Happiness Is an Inside Job: Practicing for a Joyful Life

This is the first Sylvia Boorstein book I've read, and I'll definitely be reading her others, as well. Her writing style is a dynamic mix of presenting information (especially about Buddhism, lovingkindness, mindfulness and meditation), sharing stories and anecdotes of all types to make her points, and revealing personal vulnerability. About herself and her own path, she states: "I continue to suffer, stumbling around in stories of discontent...then my own good heart, out of compassion, takes care of me." Very engaging and generous writing--highly recommended. Mary Lee Moser, author, There and Back: A Journal Companion for Special Needs Parents

In this book Ms. Boorstein explores the three meditative steps on the Buddha's Eightfold Path - wise effort, wise mindfulness, and wise concentration. She begins this book with a story of being interrupted from her writing one day by a phone call from a friend, who has just learned her brother's cancer has worsened. After comforting her friend, she returns to work and discovers she has forgotten an idea she had, and notes the momentary annoyed reaction that arises in her mind towards her friend's brother. In response, she stops working, lights a candle, and thinks about her friend's brother, until she has restored her own caring connection to him, and everyone in her life. This story introduces Ms. Boorstein's thesis and reason for writing the book. Often Buddhist practice is expressed in terms of finding some kind of permanent clarity, of reaching a state in which the mind is no longer confused or deluded, whether that is called enlightenment, nirvana, or something else. But, as she tells us in her introduction, that is not the way it has been for her, in over thirty years of practice, and I expect, most people. So this book is "not about avoiding confusion, because we can't - but about becoming unconfused and restoring [caring] connection, because [that] really is the best way to live." To do this, she explores caring connection through the lens of Buddhist psychology and practice, within a variety of life-situations that anyone can relate to. For example, she explores the four Buddhist Brahma-Viharas of metta (friendliness), karuna (compassion), mudita (empathic joy), and upekka (equanimity) through three different experiences traveling on an airplane. She explores wisdom through an encounter she has with a store clerk, who has charged her much more than she expected for a mattress. Every chapter section includes a story that illustrates Buddhist practice in action in this way. What is unique in her approach is the emphasis on metta, or lovingkindness, practice as intimately connected to mindfulness. As Ms. Boorstein notes, often metta and mindfulness are introduced as two separate practices, different in both "technique and goal." Her point is that these two are integral to each other - that when we restore caring connection, we return to mindfulness, and this is the essence of Buddha's path out of suffering. As she puts it, "restoring caring connection when it is disrupted, and maintaining it when it is present, is happiness. Not even, leads to happiness. Equals happiness." Overall, this is an engaging book for Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike, that want to really bring the idea of metta into their daily lives.

Dr. Boorstein books and essays are like a franchise. You know what to expect before you even open the cover. However, like individual franchise locations, some are better than others. Her current book should win the franchise of the month award. Dr. Boornstein strikes just the right balance between conveying several fundamental Buddhist principles from original or near sources, then describes them very well in her own words. Finally she illustrates them with her trademark story telling drawn from her day to day experiences - which are really no different from our own. She also reminds us, in what I feel is a culturally Jewish framework, that an awakened life includes profound sorry. Shut that off and you have become numb not happy. I would recommend this book for those just wading into the water of Buddhist thought and practice, as well as for those who want to take a break from rigorous Buddhist study and concentrated meditation to immerse themselves in the cool spring water of everyday experience reflected on so gently by Dr. Boornstein.

Choosing the three mind training steps of the Eightfold Path as the focus for her book, meditation teacher Sylvia Boorstein mixes The Buddha's advice with her personal experiences to explain how to restore the mind to balance after disruptive events start a story that spirals us into a state of dissatisfaction with life or others. Consistent with Boorstein's view that the responses of a balanced mind are friendliness, compassion, appreciation; she offers a simple test for this state of unbalance or confusion, "In this moment, am I able to care?" And, for her it is this ability to restore the mind to kindness that is happiness. As do most meditative teachers, Boorstein advises that suffering results from struggling with what is beyond our control. What is past is past; let it go, "that's life." Relief comes when: The mind says, "I want something different, but this is what I have." And, when: We restore our ability to rejoice with other people. If I understand her, this is a form of wisdom that we all possess - the steps she offers are a path to finding it after the moment of unbalance. The first of these mind training's three steps is Wise Effort, the moment-to-moment discrimination practice meant to direct the attention in its choice of focus - this is the awareness "wake-up call". Step two, Wise Mindfulness is described as then taking the "I" out of the situation, or it is that moment of seeing the situation within a larger context - rather than seeing it within our emotional frame. The last, step three, is Wise Concentration - it is composure as an antidote to the energies of; desire, anger, fatigue, worry, and doubt - the `how to' is a meditative act. While I enjoyed reading the book, which gave me the feeling of having a wise master speak with me, I must confess it was a bit difficult to process the wisdom being given. While her stories helped me understand how the practice works, they did little to help me really distinguish the steps for daily applications. But, as I write this, I am still thinking about what she said, and maybe that is the point. Dennis DeWilde, author of "The Performance Connection"

I feel like I have found such a gem in Sylvia Boorstein. Each of her books is better than the last.