The Art of Happiness at Work Hardcover – August 25, 2003

At first you have to think, The Dalai Lama and work, they simply do not go together.A great conversation with exceedingly deep insights of life.If you want to understand more about your life and those that are blessed to lead others, here is a book to keep close by.Many additional insights about how the HH The Dalai Lama makes these issues relevant to all of us today.two statements will be with me forever, when asked, "What is your job what do you do?" ---- "Nothing""I am just a simple monk."this is an investment in yourself, a mirror to ask yourself what are you doing, and oh so many extremely valuable lessons to be learnt.

I keep this on my desk as a lovely reminder. It's such a beautiful book that is both grounding and centers the reader into such a peaceful and light way to view work (and the definition of what work might mean to the reader). So grateful to have come across his work.

good

Fantastic advice. Everyone has a rough day at work every now and again. This book shows you how to shift your scope to what is important in life and how your work helps you achieve what matters most. I have recommended this book many times and each of them have loved it.

Bought this book after listening to the audiobook. The print is very small in the paperback, so I wish I'd sprung for the hardcover. It's worth it! Keep it out on your desk at work! Or write quotes on index card. Even great for Christians on non-Buddhists!

The Dalai Lama is of course very special person, his co-author, Howard Cutler, is a trained psychiatrist. Cutler uses many interviews over long period of time with the The Dalai Lama to explore how individuals can find more happiness, contentment, and fulfillment. Although the Dalai Lama concentrates on our interactions at work he concludes that real satisfaction depends on many aspects of a persons life. It is an interesting book and perhaps it can give you a bit different of a perspective on how you can more successfully interact with the world around you.The general idea is that each of us sees the world and experiences the world in our own way. In particular at work there are many causes of dissatisfaction. He asks us to first consider that it will be much easier to change our perception of conflicts with the large number of people at a big company rather than change the behavior of all of these people. He has little patience with putting up with real problems such as discrimination and bullying. He suggests doing whatever it takes to remedy this situation including finding a new job.They spend considerable time comparing the flow of Csikszentmihályi, which is sometimes called being in ‘the zone’ with the Buddhist idea of happiness. Flow occurs when a person performing an activity and is fully immersed and enjoying the activity so much they become unaware of passing time. The authors conclude that flow is great but it only occurs very occasionally and only with some people. Examples from Cutler's College work involved two chemistry professors. One was very successful professionally, and he described how he experienced flow on several occasions during the previous years while doing research. This individual was also very driven and concentrated very hard on his work. He was generally unpleasant to work with. His research was his primary focus and he left most of his teaching duties to his graduate assistants. The second chemistry professor was always happy to interrupt his work for students and colleagues and thoroughly enjoyed his teaching. He was quite popular and effective at his teaching job, but much less effective at research. The authors conclusion is that the second professor had a much happier life overall and made people around him much happier.The Dalai Lama concludes it would be better to spend ones time and energy pursuing the Buddha way- towards every day happiness and look forward to experiencing ‘the zone’ as your nature permits.Cutler notes that some research indicates that for people at any type of job at the same level, they seem to divide themselves into three more or less equal size groups. One third just see it as a job to do for a salary, and they have little interest. Another third see it as a career whereby if they play the game they wind up with a higher paying position and probably more power. The last third see their job as an actual calling and are very involved since they see their work as solving problems for society as a whole. They get paid to do good, and many in this group would work as volunteers. Job satisfaction and happiness is of course highest for the last third. The authors discuss how by studying ourselves and our position we can nudge ourselves toward seeing our job as a calling.Further research indicates that work can provide a substantial amount of potential happiness for most people. Many jobs require somewhat boring, repetitive actions by a worker. The outcome can be a product of some type that people want and are willing to buy. Workers can and should share in happiness that the product they make brings to customers who purchase it. So a given job may involve tasks of little interest in themselves, but the overall result can be an increase happiness for the worker and the customer.When asked what his happiest moment has been the Dalai Lama replied that it was when he got his Geshe degree, which seems to be the similar to getting a PhD in philosophy and politics. This is the culmination of 17 years of studying hard and climaxing in an all day public oral examination where he was tested by leading scholars in front of hundreds of other monks.

Very interesting book that is a joy to read.

Read whenever I get disappointed by work. It is very interesting read.