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

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There are books by Matthieu Ricard and others that may take precedent over the less known Gelong Thubten…the former has worked as a translator for the Dalai Lama, and he had been trained as a top scientist, born in a family of respected French academics, he has taken part in some revealing experiments, that have shown how different the brain activity of those who mediate for hours each day is from the rest of us, common earthlings, and apart from the scanning of the brains, I am thinking of the test where they had the sound of a shotgun blasting near the Buddhist monks and others, Secret Service agents, police officers, used with the incredibly loud detonation…while Ricard would not move a muscle, due to his – and those who mediate like him, possible Gelong – ability to control his brain and body almost to perfection, those who train with guns could not help but move muscles in their faces and probably elsewhere… What if the most courageous, compassionate thing you could do in life, was to learn how to be with yourself? It’s a powerful, perhaps surprising idea put forward by this week’s guest, the Buddhist monk, meditation teacher and author Gelong Thubten. 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.

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. And even if you do end up getting it, your satisfaction won’t last long. Soon you’ll be habitually looking to the next thing that you think will make you happy. Lesson 3: Meditation is the pathway to inner peace and contentment, and you can develop it with daily practice in any situation. The easiest way to practice the first step is to anchor your mind to your breath. I learned from the Headspace app that it helps to count the breaths up to 10, then start over. According to Aristotle (and almost all philosophers after him), happiness is the only thing we desire for its own sake. It is the end-goal of all our endeavors. Whether you want more money or more love in your life, the real reason why you want these things is that you believe they will bring you happiness. And we feel that the above pretty much wraps up all the theory you need. Now, it’s time you start practicing meditation and, well, being happy.

We all go through hard times. We can experience moments when life feels like an uphill struggle, leading to unhappiness and stress. Perhaps we are feeling sad, anxious, or are challenged to deal with something bigger, such as a bereavement, a loss, a painful ending or a broken heart. It is during these moments when life feels difficult that we could do with some help with our thoughts and feelings. In this profound and inspiring book, Gelong Thubten shares a practical and sustainable approach to happiness…Thubten, a Buddhist monk and meditation expert who has worked with everyone from school kids to Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and Benedict Cumberbatch, explains how meditation and mindfulness can create a direct path to happiness…’ this is one way to look at this book, only this is a marketing quote, meant to make you buy the opus, which would not be a bad idea, given that the purpose of the guide to happiness is more than worthy it is ‘the purpose and ultimate goal in life is to achieve eudaimonia ('happiness')’according to Aristotle, who used logic when he said that we try to be happy, when we are not and once we are, we have achieved the ultimate state of grace – not in those words, of course, I have to at least try and make a personal contribution, make an interpretation here and there, try a little flourish and why not, even twist the words of some great sages… Much of Gelong Tubten’s book includes practical suggestions on how you can implement meditation and mindfulness in your life. Since this is something we’ve already covered in so many other summaries, we decided to focus on the theory behind this. This book is written in a style that is very easy to read and the guide to meditation is perfect for beginners. Gelong Thubten is a Buddhist monk, meditation teacher and author from the UK. He ordained as a monk 26 years ago at Samye Ling Tibetan Monastery in Scotland. He is regarded as one of the UK's most influential meditation teachers, with pioneering work in providing non-religious mindfulness programmes to businesses, hospitals, schools, universities, prisons and addiction counselling centres.

This approachable and practical book, complete with meditations, is designed for modern times, and will be a valuable resource to anyone during times of struggle, but also during all times to encourage and build resilience and help us find inner contentment and peace. Support the podcast and enjoy Ad-Free episodes. Try FREE for 7 days on Apple Podcasts https://apple.co/feelbetterlivemore. For other podcast platforms go to https://fblm.supercast.com. If it’s the case that two or more people don’t always find that the same things make them happy or unhappy,” reminds us Thubten, “then it means we’re talking about a mental experience within us, not the things around us.” Thubten showed me how simple it is to bring meditation into my life, clearing up the many misunderstandings and misleading information, and the endless possibilities for peace of mind and happiness that I would otherwise miss out on due to being the uptight worrier that I currently am. Taking away all the bell and whistles, breaking down the fundamental and important aspects of mediation and guiding me in steps about how to introduce such behaviour steadily into my daily routine. Yes you could argue that this is a self help book but upon finishing it, it is simpler than that and much more informative.Gelong Thubten is a Buddhist monk, meditation teacher and author from the UK. He ordained as a monk 26 years ago at Samye Ling Tibetan Monastery in Scotland, and he has spent over six years in intensive meditation retreats, the longest of which was 4 years long. He is now regarded as one of the UK's most influential meditation teachers, with pioneering work in providing non-religious mindfulness programmes to businesses, hospitals, schools, universities, prisons and addiction counselling centres. He works with major global companies such as Google, Accenture and LinkedIn, and has lectured at Oxford University and for the United Nations. Thubten teaches mindfulness to medical students at the National University of Ireland, and he trained Benedict Cumberbatch and Tilda Swinton in meditation techniques during the filming of Marvel's Dr. Strange.