which are present in those around us--we can learn to relax and appreciate our natural traits and those of others, and we can move away from our neuroses toward the wisdom-aspects of our character.
"A wise tool for self-understanding, this book uses the insights of Buddhist psychology to show how basic energy patterns present themselves as different personality types, and how understanding these energies can help us to integrate spiritual practice into daily life."—Helen Palmer, author of
The Enneagram "Rockwell has created a wonderful guide for understanding ourselves in relationship to others. This book offers a deep appreciation of the energies that move in each of us."—Margaret Wheatley, author of
Leadership and the New Science and
Turning to One Another "Direct and reader-friendly, this book reflects the teachings on the five buddha families like a bright jewel."—Joan Halifax Roshi, Head Teacher, Upaya Zen Center
