The Ezra Klein Show · 2026-05-15 · 76 min · 12,305 words

This Is Why I Find Pema Chödrön So Essential

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There's this book I love and I go back to and back to called Comfortable with Uncertainty. It's by the Buddhist teacher Pema Chojun, who has also written really, really, really well-known beloved books like When Things Fall Apart and Welcoming the Unwelcome. But this particular book resonates with me in part because of the title. It has been a real revelation of my own life how uncomfortable I was with uncertainty. How many places I didn't go, how many things I didn't do, how many conversations I wouldn't have, because I just couldn't control the way they would turn out.

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