A Monk's Guide to Happiness

I have read many books about being happy and finding happiness. I have also read many books on meditation. All have failed to bring my joy or peace once read.

That was not the case with this book. From the moment I began to read it I felt a calming peace. The author Gelong took time to explain how meditation can work and that it wasn't an all or nothing idea. Through his writing, I was able to truly understand and become one with my feelings. With that came peace, joy and internal as well as external happiness.

Beautifully written and I really think this is a book that will make you truly think! I took the time to enjoy it and am glad I did.

If you loved Yael Shy’s <I>What now?: Meditation for your Twenties and Beyond</I> (and I raved about it on my blog), this is the next book to pick up. When I saw this book on NetGalley, I was excited to take a step further into the journey of mindfulness, and meditation. Most important though was understanding the benefits of getting into meditation and how it relates to our physical and online worlds. I expected this book to be a deep study of our emotions and every day lives and I was not disappointed.

In recent months, I have wondered about society’s checklist and the progression of life that we are supposed to have, whether it is the age by which we should finish school or when we should be married and have kids by. A Monk’s Guide to Happiness starts off with confronting that myth. One of my biggest takeaway from this book was that happiness is freedom. I don’t know how I did not make that connection before! I am happy when I am reading and writing – I am doing what I want to do! My mind is free to concentrate on what is at hand. But apart from our passions, apart from gaining happiness from doing what we are doing in the moment, can happiness be removed from an action?

This book offers numerous little exercises and routines that we can tap into to make meditation and mindfulness a part of our lives. To find that space with our thoughts. Go to that area where we can just look at what else is going on. The one I really enjoyed doing was where I sat for 10 min and listened to my thoughts.

I learned a number of lessons from this book, and notes many areas that I need to think more deeply about. Infused with how-to meditation sessions that the reader can get into right away, as well as thought-provoking questions, A Monk’s Guide to Happiness is a book that I plan to return to over and over. I am confident that it has something for you as well and I encourage you to take a chance and give yourself the opportunity to think about what happiness really is as you read this book.

I am grateful to the publisher for providing me a complimentary copy of this book via Netgalley. It has been a pleasure to read it!

"A Monk's Guide to Happiness: Meditation in the 21st Century" is striking in its simplicity, a well-informed and gently presented exploration of the nature of happiness and how to bring the practice of meditation into our busy 21st century lives. Author Gelong Thubten is a Buddhist monk, meditation teacher, and author who turned to a Buddhist monastery 25 years ago despite, or perhaps because of, living a fast-paced life with much success that many would respect and mire.

Thubten, on the other hand, was miserable and in a downward spiral mentally and physically. The result has been a life journey often centered around the nature of happiness and the teaching of meditation around the world. In fact, the proceeds from his writing goes to benefit the establishment of meditation centers.

"A Monk's Guide to Happiness" can help the readers:

1) Learn practical methods toward choosing happiness;
2) Develop greater compassion for self and others;
3) Learn how to meditate in micro-moments throughout a busy day; and,
4) Discover the truth that we are all hard-wired for happiness.

Thubten is refreshingly authentic, sharing his own struggles with meditation and also sharing how difficult it has been for him when he has experienced longer-term meditation retreats for lengths such as 9 months and even 4 years. He's also refreshingly open about his turbulent early adulthood years, yet he doesn't so much judge himself for these years as seem to express gratitude that he found a better way to live.

One of the true joys of "A Monk's Guide to Happiness" is that Thubten structures the book in such a way that it really reinforces his own belief in starting with meditation simply and growing into it with discipline. As he writes about the various aspects of meditation, he ends each chapter with increasingly involved meditations and practices. It's a simply beautiful and effective way of constructing the book.

Thubten explores the difference between mindfulness and meditation, and they are different, and provides easily accessible language that defines meditation and mindfulness in ways that don't intimidate or make them feel unreachable. While there are moments when the writing teeters toward methodical, this is much preferable to the many writers on meditation who make it seem so mystical that it becomes daunting.

Thubten also removes the often stylized westernization of meditation by grounding it simply, concretely, spiritually, and in remarkably practical ways.

There were a couple times when it felt like Thubten might be contradicting himself a bit, a result it seemed from his ongoing issues with self-esteem and bouts of depression. While often writing about removing the agenda from meditation, or the "goal," there are times when Thubten writes about his own retreat experiences where it seems like meditation has been used to help him "get through" his own issues rather than resting in mindfulness. It's a fine line, but it's a concern I noticed at least twice.

However, these are truly minor quibbles for a book I truly enjoyed and would easily read again. It's an excellent book for those experiencing meditation for the first time and also for those who feel, perhaps, a bit stuck in their practice of meditation. With humility, humor, and an abundance of heart, Gelong Thubten has crafted a truly enjoyable book that deserves to be placed alongside the best and most practically helpful books on meditation.

This is exactly what I needed to read. I have followed the Buddhist path for many years now, but feel that I stray all too often. After reading this book it has led me back to where I need to be. It is very simply written but that isn't a negative thing at all. It makes it so simple to try and incorporate meditation and other insightful thoughts and actions into being.

Highly recommend!