Joy on Demand: The Art of Discovering the Happiness Within

Description

A long-awaited follow-up to the New York Times bestselling Search Inside Yourself shows us how to cultivate joy within the context of our fast-paced lives and explains why it is critical to creativity, innovation, confidence, and ultimately success in every arena. In Joy on Demand, Chade-Meng Tan shows that you don't need to meditate for hours, days, months or years to achieve lasting joy-you can actually get consistent access to it in as little as fifteen seconds. Explaining joy and meditation as complementary things that naturally reinforce each other, Meng explains how these two skills form a virtuous cycle, and once put into motion, become a solid practice that can be sustained in daily life. For many years, meditation has been taught and practiced in cultures where almost all meditators practice full-time for years, resulting in training programs optimized for practitioners with lots of free time and not much else to do but develop profound mastery over the mind. Seeing a disconnect between the traditional practice and the modern world, the bestselling author and Google's "Jolly Good Fellow" has developed a program, through "wise laziness," to help readers meditate more efficiently and effectively. Meng shares the three pillars of joy (inner peace, insight, and happiness), why joy is the secret is to success, and demonstrates the practical tools anyone can use to cultivate it on demand.

Chade-Meng Tan is a Google pioneer, award-winning engineer, a New York Times bestselling author, a thought leader and a philanthropist. He still runs his life-changing mindfulness-based emotional intelligence course at Google.

"When a book offers practical, scientific insights on success and happiness, I'm intrigued. When that book also has cartoons, I'm in. Meng's book is a joyful look about where we can find more joy in our lives." -- Adam Grant, Wharton professor and New York Times bestselling author of Give and Take and Originals "With Joy on Demand, Meng continues to further his goal of promoting a better life grounded in happiness for his fellow human beings. I commend his efforts to build a better world with humor, persistence, and meditation." -- Jimmy Carter, Former President of the United States "Meng presents mind-training tools that are free of traditional religious trappings and made accessible for everyone. His contagious humor and his gentle guidance have the potential to deeply impact today's society." -- His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje "In this book, Meng helped me to see that joy isn't just an emotion, but it's also an action. By tapping into the joy that is deep inside all of us, we gain access to the foundational building blocks of creating a happy life." -- Chip Conley, bestselling author of Emotional Equations and Hospitality entrepreneur "With this book, Meng reminds us that this human joy is the most reliable, lasting, and truly joyful kind, and shows us how to use nothing more (or less) than our own human minds to get it." -- Ray Kurzweil, Inventor, Author and Futurist "A formidable articulation of what it means to cultivate mindfulness in all its dimensionalities, and why it is worth persevering with both effort and effortlessly. Meng's logic and clarity are inspiring, infectious, and transformative." -- Jon Kabat-Zinn, Founder of MBSR, Author of Full Catastrophe Living and Coming to Our Senses "With Meng's new book, joy is about to go viral. These simple, delightful instructions make it as easy to experience--and share--as it could possibly be." -- Steve Chen, Co-Founder of YouTube "This book DEMANDs your EnJOYment!" -- Tony Hsieh, New York Times Bestselling author of Delivering Happiness and CEO of Zappos.com, Inc. "Meng has captured the subject of our search for joy with his usual elegance and humility... All one must bring is the intention for a more joyful and resilient way to live, and these pages will do the rest!" -- Scott Kriens, Director of 1440 Foundation "Joy On Demand is a title that is half in humor, but only half. It is a serious introduction to meditation, the more profound for it being so simply explained. I am now on my next breath." -- George Yeo, Chancellor of Nalanda University "Tan has found a way to make meditation and joy the bedrock principles of one of the most successful companies in history by articulating their value through humor and wisdom, and this book will definitely help you find greater joy and success in your work as well." -- Shawn Achor, happiness researcher and bestselling author of The Happiness Advantage "In Joy On Demand Chade-Meng Tan proves to be a brilliantly convincing salesman for the power of joy. Yet, he does more than persuade: through step by step exercises he delivers the goods." -- Brother David Steindl-Rast, OSB, co-founder of A Network for Grateful Living "I loved reading his book. It is full of smiles and questions, plus a lot of good science, and even cartoons and stories that make it a very rich read. Everyone will love this book. It is a treasure house of the heart and mind." -- Roshi Joan Halifax, PhD, Abbot Upaya Zen Center "Let Meng teach you the simple yet powerful skill of meditation - and happiness and success can be a mere breath away. Along with joy, you'll find calm, clarity, and creativity through discipline of the mind. What do you have to lose?" -- Daniel H. Pink, author of To Sell is Human and Drive "As many who have long practiced meditation can attest, including Meng himself, the instructions given in Joy On Demand can transform your life. Enjoy the book and train your mind! You'll be happier for it." -- Sharon Salzberg, author of Lovingkindness and Real happiness "Meng is a wise and entertaining guide, generously sharing his own incredible life story and outlining the practical steps we can all take to actually train ourselves to live life with less stress, more wisdom and more fulfillment." -- Arianna Huffington, Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Huffington Post, bestselling author of Thrive "Sometimes the most simple ideas are the hardest to grasp. Using his meditation training, Chade-Meng Tan shows how we can reliably access the vast and transcendent nature of joy and transform it into a sustainable resource that increases the happiness in our everyday lives." -- Sakyong Mipham, author of The Shambhala Principle "Joy on Demand reminds us that we all have a seed of joy inside of us. This book will tickle that special place in you that will ignite more happiness in your heart." -- Goldie Hawn, Academy award winning actress, producer, and bestselling author