4 Books That Will Help You Be More Mindful


4 Books That Will Help You Be More Mindful

A few years ago, I published a blog on my journey to be mindful of each moment. It was a difficult challenge for myself and my readers to take Thich Nhat Hanh’s words to heart and into action. It’s so easy to get swept up in the frenzy of our day-to-day business and forget that each moment is precious.

We may think that mindfulness is a luxury that many of us cannot afford. Or is it? What if tomorrow or even next month never comes? 

It’s scary to think about our fragility. And in today’s climate, this awareness is heightened due to the pandemic and the unrest taking place in our culture. Just the same it’s scary to think about wasting our journey and not living every day to our fullest. Life is a journey, not a destination. So, it’s important to find ways to make the journey fulfilling and that is one of the key takeaways from mindfulness.

Each moment of your day and our lives should be rewarding for both yourself and others. Mindfulness is a fantastic way to make your life more fulfilling and of course, a practice that will boost your health, wellbeing and personal productivity along the way.

To help you get started on your appreciation journey, check out these four books that will help you become more mindful:

Altered Traits: Science Reveals how Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain and Body by Daniel Goleman and Richard J. Davidson shares their personal proof journey and the research-backed evidence of how meditation and mindfulness can alter traits. It’s amazing to think about how an intentional practice can actually rewire cells and outcomes. This book is a must read for anyone searching for proof that meditation and mindfulness are the keys to health, vitality and happiness.

The Headspace Guide to Meditation and Mindfulness: How Mindfulness Can Change Your Life in 10 Minutes a Day. This book by Andy Puddicombe shows how just a little bit of time and dedication each day can transform so much in your life, from the amount of rest you get each night to your relationship with others and that with food. That’s right. Ten minute chunks can intercede where traditional methodologies have not in turning lives around.

Mindfulness for Beginners: Reclaiming the Present Moment–and Your Life. This book by Jon Kabat-Zinn shares the insights from the founder of the Stress Reduction Clinic and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine at the University of Massachusetts. Dr. Kabat-Zinn is known for the success that he’s found in using meditation and mindfulness with his patients, and the resulting stress-reducing outcomes. The stories of how chronic illness and pain have lessened through the 8-Week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction program are compelling enough to have inspired an international movement. This book walks readers through the power, process and impact that mindfulness and meditation can have on your life.

 The Art of Mindfulness by the founder of the mindfulness movement, Thich Nhat Hanh, is a brief but impactful read for anyone interested in learning about the roots of mindfulness and how this practice came to be. With the goal of relieving pain, suffering and preoccupation with externals and multitasking, Thich Nhat Hanh provides gentle guidance to the path inward and how we have the ability to change our destination and our lives.

As I’m writing this blog and sharing my passion for transformative books, I’m smiling because writing is a passion of mine. So, at this moment I’m mindfully enjoying the journey as I’m also once again reminded of the power of books. Here they are, four incredible tombs by authors who have changed the landscape of how we view mindfulness and how it can transform our lives.

“I vow to live fully in each moment and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh

So whether you’re at home, at work, in the bleachers at your child’s basketball game, driving to your client’s office or pushing toward one more lap on the track, move away from the frenetic energy that is so alluring and yet fleeting and remember, to savor each of the moments you’ve been blessed with on this earth.

Images Courtesy of Penguin Random House, St. Martin’s Press and Sounds True Publicity 

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