Sunday
Mail - 5 December 2004 (Australia)
Self help - Buddhism for Busy People
Instinct tells me there is something inherently wrong with the book title, Buddhism for Busy People.
Are there hints on how to meditate while simultaneously tying the toddler's shoelaces and making school lunches while on the phone to the office? Isn't one o' the big ideas of Buddhism to resist the common modern state of being perpetually time poor?
Author David Michie is wise enough to know that business is here to stay, and his book subtitled Finding Happiness in an Uncertain World, maintains that Buddhism should not be seen as something to escape to, but rather something to integrate into our lifestyles.
Michie demystifies the ancient teachings of Buddha, and writes about them in an easy style. "I am in no way claiming to be professional - that is a teacher, a larna or monk" he writes.
While his book is an "unashamedly personal account" of the search for deep happiness and greater meaning, it is also about the universal desire to discover what it is in life that makes us happy.
For Michie, that's all about transforming the "internals" rather than the "externals" - money, relationships, career - which can only grant temporary happiness. There may be nothing essentially new here but there is still inspiration aplenty.
In Short: The story of one man's path to enlightenment and happiness in an overly busy world.