Inviting a Monkey to Tea (ePub)

To "invite a monkey to tea" is to befriend your own mind—which is often compared to a drunken monkey for all its mad twists and turns. A wild monkey is full of irrepressible desires, and thus chases its own tail in its search for happiness! This book is about learning to welcome the mind as an ally without fear or resistance, thus relaxing that frantic search, discovering genuine contentment and resting in the joy of who you are. As a psychotherapist, author Nancy Colier has accompanied hundreds of people in their "search for happiness" for nearly two decades. She has watched her clients try everything under the sun to be—and stay—happy. Witnessing and participating in this process, she has become an expert in happiness, or more specifically, in the monkeymind's search and demand for it, and the unhappiness that all the striving ultimately creates. Along the way, the author has come to understand the workings of the mind—both from her clients and by her own diligent practice of meditation and self-observation. This book distills the wisdom and experience of her dedicated work, and offers readers a roadmap of the territory of mind, plus a toolbox of practical means for identifying and working gently with the unrealistic expectations that keep us from the enjoyment of who we are. Nancy Colier is a brilliant guide who clearly marks this path of well being with her own presence, kindness and compassion. At this "tea party" the reader can relax, renew intention, learn new skills, and choose a road to lifelong contentment. Nancy is a psychotherapist, interfaith minister, and long time student of eastern spirituality. She is the author of Getting Out of Your Own Way: Unlocking Your True Performance Potential. Give Up the Endless Search for Happiness. Delight in a Life of Genuine Well Being. A Book for Seekers after Happiness Who Have Been Frustrated by the Search; for psychotherapists and their clients; for counselors, ministers and spiritual practitioners of any (or no) faith tradition. Inviting a Monkey to Tea shows you how to: Identify addictive (and dead-end) approaches to happiness Build a new relationship to self-caretaking, putting aside the tyranny of blame, fear, neglect and perfectionism Befriend your mind, with gentleness and compassion Enter and stay rooted in the present moment Live with genuine well being and lasting contentme