Geri Larkin was a management consultant before becoming a dharma teacher and starting Still Point Buddhist Temple in Detroit, Michigan. She now lives in Eugene, Oregon. In her last book, The Chocolate Cake Sutra, Larkin outlined eight practices that can serve as the ingredients for a sweet life. This time around, she turns to themes in the Buddhist sage Shantideva's The Way of the Bodhisattva which she sees as "a hymn to an awakened life." Moving in tandem with this emphasis are her comments on gardening which draw on her experience working at Seattle's premier gardening center. She has plenty to say about planning, planting, and maintaining a garden.

Whether working with plants or dealing with the plans for the day, intention is very important. It keeps us focused. In a sentence that is illustrative of Larkin's entertaining style, we read: "Since I am a mistake-making machine, some days my intention to wake up for the sake of the world is literally the only thing that keeps me on my path." In a chapter on "Transcending Hesitation," she salutes the fearlessness that enables us to jump in the water without fussing about and trying to decide whether it is cold or not. There is also an active quality to "Clear Seeing," which is predicated on being alert to what is going on within and around us. Larkin makes a good case for "Generosity" as a "great fertilizer" that brings new things to life.

Shantideva saluted "Enthusiasm" as an attribute that fuels our happiness. Larkin writes: "When I was a seminary student, my teacher demanded enthusiasm. He taught us that four things would feed it: wanting to be enthusiastic; sticking with it; letting ourselves be happy; and being careful not to get too carried away because that could lead to having-to-lie-on-the-floor exhaustion." Many of the most impressive people in our lives are those who exude this spiritual quality and give all they've got to whatever they are doing.

In a chapter on "Patience," Larkin shares a mantra she has learned which helps keep her calm: "For as long as it takes." In a piece on "Anger," she presents a simple practice that can be tried to stop the wildfire of this volatile emotion as it inches its way up your spine. In the same chapter, she writes:

"Doing no harm is about making immediate apologies. In the seminary we were taught to apologize quickly for every single mistake we made — as well as for things we did that might turn out to be mistakes. The lesson wasn't about making mistakes. My teacher knew we would make plenty, and that was okay. The lesson was about creating a habit of apologizing quickly and sincerely."

These selections on spiritual qualities and practices that can nurture your spirit are both edifying and entertaining — two words that can be used for all of Larkin's writings. Let's close with one final example of what we mean: "Joy is a cheap date. It doesn't have to cost much." Our cats taught us that lesson last week when they ignored a fancy toy we had purchased for them and played with a Q-tip on the bathroom floor!