Kaira Jewel Lingo - We Were Made for These Times: Ten Lessons on Moving Through Change, Loss, and Disruption

A brilliant map for the real and deep journey of these times. This is medicine we need right now.

L ARRY W ARD , PhD, author of Americas Racial Karma: An Invitation to Heal

Kaira Jewel Lingo is one of the most authentic Dharma teachers of our generation. Her decades of committed and genuine practice have yielded a book that speaks to what so many of us are longing fora path of guidance through some of the most difficult experiences of our lives. We Were Made for These Times is nothing but needed medicine during this time of needed healing.

L AMA R OD O WENS , author of Love and Rage: The Path of Liberation through Anger

Times of darkness hold the power and potential for deep transformation. Kaira Jewel Lingo is a wise and inspiring guide in navigating the challenges of our times with courage, equanimity, and compassion. She shares timeless teachings and practices that reveal our belonging and free our hearts.

T ARA B RACH , author of Trusting the Gold: Uncovering Your Natural Goodness

A treasure trove of loving and practical meditation advice about how we can navigate through difficult times and challenging transitions with our heart and mind intact. One of the best commentaries I have seen on the everyday usefulness of Thich Nhat Hanhs life of teachings, this book is uniquely tailored to our times. A gem of a work!

J AN W ILLIS , author of Dreaming Me: Black, Baptist, and Buddhist

A most beautiful weaving of the many Wisdom threads in Buddhist practice to create a sacred mantle of Freedom for us all.

L ARRY Y ANG , author of Awakening Together: The Spiritual Practice of Inclusivity and Community

I love this book! Simple yet profound, heartfelt and insightful, far-reaching and practical. Kaira Jewel Lingo draws on her years as a nun with Thich Nhat Hanh to offer the ideas, tools, and experiential practices we need to weather topsy-turvy times. A true gem.

R ICK H ANSON , PhD, author of Neurodharma

From a jewel of a teacher, a simple and clear way to access your own heart and wisdom. Anyone seeking answers will find relief in the pages of this book.

Z ENJU E ARTHLYN M ANUEL , author of The Deepest Peace

We Were Made for These Times reads like a poem. Kaira Jewel Lingo offers inspiring and accessible guidance for experiencing the nearness of freedom despite our circumstances. A timely and timeless read for all.

R UTH K ING , author of Mindful of Race

This hopeful book brings light to our times so darkened by the shadows of ecocide, racism, patriarchy, illusion, and despair. Kaira Jewel Lingos story alone offers great hope, for it demonstrates how a new generation is rising.

M ATTHEW F OX , author of Original Blessing

In this intimate, courageous account of her own journey, Kaira Jewel Lingo offers all of us an inspiring example of how these ancient teachings can be a guide, an inspiration, and a resource in trying times. Powerful, clear and concise wisdom.

O REN J AY S OFER , author of Say What You Mean

Kaira Jewel Lingo is a true teacher.

S ATISH K UMAR , founder of Schumacher College and Resurgence & Ecologist magazine

Parallax Press

2236 B Sixth Street

Berkeley, California 94710

parallax.org

Parallax Press is the publishing division of

Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism

2021 by Kaira Jewel Lingo

All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Cover art by Edmund Weiss, Leonid Meteor Storm, 1833

Cover design by Katie Eberle

Ebook design adapted from print design by Zoe Norvell

Author photo Kaira Jewel Lingo

Plum Village songs from A Basket of Plums by Thich Nhat Hanh and Joseph Emet reprinted courtesy of Parallax Press and the Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Lingo, Kaira Jewel, author.

Title: We were made for these times : ten lessons on moving through change, loss, and disruption / Kaira Jewel Lingo.

Description: Berkeley, California : Parallax Press, 2021 | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021031195 (print) | LCCN 2021031196 (ebook) | ISBN 9781946764928 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9781952692208 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Self-actualization (Psychology) | Peace of mind. | Meditation. | Calmness.

Classification: LCC BF637.S4 L5637 2021 (print) | LCC BF637.S4 (ebook) | DDC 158.1dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021031195

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021031196

Ebook ISBN9781952692208

a_prh_5.8.0_c0_r0

To those seeking to find their way and to all those in the chrysalis

Some periods of our growth are so confusing that we dont even recognize that growth is happening. We may feel hostile or angry or weepy and hysterical, or we may feel depressed. It would never occur to us, unless we stumbled on a book or a person who explained to us, that we were in fact in the process of change, of actually becoming larger, spiritually, than we were before. Whenever we grow, we tend to feel it, as a young seed must feel the weight and inertia of the earth as it seeks to break out of its shell on its way to becoming a plant. Often the feeling is anything but pleasant. But what is most unpleasant is the not knowing what is happening. Those long periods when something inside ourselves seems to be waiting, holding its breath, unsure about what the next step should be, eventually become the periods we wait for, for it is in those periods that we realize that we are being prepared for the next phase of our life and that, in all probability, a new level of the personality is about to be revealed.

Alice Walker,

Living by the Word

Grant that I may be given appropriate difficulties and sufferings on this journey so that my heart may be truly awakened and my practice of liberation and universal compassion may be truly fulfilled.

Tibetan Buddhist prayer

quoted by Jack Kornfield in

A Path with Heart