A Monk's Guide to Happiness: Meditation in the 21st century

Product Information

PDF / EPUB File Name: A_Monks_Guide_to_Happiness_-_Gelong_Thubten.pdf, A_Monks_Guide_to_Happiness_-_Gelong_Thubten.epub

Unhappiness involves a sense of incompleteness, which arises from desire and seeking happiness outside of ourselves.This may sound counterintuitive, but any time we feel a negative emotion, it can actually be seen as proof that our true potential for happiness is limitless. What I mean by this is that when a negative emotion arises, it’s because we are in some way feeling frustrated and are looking for something that will make us feel better. The reality, however, is that nothing will be good enough for us, as our desire is boundless. Instead, what we need to do is tap into the true happiness, which is only possible when we are in harmony with our real potential for freedom. Nothing in this world can ever match the “hardwired bliss” which is within us.

That brings us to the second component of happiness, which is feeling anchored to the present. This means we don’t drift away into thoughts about the past or future, where we tend to get caught up in painful memories and anxiety-provoking uncertainties. For example, “I wish I hadn’t made that comment to my friend” or, “I wonder what she’ll say when I see her next.” Instead, we focus on the moment we’re experiencing. But isn’t it important to learn from the past and prepare for the future?” I thought. Only by recognizing the importance of the present, however, did I learn how to connect the important lessons of the past and the opportunities of the future together. Much more, it is freedom—freedom from the fear of missing out, freedom from the burden of the past and the future, freedom from your wants and desires. You Are Hard-Wired to Be Happy: Use This to Be Happy As Often As Possible As a form of mental exercise, meditation is basically practicing the skill of neutrally observing our thoughts, emotions, sensations and experiences. The word “practicing” bears emphasizing here, because there’s no reason to develop a skill we don’t use in our everyday lives!

Multibuys

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 ch

What does happiness feel like? We are completely in the present, with no urge to hang on to the past or ruminate about the future; we are right here in the moment, feeling complete. There is a sense of freedom ; when we are genuinely happy, we are free from desire and other conflicting emotions. We are free from wanting happiness. What Makes Us Unhappy? The nature of this liberation will become clearer in the following blinks, where we’ll map out the mental prison from which we’re trying to break free. Then, with our map in hand, we’ll figure out an escape plan.We live in times where there’s a lot of emphasis on feeling good. We look for some kind of “hit,” like a sugar rush, and so we lurch from one “buzz” to the next, concerned with having our senses stimulated and satisfied, sometimes all of them at once.

There is the other argument of the Buddhists, who are concerned about the notion that we keep Craving – which is the problem that keeps us from achieving Nirvana as the nec plus ultra, the ultimate Joie de Vivre – but not in the French, epicurean way, which has no problem with it, indeed, it can be the catharsis we can achieve – the position in which we do not crave for anything anymore – and even when we are – let us say humanely, transitory, as mere mortals – happy, we fear that this will go away and thus we do not enjoy the benefits of what the Buddhists know and teach us – one of them being this monk – the problem being that even the peaceful Buddhists can go astray – I was reading recently about Myanmar, former Burma, and the Buddhists that have sided with the military junta and even worse, an important number of the supposedly peace loving monks have been involved in violence against the Rohinga, Muslim minority, because of religious conflicts, perhaps a touch of nationalism too. In this profound and inspiring book, Gelong Thubten presents a practical and sustainable approach to happiness, and how meditation and mindfulness can help us get there. And last is freedom, or the feeling of liberation from every source of unhappiness. This involves not letting our negative emotions hold us hostage. Lesson 2: You will have more enjoyment in life if you understand what you do that takes it away. I've read a score of (tibetean buddhism inspired) books about meditation since my youth. Probably my first author was Chögyam Trungpa, I have read some writings about Tibetan Buddhism from Kalu Rinpoché and of course the Dalai Lama.

More in Offers

Let’s say you’re looking to get a promotion at work, for example. You don’t have it yet, but you somehow think that getting it will make you happy. This gives you a feeling of incompleteness. Thubten is able to explain meditation using clear language and an approach which really speaks to our modern tech-infused lives. With openness, humility and humour he delivers a deep message that will resonate in our modern culture.' It almost felt like at the flip of a switch I found peace. I’m not always this good at being mindful, but when I do it, life gets better almost instantly. What if you too could h ave this superpower to feel calm in any circumstance?