A Monk's Guide to Happiness

A Monk's Guide to Happiness: Meditation in the 21st Century
Gelong Thubten
St Martin's Press
Publish date 02 Jun 2020

About the Author:
Gelong Thubten is a Buddhist monk specialising in mindful meditation; he has taught non-religious mediation internationally or over twenty years.

The Book:
I love both the design and color of the cover; for me, it evokes an image of clouds, correlating to the sky/cloud metaphor, one of several intriguing metaphors Mr Thubten uses to describe the mind and thought.

Written in an easily understandable manner, Mr Thubten shares numerous anecdotal moments of his own experiences on his way to becoming a meditation educator, speaker, and author. While exploring the differences in mindfulness and meditation, the exercises begin simply and become harder as the book progresses — one of my favorites being a meditation moving the attention from the top of one's head to the soles of the feet.

As a daily meditator, the "micro-moment" meditations were something new; I have begun to incorporate the method in to my day and it is amazingly effective. The author credits this method with helping one become happier by realising there is more in one's life to be grateful for than imagined.

My only criticism is the author repeats himself numerous times; however, as many people learn better with repetition, it is a small complaint. I would definitely recommend A Monk's Guide to Happiness for those starting meditation, or for someone looking to deepen their practice — I'm looking forward to Mr Thubten's next book!!

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