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Saturday, December 28, 2013

Search Inside Yourself by Chade-Meng Tan

Search Inside Yourself by Chade-Meng Tan

I have a strong and visceral negative reaction to anything that comes couched in the language of mysticism or religion. (Shocking, I know.) Unfortunately, meditation has long been wrapped in the imprecise flakeology of mysticism and religion. So I’ve steered clear.
But when the esteemed LT came recommending Chade-Meng Tan I figured I’d try to be a little more open minded. Plus, it helped that Tan came with recommendations from people like the Dali Lama and Jimmy Carter. And he’s a Fellow at Google, where he teaches a course in mindfulness. So I bit.

This book is impressive. It’s a straightforward but exceptionally good natured introduction to mindfulness meditation, EQ, journaling, and a few other modern pseudo-Buddhist practices adapted to work nicely in a Silicon Valley lifestyle. If the previous sentence sounds cynical, please read it as it is: It’s still even hard for me to write about how much I learned from Tan, and how much I enjoyed this book. (I read it twice this summer.)

I think these practices are a great avenue to becoming a happier, kinder, healthier, more productive human being. Chade-Meng Tan has created a superb introduction to mindfulness meditation.

If we all followed these practices every day we would be a lot closer to the peaceful, fulfilled world than Tan has dedicated his life to helping encourage.

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