Happiness is an inside job : practicing for a joyful life

How can we stay engaged with life day after day? How can we continue to love–keep our minds in a happy mood–when life is complex and often challenging? These are questions that Sylvia Boorstein addresses in Happiness Is an Inside Job. In more than three decades of practice and teaching she has discovered that the secret to happiness lies in actively cultivating our connections with the world, with friends, family, colleagues–even those we may not know well. She shows us how mindfulness, concentration, and effort–three elements of the Buddhist path to wisdom–can lead us away from anger, anxiety, and confusion, and into calmness, clarity, and the joy of living in the present. How can we stay engaged with life day after day? How can we continue to loveto keep our minds in a happy moodwhen life is complex, difficult, and, often, disappointing? Bestselling author and beloved teacher Sylvia Boorstein asked herself these questions when she started to write this inspiring new book. The result is her best work to date, offering warm, wise, and helpful ways we can experience happiness even when the odds are against us. As Boorstein has discovered in more than three decades of practice as a professional psychotherapist, the secret to happiness lies in actively cultivating our capacity to connect with with ourselves; with friends, family, colleagues; with those we may not know well; and even with those we may not like. She draws from the heart of Buddhist teachings to show how Wise Effort, Wise Mindfulness, and Wise Concentration can lead us away from anger, anxiety, and confusion, and into calmness, clarity, and the joy of living in the present. These qualities strengthen our ability to meet encounters of every kind with balance and intelligence, providing us with a grounded sense of true contentment. Happiness Is an Inside Job resonates with the knowledge of a psychotherapist, the compassion of a spiritual teacher, and the wisdom of a grandmother. Boorsteins vivid stories capture our minds and our hearts, and the simple exercises she suggests can be done while you read. This beautiful book is comforting and reminds us that life is a shared journey, that our hearts truly do want to console and love our fellow sojourners, and that living happily is indeed the best way to live. Title Contents Introduction The Best Way to Live Restoring the Mind to Kindness The Heart of Buddhist Teachings: Wise Effort, Wise Mindfulness, Wise Concentration Equanimity, Wisdom, and Kindness No One to Blame: How Equanimity Inspires Wisdom We Understand and We Feel: Warm Wisdom A Little Lower Than the Angels: How Equanimity Supports Kindness We Are All Imperiled: How Kindness Restores Equanimity Wise Effort Just Do It: Wise Effort as Wisdom Practice Omitting None: Metta Practice as Wise Effort Keeping the Mind Hospitable: Wise Speech as Wise Effort Familiar Strangers: Intentional Appreciation Practice Sweetening the Mind: Wise Effort as Clear Discernment A Break in the Clouds: Opportunities for Wise Effort Wise Mindfulness Tidying the Mind: How Mindfulness Cultivates Wisdom Correcting the View: Wise Mindfulness as a Reality Check It's Easy to Become Confused: How Mindfulness Creates Clarity And It's Particularly Easy to Get Angry: How Mindfulness Dispels Aversion Once More, with Feeling: Liberating the Mind from Secrets Keeping the Mind Noncontentious: Metta Practice as Wise Mindfulness The Truth about Preferences: The Metta Riddle One Breath, One Name: Mindful Blessing Wise Concentration Keeping the Mind Steady: Wise Concentration as the Guardian of Wisdom Composure as the Support for Sadness Now Take a Breath: Wise Concentration as the Universal Antidote Epilogue: Jeannette’s Wisdom Acknowledgments About the Author A Buddhist teacher shares her secret to happiness, explaining how the three parts of the Buddhist path--mindfulness, concentration, and effort--can draw us out of the confusion and struggle of daily life