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

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In ancient texts on meditation one often finds metaphors in which the mind is compared to the sky, and our thoughts and emotions to the clouds. The sky is limitless, vast, and without center or edges. Within the sky there are all kinds of clouds—heavy storm clouds, cotton wool–like clouds, thin, wispy cirrus clouds, and so on. These are all a natural part of the sky, but the sky is bigger. In a similar way, meditation teachings describe the pristine openness and spaciousness of the mind’s awareness, which is greater than the comings and goings of the thoughts and emotions. 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 I’ve found that many people seek a kind of happiness which is a fleeting sensation: a “high”—an injection-like bolt of energy to the heart. Yet this never seems to last, and when they no longer experience that high, they crave it again. Book Genre: Buddhism, Health, Mental Health, Nonfiction, Personal Development, Philosophy, Psychology, Religion, Self Help, Spirituality

How do we do that? That involves applying what we do when we’re meditating to everyday situations. But that raises another question – what exactly do we do when we’re meditating? out of 10 as a personal experience, but perhaps 10 out of 10 for those who allow themselves to be inspired by the book

The main brain chemical involved in that kind of happiness “hit” is dopamine, and interestingly this hormone surges before we get what we want and then it drops away. When we are about to have the bite of cake, or when we’re getting ready for the party, we are caught up in the excitement of the chase, and when we actually eat the cake the dopamine drops away; and so our lives are about anticipation. Animals get a big dopamine hit when they think they are about to get fed; “about to happen” is always the exciting part. “When I am rich”; “When I meet the right person”; “When I achieve the body I want.” We never actually get there, as the anticipation leads to a habit of looking for the next thing, which means we never feel we truly arrive. There is always an “if,” “when,” or “because” to our happiness. Vybavte si v mysli tri skutočnosti, za ktoré ste vo svojom živote vďační. Môžu to byť predmety, ľudia, situácie - čokoľvek. Dôkladne o nich premýšľajte - prechádzajte jednu po druhej - a skúmajte, prečo ste, alebo by ste mohli byť, za ne vďační. Precíťte ocenenie a vďačnosť. Usilujte sa pochopiť, že všetko závisí od všetkého ostatného. Naše prežitie závisí od mnohých faktorov, ľudí a vecí okolo nás. Ak si uvedomíte, akou láskavosťou vás zahŕňa svet, pocítite hlbokú vďačnosť. Ďalší krok je cítiť radosť zo šťastia iných." (str. 138)

He became one after a life-threatening heart problem and severe burnout cut short his promising acting career at 21, on which he had embarked after being educated at Oxford. What stops us from experiencing that true happiness? It is our tendency to grasp at things, even at our thoughts and emotions. This propels us into suffering and stress. We are too focused on seeking happiness and a sense of feeling complete, by searching in the outside world. What we can learn through meditation is that this wholeness has been within us all the time: deep down we have always been completely free and happy. Thubten insists that you can’t fail at meditation, because it really just means ‘being you’. The more we meditate, the less we run away from hard times and fear, and the more we become our true, contented selves.If there is one thing Gelong Thubten, a Buddhist monk from the UK, can’t understand, it is the extent to which the concept of happiness is misunderstood and misinterpreted by the majority of people.

Of course, there are many people in this world going through extremely harsh times, where even the possibility of happiness seems incredibly remote. Perhaps all someone can do is try to survive, but once they have breathing space, meditation can provide them with powerful protection for when they are next in difficulty. This builds a mental resilience that can enable a person to get through even the most difficult situations. Gelong Thubten's wonderful book provides a bracing challenge to our search for instant gratification and "instant" happiness, and a lucid, practical, step-by-step path to contentment and a genuine and lasting peace of mind.' As we saw in chapter one, genuine happiness is really a state of freedom. Being free is the one thing we humans care about most—we don’t want to be controlled by others, and we know that we deserve the freedom to do or be whatever we want; this is something we fight hard for, and as a society we have won some important battles. We live in a world of choices, where in many (unfortunately not all) areas of the world, we can dress, speak, and think however we want. It’s a “free society,” but are we ever truly free? We’d like to think we are “freethinking” individuals, but our minds are not really that free at all.

Christmas Gifts

His new book, A Handbook for Hard Times: A Monk’s Guide to Fearless Living, draws on what he’s learned over the past 30 years. Its premise is that we can embrace life’s difficulties as opportunities for personal transformation, using hard times to cultivate resilience, kindness, and happiness. PDF / EPUB File Name: A_Monks_Guide_to_Happiness_-_Gelong_Thubten.pdf, A_Monks_Guide_to_Happiness_-_Gelong_Thubten.epub 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? Getting an anchor to the present involves staying focused on the here and now. We don’t need to get caught up in past failures or future worries.

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