No Time Like the Present

Starred review from April 10, 2017
Kornfield (A Path with Heart) centers this inspiring book on realizing and practicing freedom in multiple facets of life: love, forgiveness, imperfection, authenticity, and more. Through many stories gathered during his time as a meditation teacher and psychologist, Kornfield reveals how it is easy to become stuck due to troubling emotions or external situations. He espouses the practice of mindfulness, in which one pays attention to the present moment without adding or becoming overwhelmed by mental commentary and can begin experiencing freedom in whatever circumstances may be present. Rather than using mindfulness to escape or avoid the negative, Kornfield finds freedom by trusting in the process of acknowledging, naming, and expressing suppressed emotions. When confronting them, one can “resist or be gracious.” Ultimately, he writes, one is “letting be” rather than “letting go.” By letting be, one can abide in the joy of freedom as well as the fear of the unknown or insecurity over imperfections or mistakes. Realizing freedom in the present moment, he says, means participating in acts of creation to “reclaim the soul” and standing up for others in the spirit of moral action, virtue, respect, and mutual care. Any reader of this work will find a compassionate, light-hearted, and humorous teacher who leads readers to grapple with difficult emotions.