Girl Seeks Bliss

Zen and the Art of Modern Life Maintenance By Nicole Beland

reviewed by Madelyn Miller, the TravelLady

Who wouldn’t want bliss. It is a word like chocolate that is universally appealing. I seek Bliss wherever I go, whenever I travel. But is Bliss like love, something that becomes more elusive the harder you look for it? Buddha seems to know the answer. And so does Nicole Beland, the author of this empowering book.

Buddha is everywhere! From the hottest restaurants, fashion labels, to celebrities, America’s fascination with Buddhism—sparked in part by the yoga craze—is growing fast.

And there couldn’t be a better time for it. Today’s women are desperate for the balance and serenity that Buddhism has to offer, but have little patience for the overly sentimental or religious tones that pervade traditional books on the topic. GIRL SEEKS BLISS: Zen and the Art of Modern Life Maintenance (A Plume Original Trade Paperback, $13.00), by Nicole Beland, will enable women to apply the basics of Buddhism to their Sex and the City lifestyles in ways that are fun, practical and meaningful. This is Buddhism made easy for the girl-on-the-go—the perfect book for any young woman looking to unclutter her mind, her heart, and her closet.

For example:

  • Create A Zen Space: Small changes that turn an ordinary pad into cloud nine

  • Improve Your Love Life: Use the Eightfold Path for finding a good guy

  • Spice Up Sex: Five Tantric tricks that lead to nookie nirvana

  • Bring Buddha to Work: Buddhist secrets for feeling satisfied with your career, at any and every stage

  • Take a Buddhist Retreat: To kick start a Zen lifestyle, hitting the road is just what the guru ordered

Complete with explanations of the basics tenets of this Eastern philosophy, plus mini-meditations for each area of your life, GIRL SEEKS BLISS is the hip how-to Buddhist handbook for incorporating Zen into the busy 20- and 30-something woman’s life.

I am at least 25 years old than the target market for this book, but I got some hints that I would have loved knowing sooner.

The travel section lists Zen retreats and the only one I have investigated, Bishop’s Lodge, is the first place I visited as a travelwriter. Perhaps I started in the Zen direction, but merely got waylaid along the way.

I wish I had more opportunities to try Buddhists secrets to soulful sex.

But my favorite suggestion in the whole book is on creating a Zen space that suggests giving away all the things you keep because they might make a good Halloween costume someday. How did she know how many I had? Maybe that is a title for a book.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nicole Beland writes Men’s Health magazine’s sex and relationship advice column “Ask the Girl Next Door” and is the author of the books Ask the Men’s Health Girl Next Door and The Cocktail Jungle: A Girl’s Field Guide to Shaking and Stirring.  A regular guest on Fox’s The Best Damned Sports Show Period, she lives in Brooklyn, New York.
www.penguin.com

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