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