What happens when you come face to face with your soul and don’t like what you see? American Buddhist nun Pema Chödrön calls it “being nailed by life.” You can try dull the pain with addiction, but Chödrön points out a healthier path to befriending yourself at difficult moments.

Pema Chödrön, an American Buddhist nun, is widely known for her down-to-earth teachings on compassion and meditation in the Shambhala lineage of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Her books, including the best-selling "When Things Fall Apart" and "The Places That Scare You," are popular among people from many spiritual traditions. She was ordained in 1981 and today is the resident teacher of Gampo Abbey, a Buddhist monastic center in Nova Scotia. More Sounds of Wisdom

Marty Rossman: Physical Symptoms Are the Voice of the Body

Marion Woodman: The Wisdom of the Crone

Ken Cohen: The Tao That Cannot Be Spoken

Excerpted from "The Noble Heart"
By Pema Chödrön
Audio available at Sounds True.