September 2023 MBR The Self-Help Shelf

The Self-Help Shelf

Mindful in Minutes
Kelly Smith
Fair Winds Press
c/o Quarto Publishing Group USA
100 Cummings Center, Suite 265D, Beverly, MA 01915
www.quartoknows.com
9780760382141, $24.99, HC, 176pp

https://www.amazon.com/Mindful-Minutes-Meditation-Practices-Connection/dp/076038214X

Synopsis: As a certified yoga teacher, meditation teacher, and host of the chart-topping podcast Mindful in Minutes, Kelly Smith is no stranger to the wide-ranging health benefits of meditation. And she discovered she needed them more than ever when she became a mom for the first time.

Suddenly finding herself coping with sleepless nights, disheartening physical changes, uncontrollable worries, and near constant sensory overload, Kelly found solace in the same thing she always had: her daily meditation practice. In doing so, she discovered how meditation could help not only moms cope with common family challenges, but every other member of the family as well.

Kelly shares her hard-won wisdom with listeners across the country in her second podcast Meditation Mama, and now, in this fully illustrated edition of "Mindful in Minutes: Meditation for the Modern Family" she helps families of all kinds learn how to use meditation to cope with the everyday struggles of being a person who is also part of a family.

The topics covered range from quieting the mind and managing stress to handling resentment and cultivating compassion. "Mindful in Minutes" offers specialized practices for each family member by age -- adults, teens and older kids, and small children.

With three distinct, age-appropriate practices for each topic, Kelly ensures that every member of the family has access to a practical, focused meditation "toolkit" to draw on when they need a little extra help. "Mindful in Minutes" also includes a series of dedicated meditations for expectant parents, a series of meditations to promote a healthy, loving relationship between partners, and over 250 mantras to help you focus your mind and go deeper into your practice.

Critique: Exceptionally well written, deftly organized and thoroughly 'reader friendly in presentation, "Mindful in Minutes: Meditation for the Modern Family: Over 100 Practices to Help Families Find Peace, Calm, and Connection" is especially appropriate for the non-specialist general reader wanting to instill in their family life an effective means of mediation and dealing with the inevitable stresses and strains of family life. While also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $11.99), "Mindful in Minutes" is a welcome addition to personal, professional, and community library Meditation, Family Activities, and Self-Help/Self-Improvement collections.

Editorial Note: Kelly Smith (https://www.yogaforyouonline.com) is the founder of Yoga For You, the host of the iTunes chart-topping meditation podcast Mindful in Minutes and Meditation Mama, and the author of Mindful in Minutes: Meditation For the Modern Family. She is an E-RYT 500, YACEP, and master trainer in meditation, yoga nidra, and restorative yoga. Her meditations and work have been featured in Meditation Magazine, Popsugar Fitness, ABC News, The Bump, Twin Cities Live, and the Lavendaire Lifestyle Podcast. You can find her on Instagram as @yogaforyouonline

Mindfulness For the Wandering Mind
Pandit Dasa
Wiley
c/o Wiley Professional Trade Group
www.wiley.com
9781394197620, $27.00, HC, 224pp

https://www.amazon.com/Mindfulness-Wandering-Mind-Life-Changing-Improving/dp/1394197624

Synopsis: Written by monk-turned-leadership-guru Pandit Dasa, "Mindfulness For the Wandering Mind: Life-Changing Tools for Managing Stress and Improving Mental Health At Work and In Life" offers unique insight on how you can focus your mind, become more resilient, respond better to conflict, and build stronger professional (and personal) relationships. It's all possible when you begin to understand how your mind works and take control of this complicated mechanism. "Mindfulness For the Wandering Mind" will show you how to identify and close the "apps" that are constantly running in your own mind, so you can eliminate distractions and find greater peace and productivity in your daily life.

"Mindfulness For the Wandering Mind" presents specific meditation processes and actions you can take to help you succeed as you begin or continue your journey. Through presentations and talks across the country, Pandit Dasa has offered his wisdom on applying mindfulness in the workplace. With the publication of "Mindfulness For the Wandering Mind", he shares his wisdom with you, revealing that, no matter what your external circumstances or environment, you can find the time and space to reflect and unlock the benefits of mindfulness.

"Mindfulness For the Wandering Mind" will help you: Reduce stress and anxiety by eliminating unnecessary distractions and closing unused "apps" in your mind; Harness the principles of forgiveness, patience, compassion, and selflessness to improve work-life balance and mental health for yourself and your employees; Break through the stigma surrounding mental health concerns and identify the obstacles that are keeping you from happiness and fulfilment; Complete reflection questions and exercises to develop a deeper awareness of how your mind works -- and what you can do to improve it.

"Mindfulness For the Wandering Mind" is for anyone who is looking for a solution to the constant feelings overwhelm, distraction, and anxiety that plague us in today's fast-paced, media-saturated world. Teach your brain how to block out the noise and find focus, and observe the radical transformation that mindfulness can make in your life.

Critique: Eloquent, informative, motivating, inspiring, "Mindfulness For the Wandering Mind: Life-Changing Tools for Managing Stress and Improving Mental Health At Work and In Life" will have a special appeal and value to readers with an interest in Motivational Management/Leadership, Business Motivation/Self-Improvement, as well as Personal Transformation. While especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, corporate, and academic library Self-Help/Self-Improvement collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "Mindfulness For the Wandering Mind" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $16.00).

Editorial Note: Pandit Dasa (https://www.panditdasa.com) is an internationally renowned speaker, lecturer, and author. As a former monk, he began speaking and teaching about mindfulness, work-life balance, and managing stress at Columbia and New York Universities. He has since delivered over 700 speeches and workshops to organizations of all sizes, including Kellogg, Citi, and Kantar.

The Good News File: Hope for a Modern World
D. Lynn Mickleson, MD
Independently Published
www.goodnewspublisher.com
9781737870302, $19.99, PB, 388pp

https://www.amazon.com/Good-News-File-Modern-World/dp/1737870304

Synopsis: Life has its problems and there are a lot of unhappy people in the world. Every day we face challenges in our jobs, home, family, and personal life.

While there may be bad things happening, there are also good things that happen on a regular basis. Every day we have a choice about what we think about, be it good or bad. If we focus our thoughts on the good, we will lead successful and healthy mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual lives. If we focus only on the bad we end up depressed and unhappy.

"The Good News File: Hope for a Modern World" by Dr. Lynn Mickleson is about hope. It is a compendium of inspirational stories and quotes that have helped him through the tough times and will hopefully help you as well. It will also show you the power of the human mind and positive thinking, where whatever you focus on can become a physical reality.

Critique: With a very special relevance to readers with an interest in personal transformation, motivating inspiration, and appreciative spirituality, "The Good News File: Hope for a Modern World" is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, and community library Self-Help/Self-Improvement collections. It should be noted that "The Good News File" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $8.99).

Editorial Note: Dr. D. Lynn Mickleson (https://goodnewspublisher.com/about-me) learned the power of positive thinking from such luminaries as Norman Vincent Peale, Dale Carnegie, Napoleon Hill and Reverend Robert Schuller. He realized that both good and bad things happen to all of us on a regular basis. When something good happens we feel happy for a short while then our minds drift back to the more painful problems in our lives. He then realized he needed to write these good things down or he would forget them. Thus was born the concept of the Good News File. Over the past 50 years he has collected thousands of inspirational quotes and stories from many sources.

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