Happiness the Mindful Way

“Mindfulness refers to keeping one’s consciousness alive to the present reality.”   -Thicht Nhat Hanh

Happiness The Mindful Way… I’ve had this book for a few years now; it was published in 2015. It’s definitely the most useful resource I’ve seen for understanding this powerful idea in bite-sized portions. This is the kind of book that gets marked up and stuffed with sticky flags and bookmarks. I feel like it has enough really helpful material in it to support a lifetime of mindfulness practise, but it’s totally approachable for beginners… like me 😉

“Mindfulness means purposely paying attention, in the present moment, without making any kind of judgement.”

This is a  photo my daughter sent me of Waterton lake where she lives for her summer work. What’s so stunning about it is the calm. This place is famous for its wind and waves. I’m happy she takes time to pause and mindfully enjoy the incredible natural beauty around her.

Back to the book: Every page layout is like a display of mindfulness from a different perspective. I love this. I can open it up at any time and be presented with a visually calming spread that gently engages my attention. It’s a nice mellow way to take in any subject, but especially this one.

 

Here’s a picture my son took of a gorgeous local place where he was mountain biking this summer:

Thankfully, even doing something so active (and muddy), he takes the awesome opportunity to soak in the amazing places where he works and plays. Also, I love that they share their pics with the rest of our family. 

One thing that attracted me to this particular book when I was shopping for one on this subject, was the title. I’m not talking about judging a book by its cover (although we all do that, don’t we?) I am not a fan of all the grey in the cover art. I know it’s a mellow and very trendy tone, so I get why the cover designer used it; it’s just something I look past to enjoy all the treats inside! Anyway, what I do love is the way this book presents mindfulness as a means to happiness. That’s what we all want, whoever we are, and however we go about trying to find and keep and share it.

And this lovely photo is of a place where our other daughter went camping, near her workplace this summer. Again, nature is such a powerful source of strength and beauty, and I thank Heaven that she, too, treasures it. And shares with us.

So even though my own personal examples of ‘happiness the mindful way’ are all about feeding our souls on nature, this book is bursting with a wide variety of ways and means to understand and benefit from mindfulness. Some of the pages I found most interesting were questionnaires on authenticity, concentration, and self-awareness…

There are five main parts to this handy book:

*Discovering Mindfulness

*Toward a Mindful You

*Mindfulness Meditation

*Mindfulness Life Skills

*Mindfulness When You Need It

Each section is overflowing with lots of helpful tips and different ways to actually practise mindfulness and bring on its benefits. I recommend this simple little volume to anyone who wants to wake up a little more to the wonder and joy all around and within us.

Do you practise mindfulness? How? What are you most alive to that makes you happy from day to day…?

Also, I want to highly recommend that you check out this gorgeous little podcast if you are interested in finding ways -outside of meditation and yoga- to come a bit more alive every day with simple mindfulness practices and attitudes.

https://www.rachaelkable.com/podcast

She is Australian, and adorable.  😉

Thank you for reading with me…

I hope you enjoyed this post; if so, please feel free to comment, and subscribe for more book blog posts every Saturday morning!

Leah 🙂