Title:
Shortcuts to Mindfulness: 100 Ways to Personal and Spiritual
Growth
Author:
Catherine Auman, LMFT
Author
Website: www.catherineauman.com
Genre: Self
Help
ISBN:
978-0-9898305-3-9
Link to buy
the book: www.shortcutstomindfulness.com
Originally
reviewed by Hadley Fitzgerald, MA, for
The Therapist, March/April 2015
Shortcuts to Mindfulness: 100 Ways to Personal and
Spiritual Growth a jewel of a book with many more jewels to be
found inside. “Shortcuts,” yes, but don’t let the title fool you. The
essays are brief, but the operative word is indeed “mindfulness.” The author has
the gift of writing in a way that gets your attention immediately and then stirs
something deeper. No self-help pabulum here, just page after page of genuine,
refreshing, soulful nourishment.
After a lifetime as a
professional psychotherapist, Catherine Auman has skillfully and elegantly
brought together her own brand of the best of self-help and the wisdom
traditions presented in 100 condensed two- or three-page essays. Quick, short,
and phenomenally easy to read, it’s 100 books in one. It is intelligent
self-help, offered without backstory, unnecessary detail, or historical review,
with no tedious case-building. This book essentially says: “Here’s the gist of
what you need to understand – and here’s what you might do to benefit yourself.
Here are suggested support and resources.”
In Shortcuts to
Mindfulness, Auman has accomplished the exceptional: quick commentaries on
ordinarily complex and difficult subjects, written in a friendly, clean prose
that renders her well-distilled wisdom and constructive advice accessible to
just about anyone – CEO and barista alike – while retaining all of the benefits
one would not expect to find in such aptly titled “shortcuts.” Essay titles such
as “You Don’t have to Kill Your Parents,” “Menopause Misunderstood,” “Sex as
RotoRooter,” “The Great Art of Doing Nothing,” “You Can Induce Bliss at Any
Moment,” and “The Bossa Nova Cure” can be easily read, fully digested, and
effectively actualized during a short subway ride or a long smoke break.
The book provides quick, easy,
rewarding reading on relevant, meaningful, and significant subjects essentially
delivered in the equivalent of Zen sound bites. These essays often read as if
she’s sharing her thoughtful insights with you at the kitchen table. In lesser
hands this work might have been a smart book for dumb people, or even a
dumbed-down book for smart-enough people. But thanks to Auman’s good intentions
and gift for plain speaking, it amounts to a set of easily garnered lessons and
guideposts for modern life’s tasks and trials, recommended for anyone and
everyone who has ever had a problem and five minutes to spare.
MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Catherine Auman, LMFT is
a licensed therapist with advanced training in both traditional and spiritual
psychology with thirty years of successful professional experience helping
thousands of clients. She has headed nationally-based hospital psychiatric
programs as well as worked through alternative methodologies based on ancient
traditions and wisdom teachings. Visit her online at www.catherineauman.com----- The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.
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