Table of Contents

Introduction 6Chapter 1: Becoming Mushy 8This chapter introduces the book by inviting readers to learn about how we can melt the ice that prevents us from accessing the happiness within.Chapter 2: The Broken Vase 26We are masters at making ourselves unhappy. This chapter looks at what happiness actually is and how we can learn to understand and work with our unhappy thoughts.Chapter 3: The Big Picture 42 Every morning, we wake up, reach for a balloon and fill it with our demands and expectations for the day ahead. But soon life bursts that balloon and the exhausting cycle begins again. How can you break this cycle and remember the bigger picture? Learn how to free yourself and burst the balloons of your expectations in this chapter. Chapter 4: Know Your Inner Critic 58One of the main causes of unhappiness is the critical and judgmental voices inside our own head. Practice speaking to and building a relationship with your inner critic.Chapter 5: Grandmother Mind 74A grandmother loves everything about their grandchild, and meditation and mindfulness is about welcoming everything about yourself, just as a grandma would. Learn how to develop and look upon yourself with a grandmother mind'.Chapter 6: Where is Your Wildness? 86During childhood, we learn to freeze' certain emotions and behaviours, and lose our vital wild' energy. Engage in conversation with all the different versions of yourself and reconnect with your true nature.Chapter 7: The Art of Unhooking From Thoughts 104Find contentment and calm by practising tools and techniques such as thought labelling' to free yourself from the grips of your more hectic and unfriendly thoughts.Chapter 8: Your True Home 120Learn to feel at home in your own body, where happiness and peace truly stems from, as opposed to some uncontrolled, imagined future or external source.Chapter 9: Doing Nothing-The Forgotten Medicine 132Many of us are caught in in a busy trap', but if we want to be happy, we have to know how to rest and relax. Explore why we need to and how we can slow down and cherish this one and only life.Chapter 10: Are You Nexting? 150This chapter focuses on how we can prevent ourselves from nexting' our life away, and become more present with life as it is, no matter how tedious or stressful it may be in that moment.Endmatter 176

About the Author

The Happy Buddha (also known as Suryacitta, meaning 'he whose heart is like the sun') is a member of the Western Buddhist Order and one of the most experienced mindfulness teachers in the UK, having started his practice in 1989. He leads retreats on the art of happiness and is the author of Happiness and How It Happens (Leaping Hare, 2011), and Mindfulness and Compassion (Leaping Hare, 2015).