Pema Chödrön lived out the advice she gives here. She was born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown in 1936 in New York City, and after attending university, becoming a schoolteacher, and raising two children, she began studying Tibetan Buddhism. She was fully ordained in 1981, and has since been a key figure in establishing the Buddhist monastic tradition in the West. She wrote several books over several decades, sharing the wisdom and perspective of her studies. In 2006, at the age of 70, she established the Pema Chödrön Foundation to carry on her work as she stepped back to spend more time in silent contemplation.