Uncovering Mystery in Everyday Life Confessions of a Buddhist Psychotherapist

This book is about psychotherapy. Written as a collection of tales about encounters between a therapist and his clients, it reveals why many people would turn to therapy for help, what they might look for, and what they might actually find. For Bob Chisholm, a therapist who draws on Buddhist psychology in dealing with his clients, helping someone find self-insight has less to do with understanding their life diagnostically than it does with appreciating their experience existentially—that is to say, in all its inherent mystery. The idea that uncovering mystery could be a way of freeing someone from their psychological misery may seem almost magical: like consulting a ouija board or gazing into tea leaves. But it is in the details and happenstance of a person’s life—in the suspense of the everyday world—that the actual mystery of a person’s life is sure to be found. Finding that mystery, and helping people come to terms with it, is what this book is all about.

R. J. Chisholm is a psychotherapist and counsellor who practises in Canterbury, UK. He co-edited and contributed to The Wisdom of Not- Knowing, published by Triarchy Press. A practitioner of meditation for more than thirty years, he draws on Buddhist psychology in his practice as a therapist.

Introduction Encounter Following the Money Mindfully Love and Death The Kindness of Others A Question of Love Crooked Timber In Dreams Begin Responsibilities Confessions of a Buddhist Psychotherapist Closure