Cheri Huber - How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be

Also by Cheri Huber

From Keep It Simple Books:

The Key and the Name of the Key Is Willingness

How You Do Anything Is How You Do Everything: A Workbook

The Depression Book: Depression As an Opportunity
for Spiritual Growth (rev. ed.)

There Is Nothing Wrong with You: Going Beyond Self-Hate

The Fear Book: Facing Fear Once and for All

Nothing Happens Next: Responses to Questions about Meditation

Be the Person You Want to Find: Relationship and Self-Discovery

Sex and Money... are dirty, arent they?

From A Center for the Practice of Zen Buddhist Meditation:

That Which You Are Seeking Is Causing You to Seek

Time-Out for Parents: A Compassionate Approach to Parenting

From Present Perfect Books (Sara Jenkins, editor):

Trying to Be Human: Zen Talks from Cheri Huber

Turning Toward Happiness: Conversations with a
Zen Teacher and Her Students

Good Life: A Zen Precepts Retreat with Cheri Huber

Buddha Facing the Wall: Interviews with American Zen Monks

Sweet Zen: Dharma Talks with Cheri Huber

All of the above are available at your local bookstore,
or may be ordered by visiting: Hay House USA:
www.hayhouse.com; Hay House Australia: www.hayhouse.com.au;
Hay House UK: www.hayhouse.co.uk; Hay House South Africa:
www.hayhouse.co.za; Hay House India: www.hayhouse.co.in

Copyright 2000 by Cheri Huber

Published and distributed in the United States by: Hay House, Inc.: www.hayhouse.com Published and distributed in Australia by: Hay House Australia Pty. Ltd.: www.hayhouse.com.au Published and distributed in the United Kingdom by: Hay House UK, Ltd.: www.hayhouse.co.uk Published and distributed in the Republic of South Africa by: Hay House SA (Pty), Ltd.: www.hayhouse.co.za Distributed in Canada by: Raincoast: www.raincoast.com Published in India by: Hay House Publishers India: www.hayhouse.co.in

Editorial: Sara Jenkins, Jill Kramer Design: Jenny Richards
Photo of Cheri Huber: 2000 Jane Lidz

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording; nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise be copied for public or private useother than for fair use as brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews without prior written permission of the publisher.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Huber, Cheri.

How to get from where you are to where you want to be / Cheri Huber.

p. cm.

ISBN 1-56170-715-5 (tradepaper)

1. Spiritual lifeZen Buddhism. 2. Change (Psychology)Religious aspectsBuddhism. I. Title.

BQ9286.2 .H83 2000

294.3444dc21 00-037041

ISBN 13: 978-1-56170-715-7
ISBN 10: 1-56170-715-5

12 11 10 09 8 7 6 5
1st printing, October 2000
5th printing, October 2009

Printed in the United States of America

For Monique and Brian,
my sweetest experience
of unconditional love

Contents

Why should the mind be burdened with opinions at all,
with what you think about this or that person, or book,
or idea? Why shouldnt the mind be empty?
Only when it is empty can it see clearly.

J. Krishnamurti, The Only Revolution

E arlier in my life, I read many wonderful, informative books about what is possible for us. I was inspired and enlightened by them. But in each case, the inspiration faded, and I was essentially left in the same place I startedwith only a little more intellectual understanding, and a stronger belief that I should somehow be different as a result of having that information. But I wasnt different in any significant way. I still wasnt able to be the person I felt I was capable of being. I didnt know how to be that person, and none of the books I read helped much.

I knew I wanted something more. I knew I was not happy and wanted to be happy. I knew I was tied in knots and wanted to be free. I knew I was suffering and wanted not to suffer. But I did not know how.

My own awareness practice has been devoted to putting into words the process, the how. For years I did not put my name on the books I wrote because I didnt want people to focus on me as a personality, but rather, to focus on the practice. I did not tell the story of my own search for fear that those reading it would simply use it as one more unhelpful comparison. However, that way of doing things merely separated me from those with whom I actually wanted to connect.

This book is my best effort to lay out in a step-by-step format the process that will take you from where you are to where you want to be. Elements of my story appear throughout the book to illustrate the fact that waking up, letting go of what is keeping one stuck, and stepping free of the misery of the past is available to each of usregardless of our circumstances. We all struggle, and life is challenging for everyone. Yet each of us has everything we need to overcome whatever obstacles we encounter. Anyone can do it; it just takes willingness and practice.