The Miracle of Mindfulness

What a Young Man's Journey Can Tell Us About Happiness and Mental Illness

A quarter of young Australians say they are unhappy with their lives and almost half of all Australians will experience mental illness at some time in their life. Mental illness is running rife; teen suicide rates are far too high; people are chronically unhappy; and, depression is just a part of life sitting nicely next to stress, anxiety, worry and fear.

Evan Sutter, a young man who hopes to reinvent how we look at happiness, launches his new book titled Solitude: How Doing Nothing Can Change the World on September 18. How will three months living in a hut in the forests of a Buddhist Monastery affect him? How will it feel to see his brother, who is now a monk, for the first time in two years?

"3 years ago a few bullets sailed past my head in the backstreets of New Orleans, and since that moment I have been determined to ask myself the question, 'Why? Why am I doing this?' It took three months living in a hut in the forests of a Buddhist Monastery to give me a better idea of 'why,' and now I am determined to spread these experiences where it is needed most - the fast paced modern world."

Evan Sutter , Author

See how one email from his brother leads Sutter, a lost young man, to fly across the world to Plum Village in Southern France. Life at the Monastery is the opposite of the life Sutter had been leading, a life laden with alcohol, drugs, women, technology and constant distractions.

Sutter uses his solitude in Plum Village to analyse his history with sex and desire, alcohol and drugs, happiness, ego, envy and success, all the way providing simple to read and entertaining insights. Sutter blends western world issues with mindfulness-based practices to highlight areas that have caused suffering on personal and societal levels.  

Solitude features a foreword by Sutter’s brother and Plum Village Monk Br Tuy Niem and writings from Bertrand Russell, Matthieu Ricard, Peter Singer, Alain De Botton, Jon KabatZinn, Alan Watts, and Thich Nhat Hanh. It delves deep into ego, competition, envy, fear, society, mindfulness, impermanence, community, sex and desire, alcohol and drugs, reverence, attachment and essentially happiness.

“3 years ago a few bullets sailed past my head in the backstreets of New Orleans, and since that moment I have been determined to ask myself the question, ‘Why? Why am I doing this?’  It took three months living in a hut in the forests of a Buddhist Monastery to give me a better idea of ‘why,' and now I am determined to spread these experiences where it is needed most – the fast paced modern world.”   

To find out more about Solitude visit the website at evansutter.com or email info(at)evansutter.com or phone +61 421 861 607