đ§ââïž Meditation
âYesâ, says the disciple.
âDo you think itâs heavy?â continues Ajahn Chah.
âYes, itâs very heavy!â replies the student.
âWell... itâs not heavy if you donât pick it up!â smiles Ajahn Chah.
Ajahn Chah and the big, heavy boulder
This is a metaphor for the burdens that weâre carrying around with us. Theyâre like carrying huge boulders around on our shoulders as we carry on our everyday tasks â and yet, we may not even realize that weâre carrying them around. But once we recognize that, âOh, weâre carrying this weight around unnecessarilyâ, we can just drop it, let go of it, put it down and let it be. In other words, you let go of those burdens and your heart will feel like a huge weight has lifted from your shoulders and you feel much more free.
And with those huge boulders, that weâve set down, touch them, sit on them, stand on top of them, play games around them. We can even go around the other side of these boulders to see what they look like from a different perspective, from a different point of view, a different context â but theyâre no longer heavy anymore.

Gelong Thubten shares practical mental-training ideas from his book The Monk's Guide to Happiness, focusing on mastering the mind, cultivating compassion, and finding lasting fulfilment through simple, actionable practices.
Takeaways:
<ul style="list-style: disc; list-style-position: outside; padding-left: 20px"><li style="margin-top: 10px">Mind mastery is a daily practice: small, repeatable mental trainings can reframe how we respond to stress.</li><li style="margin-top: 10px">Compassion begins with self-kindness and extends to others; empathy amplifies well-being for both giver and receiver.</li><li style="margin-top: 10px">Fulfilment comes from aligning inner states with present-mocur; happiness is cultivated through intentional attention, not chasing external outcomes.</li></ul>







