The Mindfulness Solution Solved

                            

      The end of the book came with peace of mind. I will not lie nor will I pretend to be a master of being "mindful" at all times because I read this book. I will admit to being "mindful" a lot with many moments  where I experience the beauty of who I am in the moment  and for that I am filled with gratitude. 
     The book, The Mindfulness Solution, is more of a review of what I have learned and or read about from many different teachers/authors in my lifetime. I also attended a 10 day retreat that was all about being mindful. The retreat did not allow talking for 10 days so we all could learn to be with ourselves, being mindful of our body and of our thoughts and of our actions and habits. For some, the isolation experienced because of no connection through sharing of language was just too much to bare. Those souls left the retreat within the first 72 hours. Unlike a retreat of total silence like I attended which the author refers to as "formal practice" where you have one focus, this book offers many practices and many approaches to assisting one discover the best method for the reader to (hopefully) experience mindfulness as much as possible.
   I am glad to be done reading this book and done doing the practices suggested by the author (which I enjoyed) because I have my own routine that I will be relieved to return to doing like my meditations while floating in water. I am also glad to be finished with this book because I am anxious to begin reading the next book on my list! I would recommend this book for anyone who is not already well versed in meditation and who is not knowledgeable about the impact our thoughts have on our lives and also for learning some wonderful meditative and of course, mindful practices.

     Now, on to my next reading adventure.

Oh my, the title is very interesting!

Still Being Mindful

(http://alohadharma.wordpress.com/2011/03/31/the-myth-of-mindfulness/)

     Yes. Yes. Yes. I am STILL reading, The Mindfulness Solution ~ Everyday Practices for Everyday Problems by Ronald D. Siegel, PsyD. Today is the first of July, 2011 and I started reading this particular book awhile back. I am being very mindful as I read and I am doing every single exercise and meditation the author puts forth. It takes awhile to get through a book if you are really dedicated to not only reading the words but also dedicated to putting into practice what is recommended by the author. After all, how can one give an honest opinion of a reading experience  that is about developing mindfulness if one does not actually do the work? Today, I noted I am about to begin reading page 126 and the heading for the information that will be shared is, "Life Preservers for Rough Waters". Nice.

     Before reaching this place where the author will teach me about mindful life preservers I read about concepts that once again are not new to me. Well, heck, the concept of the whole book, mindfulness, is not new to me. I spent 10 days at a silent retreat learning to develop mindfulness several years ago and what an experience that was! The retreat of silence is a whole other story for another time but you know I am just itching to talk about it!

     Again, I am toting around in my purse a book that I take out and read at every opportunity. A book that sleeps at my bedside and that I look at just prior to falling asleep, pick up, read a few pages, then due to severe head bobbing I place the book down and succumb to sleep. Can't complain that I am keeping myself up at night worrying about stuff.

(reproduced with permission obtained from cartoonstock.com)

     I project into my present moment that I have not yet fallen into that I will be the master of my thoughts and will rise above moments where by appearances "life" is testing my ability to be mindful. Perhaps by the time I reach the end of this book and by the time I have test drove each exercise outlined between the pages I will be spending a lot of mental moments at the beach.

Hugs,

M