Real Happiness At Work
by Sharon Salzberg
*Date specific for the the author, visiting Guelph on June 7, 2014
After first reading Salzberg’s Lovingkindnesss, I thought it was okay – another decent spiritual book. However, after working with the ideas and techniques for many years, it has become one of my favourites. Again and again, I return to her practical advice and insights that have emerged over decades of study, meditation and teaching. LovingKindness is an exploration of love, compassion, joy, and equanimity, and how to actually cultivate these in your own mind and heart. The instructions are impeccable. Highly recommended to just about anyone.
A few years ago, Sharon released Real Happiness, a simple introduction to the nuts and bolts of meditation. It is intedned for beginners, a general audience, and is decidedly humanist. Real Happiness is laid out as a 28 day program which you can follow or not, and includes plenty of FAQs, scientific evidence, and a CD with guided meditations. In my opinion, this book covers all of the essentials required for a personal practice at home. Strongly recommended for any beginner, whether you are an atheist, religious or Buddhist.
Finally, after years for research, Sharon’s Real Happiness at Work: Meditations for Accomplishment, Achievement and Peace was published this past December. Here she takes on the often formidable obstacles to being happy at work multi-tasking, distraction, conflict, compassion for self and colleagues, integrity, meaning and balance. With rising work demands, job insecurity and burnout on the rise, it is becoming critical for almost everyone to change their relationship to work.
