Fierce Innocence- The Essential Road Map for Living Life's Purpose in Very Challenging Times, and Helping Others Along the Way

About the Book This book offers a heart-filled and radical departure from the usual self-help books that attempt to assist you by mentally repairing your problems. Fierce Innocence shows you instead, how to drop the "problem" mind itself, the one which sees everything through a filter of fear. In an easy step-by-step process, we learn how to use the ferocious energy of tough love on ourselves, to cut through the habitual clinging to the imaginary fearful one, as Paula conveys her heartfelt and totally practical method for calling your attention to the moment, to the clarity of an open heart, no longer in fear of vulnerability, now able to make the correct decisions about life at a very precarious point in our history. The good news is, and as science now knows, our DNA is more easily changed by our environment, than was previously understood. Your environment is your mind. Change your mind and you will change your world. It is time. And as Paula so aptly illustrates in this book, you (we) can do it!

About the Author An American psychologist who lives in Asia, a Reiki Master for more than twenty five years, Paula Horan Ph.D. (Laxmi Dechen Wangmo) has adapted the best of the East and West to convey ways to calm the mind and raise the life force energy.

Drawing on her considerable experience in the Taoist tradition, Advaita Vedanta and the Vajrayana, she has created a succinct set of instructions for cutting through a mind deluded by the appearance of separation and habituated to fear and chaos, to bring it home to a non-dual awareness, centered in self confidence and grounded in the direct experience of oneness.

"A keen practitioner of the Tao for many years, Paula Horan has been able to integrate some core practices to go beyond identification with the T of the suffering ego. Her insightful interweaving and integration of Taoism, as well as non-dual principles of Advaita Vedanta and Vajrayana Buddhism are presented in a fresh, appealing manner that can be easily understood by the lay person." Mantak Chia-Author of Emotional Wisdom & Living In The Tao "In this highly distracted world, recognition of the need for complete personal responsibility is demanding. Even if we acknowledge the need, how do we do it? This book offers you some concrete suggestions." Keith Dowman - Author of Natural Perfection & Mayayoga "For anyone interested in tapping and other forms of energy psychology, Fierce Innocence presents the opportunity to hone their contemporary practice in the light of ancient wisdom.

Preface A return to innocence is the fast track and secret key to tuning in with the shift that is occurring on the earth; the innocence of an awakened heart which is the portal to the dimension of love. And this is the secret... The shift we are experiencing, is primarily a dimensional shift. This means the real shift is an energetic one and must be approached as such. Energies shift quickly when consciousness shifts. Thus it is essential for a shift in consciousness to occur from one of contracted jadedness steeped in ego, to one of innocence honed in the fire of wisdom.

To remove the veil of ego is not easy. All of samsara and its fantasies beckon us to remain complacent and to settle for far less. It requires fortitude and a kind of fierceness which is willing to surrender again and again to the will of the heart and cut through the slothful meandering mind, to make it through the mire of conditioned thought. Ultimately, an intense degree of vigilance, a willingness to stay open and present with what is, is necessary to regain our sanity. No less than a fierce sort of innocence is needed to cut through the bewilderment of an ego identified with what is not really so.

It is no wonder that six and a half billion people have been attracted to inhabit our planet at this juncture. We are living at one of the most opportune moments in time to wake up fully to the richness of our real inheritance, the awareness of our own true nature. On some level, all of us sense the opportunity that is at hand, as we transit one of the most important points in the earth's history. A great play of opposing forces is apparent as an old way is coming to an end and the new is still forming.

Introduction Initially, I was requested by my publisher to write a book on Buddhist meditation. The main point was that it should be simple and easy to follow in these complicated times. Time is something we all juggle these days and I am no less affected. As I pondered this request, my mind traveled over my own spiritual journey for the past twenty five years. Being a practical person, for inspiration, I focused particularly on the life challenges I have been through and the practices which I felt have been most beneficial in helping me through difficult times.

The choices we make in the next few years are crucial for the planet. We are all faced with numerous challenges at this time, which makes it essential that we are enabled to maintain a sense of equanimity in order to make sound decisions. With a sense of balance, we can then follow through with the skillful means necessary to nurture them to fruition. To this end, 1 culled out the practices which do not require one to adhere to a particular tradition and that when followed whole heartedly and with diligence, can quickly turn the mind around.

What I came up with instead of a solely Buddhist book on meditation, is a rendition of three practices drawn from three different traditions, each of which helped me profoundly at different steps on my path and that I still draw on today. Whereas I reiterate this further on, it should be mentioned at this point, that although one may initially explore different teachers and traditions, it is important to ultimately choose one teacher and stick to his or her tradition.

**Contents and Sample Pages**