Please join us this Sunday, December 20th, from 4-6pm for QBF (Queer Buddhist Fellowship). We’ll be meeting at the Boston Shambhala Center, 646 Brookline Avenue, Brookline. (The Shambhala Center is T accessible on the Green Line D/Brookline Village station.)

Buddhism beginners as well as those more experienced are cordially welcomed. Meditation instruction will be available. The program begins promptly at 4pm, so please plan to arrive early. Suggested program donation is $5.

This month we’re delighted to welcome bestselling author Susan Piver. She is a wonderful, funny and talented teacher. Susan will be discussing her new book – a conversation that will be of value to anyone dealing with powerful emotions in their lives. Books will be available for purchase, and a book signing will follow the program.

A description of the talk follows. We look forward to welcoming you!

Talk Description: THE WISDOM OF A BROKEN HEART

A broken heart is not a problem to be solved, but a remarkable opportunity to discover wisdom. This talk will introduce you to the skills needed to work with these powerful emotions - not to drive them away or tie them up with a bow, but to find the possibility of transforming heartbreak into heart opening. Instead of (or in addition to) collapsing and freaking out, the conditions of heartbreak provide the perfect crucible for developing indestructible compassion and the capacity to love more deeply than ever.

Whether your heart was broken yesterday or years ago, all the elements are there to discover your innate spiritual warriorship. As we talk, you will discover that the dark power of heartbreak can introduce you to gentleness, fearlessness, and intelligence. If you stay with your broken heart, it will surely lead you down the path to wisdom.

Speaker Bio: Susan Piver is an authorized meditation instructor in the Shambhala Buddhist lineage, the New York Times bestselling author of The Hard Questions, and the award-winning How Not to Be Afraid of Your Own Life. She has been a student of Buddhism since 1995. Her new book is The Wisdom of a Broken Heart, published by Simon & Schuster in January, 2010.

Queer Buddhist Fellowship will be meeting this Sunday, November 15, from 4-6pm at the Boston Shambhala Center (646 Brookline Avenue, Brookline, MA) for meditation and discussion. We hope you will be able to join us. Please note that meditation begins promptly at 4pm, so we recommend you arrive early. A $5 donation at the door is suggested but not required.

Our special guest teacher this month will be Charlie Byron, who will be giving a talk entitled “Radical Gentleness: Making Friends with Ourselves.” Charlie is a wonderfully warm, funny and enlightening teacher if you’ve never had the pleasure of being with him before.

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Radical Gentleness: Making Friends with Ourselves

Many of us are quick to name what we think is wrong with us. When we encounter things we don’t like about ourselves, we see it as badness, and hope for some way to eliminate it – a bad-ectomy.

Is there a different approach, one of radical gentleness? By opening up to ourselves, as we are, we can experience basic goodness – a clarity and stability we already possess. From there, we can discern what we may want to change from what we can make friends with. Working with ourselves gently over time rather than demanding a one-shot miracle can change our dissatisfaction into motivation.

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If you are interested in volunteering to help at the meeting, please send an email to Bruce Kohl at: windhorse13@gmail.com.