I very much believe in the power of empathy and compassion and have been working to incorporate more of both into my meditation practice (as well as my broader life at large). I thought this book did a really good job of making the topic approachable. I especially appreciated blend of both foundational knowledge, specific practices /meditations, as well as guidance for how to live with self-compassion amidst the challenges we all face in everyday life. This book was very illuminating to me and I frequently return to it to aid my meditation practice.

Heartwork teaches how to practice compassion toward yourself and others through mindfulness meditation. There are a lot of personal stories in here, many from the author's life---so much so that I would label this book as memoir. That's not a bad thing, especially since, personally, I found Weininger's stories to be interesting. But if you're looking for straight instruction, you'll want to look elsewhere.

Part 1 is all memoir. Part 2 teaches meditations that focus on pausing, stating intent, practicing self-compassion, and showing compassion to others. Each chapter in Part 2 begins with a story as an example and then gives step-by-step instructions for how to complete the meditation. The chapters end with journaling activities. Part 3 is a collection of real-life stories from Weininger's clients who have used the meditations to help work through a variety of issues (e.g., money problems, work conflict, anger, self-hate, and family drama).

Overall, I liked this book. I could have done with less of Weininger's personal story---interesting as it was---but I still found her instructions for the different meditations to be helpful. I especially liked the Mindful Pause practice. That one brought me the most peace.

I also really appreciated the emphasis on how connected we all are to each other. She says our own health and well-being can't be separated from the health and well-being of others, so it's important to send love and healing out to everyone if we want to feel calm and happy within ourselves. It's a message that makes sense to me, and it was nice to learn some practical ways to make that happen.

I really enjoyed this book. It helped me establish boundaries that I thought were taken care of. Excellent writing and easy to use.