How to Expand Love - Widening the Circle of Loving Relationships (Electronic book text)

"In our quest for true happiness and fulfillment during the course of our lives, nothing is more essential than giving and receiving love. But how well do we understand love's extraordinarily transformative powers? Can we really cultivate and appreciate its priceless gifts? In How to Expand Love, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, offers a simple yet illuminating program for transforming self-centered energy into outwardly directed compassion. Drawing on exercises and techniques established in Tibetan monasteries more than a thousand years ago, the Dalai Lama guides us through seven key stages. First, we learn ways to move beyond our self-defeating tendency to put others into rigid categories. We discover how to create and maintain a positive attitude toward those around us, in ever-widening circles. By reflecting on the kindnesses that close friends have shown us, particularly in childhood, we learn to reciprocate and help other people achieve their own long-term goals. And in seeking the well-being of others, we foster compassion, the all-encompassing face of love. In this accessible and insightful book, His Holiness the Dalai Lama helps us to open our hearts and minds to the experience of unlimited love, transforming every relationship in our lives and guiding us ever closer to wisdom and enlightenment. "