Mindfulness For the Wandering Mind

Afterword

In July 2013, I finished my first book, Urban Monk: Exploring Karma, Consciousness, and the Divine, which was my attempt to answer a question people frequently asked me: “What made you want to become a monk?”

A lot has changed since then, with the most significant difference being that I'm no longer a monk and no longer live on the Lower East Side of New York, where I spent almost 15 years in the monastic order. People are now asking me, “What made you stop wanting to be a monk?”

I suppose I have some kind of karma where I must keep talking about my passage in and out of the monastic life, so here I am writing my second book to shed some light on this latest journey.

On the Move

Transitioning out of monastic living was not easy by any stretch of the imagination. I joined the monastery in 1999 when I was 27 years old, thrust into the life of a monk after experiencing several major upheavals throughout my lifetime. It was during my thirteenth year in the monastery, while I was writing Urban Monk, that I began to consider the idea of leaving the monastery behind and pursuing family life instead. Many of the monks I had developed close friendships with had decided to pursue other dreams such as going back to school for graduate degrees, developing professional careers, or sharing their life in a loving marriage. As I watched more of my companions leave the monastery, my resolve to remain a monk began to weaken, and my desires for a family and career grew stronger.