"If only we were to land this particular job or contract, the difference would be life changing."

And in our relationships, we don't have to look very far to recognize just how swiftly and how often that first giddying rush of romantic intensity can turn into something quite different.

Yet somehow we manage to convince ourselves that it's not the recipe that's at fault – it's the ingredients we're working with. If only we were to land this particular job or contract, the difference would be life changing. That man or woman is just so right that life with them would transport us to a state of great bliss. The fact that we once entertained similar thoughts about our now very-ex partner is not a subject we like to think about. And if we do, we have an outstanding ability to convince ourselves that this time it will all be completely different!

A practical alternative

Having spent my adult life in corporate public relations, my own search for happiness has been a busy one. On the career treadmill working crazy hours, juggling a dozen balls, experiencing the full spectrum of emotions from adrenaline-charged triumph to the desperate wish that the world would stop, I am all too familiar with the relentless striving to succeed, the wearying knowledge that no matter how far you go, there is always so much further.

But it has also been my enormous good fortune to have encountered Tibetan Buddhism, to have discovered a practical alternative. This book explains how profound and lasting happiness can be achieved according to this ancient tradition. It is also an unashamedly personal account of how Buddhist teachings have helped me infuse my day-to-day life with greater meaning and how they are transforming my understanding about what really counts.

Personal though this particular account may be, it is written with the certain knowledge that there is nothing at all unique about my experience. Scratch out corporate public relations and replace it with any other form of busy-ness and the story for most of us is a variation on the same theme: too much to do, too little time to do it in, and an underlying recognition that despite our best endeavors we don't appear to be living life to our full potential. It is also true that by integrating various Buddhist practices into my life, I have benefited from results which are by no means unique either – and still do, every single day.

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