"Being Here: Modern Day Tales of Enlightenment" gets me out of my clanging, noisy head. When I find myself worrying a lot-- "The bus is going too slowly," "I should have called so-and-so sooner," "I shouldn't have agreed to . . . "-- the stories in this book pull me out of my mind, and focus me on where I am, and what I need to do in the present.

This week, I read it on the bus to work, and actually was more productive -- and more present to all the situations at hand. I noticed that more of my colleagues shared their work with me, and asked me for help, probably because I wasn't thinking about the "next" thing I should be doing.

In the past, I've been a skeptic about words like "enlightenment"-- but I find this book to be simple and honest. It's arranged into different categories, like "Helping Yourself/ Helping Others" and "Upsets," so that when I find myself with a particular worry, I flip open to the category that speaks to me.

I really love this book. It conveys principles of enlightenment in lovely, often very moving, stories. It's great because at the end of each story I feel I've been given a little slice of enlightenment. I can relate to each of the tales (even better because they're all true!) and I think this is such a perfect, gentle and informative way of learning the secrets of how to be happy.