Mindfulness is that quiet moment when we become attuned to our thoughts, body, and environment. It’s about being present in the moment and not thinking about the future or the past.
Mindfulness is the buzzword everyone is talking about, the latest antidote for our daily stresses. But how do we move to a state of mindfulness? How do we quiet our mind amidst all the busyness around us?
If you’re looking for mindfulness to help yourself, we’re recommending three fantastic reads to help you get started.
Make Peace with Your Mind: How Mindfulness and Compassion Can Free You from Your Inner Critic by Mark Coleman
Why you should read it:
Do you have an inner critic in your head? The one that tells you that you’re not good enough? Help quiet that negative inner voice with the help of this book.
Description:
Meditation teacher and therapist Mark Coleman helps readers understand and free themselves from the inner critic using the tools of mindfulness and compassion. Each chapter offers constructive insights into what creates, drives, and disarms the critic; real people’s journeys to inspire and guide readers; and simple practices anyone can use to live a free, happy, and flourishing life.
10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works–A True Story by Dan Harris
Why you should read it:
If you’re skeptic about the power of mindfulness, this book offers the best advice on mindful meditation for the uninitiated.
Description:
After having a nationally televised panic attack on Good Morning America, Dan Harris knew he had to make some changes. After learning about research that suggests meditation can do everything from lower your blood pressure to essentially rewire your brain, Harris took a deep dive into the underreported world of CEOs, scientists, and even marines who are now using it for increased calm, focus, and happiness. 10% Happier takes readers on a ride from the outer reaches of neuroscience to the inner sanctum of network news to the bizarre fringes of America’s spiritual scene and leaves them with a takeaway that could actually change their lives.
Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life
by Jon Kabat-Zinn
Why you should read it:
If you’re constantly striving to meet a goal but never really finding contentment in your life, this book can help you find inner peace and accept where you are in your life right now.
From Publisher’s Weekly:
Kabat-Zinn, founder of the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, here urges readers to practice “mindfulness,” a more than 2000-year-old Buddhist method of living fully in the present, observing ourselves, our feeling, others and our surroundings without judging them. Free of trendiness, the book presents meditation as a natural activity that can be practiced anytime and anywhere, without props or trappings. Kabat-Zinn explains how to live in the moment by taking up such techniques as “non-doing,” trust and concentration.
