21 Doors to Happiness: Life Through Travel Experiences and Meditation by Chit Dubey

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21 Doors to Happiness: Life Through Travel Experiences and Meditation by Chit Dubey

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Buy 21 Doors to Happiness: Life Through Travel Experiences and Meditation by Chit Dubey at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Category: Lifestyle
Rating: 4/5
Reviewer: Sue Magee
Reviewed by Sue Magee
Summary: Short and very readable meditations on those doors through which we need to pass to find happiness. Chit Dubey popped into Bookbag Towers to chat to us.
Buy? Yes Borrow? Yes
Pages: 258 Date: October 2017
Publisher: Chittranjan Kumar Dubey
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 978-1999838911

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I know that I'm not alone in having been brought up to achieve, to look down on those who had different (lesser, it would have been said) aims, but there comes a point in life when you wonder about the point of it all. Do you need to keep on achieving, and if so, why? Many years ago I had a light-bulb moment when I realised that achieving more, having more money, more material possessions didn't make me happy - and surely the point of it all was to be happy? Superficially that sounds very simple: live a life doing only what you want to do and pleasing yourself, but that doesn't bring happiness either. Chit Dubey believes that happiness is inside you and you just need to delve a little deeper to find it.

It's the curse of the reviewer to read a book through from beginning to end, but 21 Doors to Happiness is best approached with more subtlety. Let me tell you a little about it and I think that you'll see what I mean. Dubey offers us Life Through Travel Experiences and Meditation and he's certainly widely travelled. He's a meditation teacher and consultant in the IT industry, but at the peak of his IT career when he had the opportunity to work in the USA he left his job and lived a nomadic life in India for two years. He tried acting in Bollywood, but discovered that he wanted to be a writer. At the time, an NGO, India Against Corruption was the country's biggest socio-political movement and Dubey ran the social media campaign for the Mumbai team. Later he worked in four different countries in Africa and then moved to Spain and the UK. From all this he realised that spirituality was what mattered most to him.

Dubey gives us an engaging combination of anecdotes gathered from his travels and spiritual exercises designed to help in the search for happiness. As with all such matters, it's not the big stories which have impact on your life, but the small stories - the coincidence of meeting someone from the place you want to visit next, the power of positive thinking - that give the most pause for thought. With each 'door' to happiness a Shantith Sutra. 'Shantith' is a Sanskrit word meaning 'peace' and 'Sutra' means a 'thread' or 'string'. The Shantith Sutras are exercises should ideally be practiced for twenty one days to get best results but I found a benefit from the initial breathing exercises almost immediately. I'd go as far as to say that anyone can benefit from these.

The 'doors' can be read in any order: dip in at random or pick a subject which appeals to you. I particularly liked Human Conditioning and Racism (as it directly countered the way that I was brought up) and Non-Judgement which challenged me the most, but there'll be something in there for everybody. I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.

If this book appeals then we think you'll also enjoy The Secrets of Happiness by Richard Schoch.

Bookinterviews.jpg Chit Dubey was kind enough to be interviewed by Bookbag.

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Buy 21 Doors to Happiness: Life Through Travel Experiences and Meditation by Chit Dubey at Amazon You can read more book reviews or buy 21 Doors to Happiness: Life Through Travel Experiences and Meditation by Chit Dubey at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
Buy 21 Doors to Happiness: Life Through Travel Experiences and Meditation by Chit Dubey at Amazon You can read more book reviews or buy 21 Doors to Happiness: Life Through Travel Experiences and Meditation by Chit Dubey at Amazon.com.

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