August 2019: A Year of Living Mindfully

Title: A Year of Living Mindfully: Week-by-week mindfulness meditations for a more contented and fulfilled life 
Author: Anna Black
Genre: Meditation / Personal Transformation

Book Jacket Summary:
Anna Black believes we can see our essential nature as the blue sky and our experience, good and bad, simply as impersonal weather that obscures it from time to time. We canโ€™t stop the difficult times occurring, but we can help ourselves through them by connecting with our essential nature through mindfulness, weekly activities and meditations to cultivate present moment awareness. The emphasis is on progressing at your own pace and cultivating a spirit of curiosity about the moments that make up your life. To help you do this, included throughout are notebook pages, where you can explore your experience. Anna suggests ways to actively cultivate qualities that build our emotional resilience in the same way we may exercise to improve our physical fitness. We can learn to handle difficult emotions and to respond to our experience rather than being hijacked by it.

Why I Chose This Book:
August, I have officially cleared the 1st month of nursing– this profession requires you to be 100% in every situation & you must be terribly emotionally resilient. I can see how this position can be 100% consuming as well, so in order to foster a healthy balance + self preservation you have to be able to leave the 12 hr shift behind you as you drive home to your family. Basically, I’ve been all over the place mentally & emotionally as I begin this new journey, so I was definitely looking for some peace & calming energy… I welcome all new information & meditation techniques for clarity, so I’ve started the weekly mindfulness sessions!

My Review:
In the past, I have definitely had my hesitations about “meditation” but taking the time for yourself and dedicating a space for a mental break, I’m realizing is more than valuable! Sometimes I’m skeptical about the exercises, but I need the book to give me objectives to complete… it definitely keeps me accountable. Planning to continue meditation throughout the year!

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