"Friendly" Prose Makes Mindfulness Accesssible

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.

Meditation Illuminated Reviewed by Fran Ponick

Title: Meditation Illuminated: Simple Ways to Manage Your Busy Mind

Author: Joy Rains

Author's Web site: www.joyrains.com
Genre: Nonfiction, Meditation
Publisher: Whole Earth PressPaperback: 172 pages
ISBN: 978-0-9886699-0-1Product Dimensions: 7 x 5 x .04
Price: $15.00
Purchase from Amazon: www.tinyurl.com/amazon-meditate
Name and Web site of Reviewer: Fran Ponick  http://www.Leadership-English.com/
Review Originally Published: The Washington Times Communities   www.tinyurl.com/washtimesreview

Desperately seeking Alpha: 'Meditation Illuminated' by Joy Rains

WASHINGTON, November 3, 2013 – Joy Rains, author of Meditation Illuminated, defines meditation as “a discipline of training the mind through the practice of awareness.” She states that the nature of the mind is to generate content, or stuff, meaning Stories, Thoughts, Urges, Frustrations, and Feelings. 

Most of us react to life and the “stuff” that’s in it. Meditation is a way to control your stuff by learning to become aware of it. If you can become directly aware of your stuff, you can respond to it—and to your daily life—consciously. 

Desperately seeking alpha: Beyond the monkey brain 

Think about it: Never in the history of the world have we humans been more aware that our brains are actually electrochemical computing devices. But never in the history of the world have so many individuals been bombarded with so much data. 

Outside stimuli produce what are termed high beta frequencies in the brain. It’s hard to think straight if your brain is buzzing along at 14–40 cycles per second (cps), which is what’s happening when you’re in that state. These are your “monkey brain” moments. Trying to get something done, make a decision, solve a problem, or learn anything? You’d be better off swinging in trees. 

All the things that fall into the general category of cogitation simply can’t be done in beta. You need to get to alpha (7.5–14 cps), or maybe even theta (4.0–7.5 cps).

What we need is some kind of surge protector. It’s time to conserve our circuitry by controlling our random reactions to more data hits than we can handle. We need to stop the craziness of beta and figure out how to think straight. That’s supposedly a simple activity, but why is it so hard to sustain? And how do you even get there? Meditation is one path. 

The monkey brain explores meditation 

The profundity of meditation is its simplicity. Meditation Illuminated reflects that not only in its content, but also in its design. It’s a beautiful book that feels good in the hand.  It begins with an engaging Preface, continues with a helpful Introduction, and concludes with an encouraging Epilogue. 

Not a word is wasted, yet the writing throughout is graceful and generous. Even the Appendix and Endnotes, which support the science of meditation and the author’s assertions, provide solid scholarship without the heavy burden of ivory tower intellectualism. 

The book is divided into five parts. The first part describes STUFF, while the second presents the essence of meditation and how it works. The simple language, short sentences, and easy flow of the writing will calm even the most hurried reader. 

Rains’ writing style is deliberate without being boring, respectful without currying favor, and hypnotic without being controlling. Each chapter begins with a title supported by an explanatory subtitle and ends with a brief summary and a preview of the next chapter. These guideposts provide the reader a sense of place in the narrative, yet are neither repetitive nor didactic.

Part 3 of the book, entitled “How to Meditate,” introduces the selection and use of an anchor, or object of awareness, as a resting place for one’s attention. Rains is careful to point out that we need not abandon nor ignore thoughts and feelings while meditating. Rather, a meditator notices and acknowledges emerging thoughts and feelings, then redirects attention to the chosen anchor.

Thus, the continuous cycling of attention between stuff and anchor as described in Part 3 can help make meditation far less random and far more intentionally active than most people think it is. 

One banana at a time

Once the reader has learned the basic tools and activities of meditation, Part 4 introduces the practical application of meditation to daily life. Part 5, the longest section of the book, introduces twenty-one approaches to intentional meditation. Beware of the variety in these choices if you have any inclination toward monkey brain thinking! 

After reading this book and gradually learning to say “yes” to meditation, you will want to try them all. Now. Your best bet is to back up to the paragraph titled “Busy Mind” in Chapter 13, “Strategies for Addressing Common ‘Obstacles’ to Meditation,” and reread the final sentence: “The quality of your awareness is more important than the quantity of your stuff.” 

Be aware that you have just turned all twenty-one suggestions for different types of meditation into stuff. 

Select one, promise yourself the remaining twenty, and begin.

MORE ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Fran Ponick, MA, is certified in P-ESL (Pronouncing English as a Second Language) and provides training in business presentations and interpersonal conversation skills for native and non-native speakers of English. Her company, Leadership English™, offers communications skills, training and coaching for non-native and native English speakers, as well as award-winning writing and editorial services for businesses large and small.

 MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Joy Rains is a
Meditation Speaker, Author, Guide

breathe.relax.repeat.

Meditation Illuminated: Simple Ways to Manage Your Busy Mind

Find it on:  www.tinyurl.com/amazon-meditate

Book Review: www.tinyurl.com/washtimesreview

website: www.joyrains.com

twitter: @joy_rains

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/joyrains

T: 301-530-0583

 

 

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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.