title: It's Hard Being Human: Thoughts On The Journey From Suffering to Joy
author: Angela Paul
description: It?s Hard Being Human is a personal andpractical guide on how to live a joyful lifedespite the inevitable challenges andstruggles that are part of our collectivehuman experience. Calling upon her own lifeexperiences including 25 yrs as a meditatorand student of Eastern religions, Angela Paulprovides the reader with a compassionateand accessible roadmap for experiencing joy in everyday life.Angela now resides in Los Angeles with her husband Alan andhas a 21 yr old daughter who is a student at U.C. Berkeley.
zlib_text: "Yes," laughed the other, "that is one of my privileges as a hermit. It seems
  quite natural to the wild things, for they have all a music of their own, a
  wonderful, silent music that the best musicians cannot catch; do you not
  believe that, Miss Davis?"
  
  "Yes," Helen said, and sat gazing at her companion silently for a minute. "I
  should think a life of such effort would be very hard," she said finally. "Do
  you not ever fail?"
  
  "I do not do much else," he replied with a sad smile, "and get up and stumble
  on. The mastership of one's heart is the ideal, you know; and after all one's
  own life cannot be anything but struggle and failure, for the power he is
  trying to conquer is infinite. When I find my life very hard I do not
  complain, but know that the reason for it is that I have chosen to have it
  real, and that the essence of the soul is its effort. I think that is a very
  important thing to feel about life, Miss Davis."
  
  "That is why I do not wish to be idle," said Helen.
  
  "It is just be