Mindful Choices for Well-Being offers a holistic, action-oriented process of choosing and creating well-being using proven methods for transformational change. The Shearers developed Mindful Choices Therapy during three decades of clinical practice. A cornerstone of their method is the systematic mastery of 10 interrelated Mindful Choices: Breath awareness and retraining Begin and end days peacefully Mindful eating Cultivating mindfulness Self-reflection Living your values Intentional relating Mindful movement Mindful Choices tools Self-acceptance & Self-compassion Their how-to manual for life planning features fictional characters going through real-life struggles and changes, providing examples of a powerful therapy that blends neuroscience, Buddhist psychology, contemplative traditions, and mindfulness-based behavioral therapies. The tools described in the book will help you move from a life of too much stress and anxiety (what the authors call “dis-ease”) to a life of well-being, balance, and a deep sense of purpose. Instead of acting on autopilot, falling back on habits learned over a lifetime, you can can learn how to mindfully make clear choices aimed at creating the life you truly want. Mindful awareness is the starting point for making great choices. Mindful Choices Therapy provides the tools for transforming those great choices into powerful and effective habits.

This is a book about a systematic, holistic, and action-oriented process of choosing and creating well-being. It’s a guidebook outlining a process of regularly assessing your well-being across ten Mindful Choices dimensions, focusing your attention, sustaining a high level of motivation, and creating lasting positive changes through ongoing intention, awareness, focus, and practice. It’s not just another self-help book, but rather a complete “how-to” manual for life-planning. This book integrates knowledge from mindfulness and contemplative traditions, Buddhist psychology, Stoicism, positive psychology, neuroscience, and acceptance and mindfulness-based behavioral therapies. It will not only give you the tools to manage stress, anxiety, and depression but will also take you well beyond “normal” to a life of “thriving.”

A new educational paradigm for youth mindfulness. “If you are a teacher, or an educator, or involved in school administration and curriculum development, the book you hold in your hands has the potential to transform your life, the lives of your students, and the life of the school itself, as well as education in America.”—Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, from the Foreword With attention spans waning and stress on the rise, many teachers are looking for new ways to help students concentrate, learn, and thrive. The Way of Mindful Education is a practical guide for cultivating attention, compassion, and well-being not only in these students, but also in teachers themselves. Packed with lesson plans, exercises, and considerations for specific age groups and students with special needs, this working manual demonstrates the real world application of mindfulness practices in K-12 classrooms. Part I, Why Mindful Education Matters, explains what mindfulness is, the science behind its benefits for students and educators, and the inspiring work that is already underway in the Mindful Education movement. In Part II, Begin with Yourself, we are reminded that in order to teach mindfully, we need to be mindful. Here teachers will learn the when, where, and how of mindfulness so they can effectively embody its practices with their students. Mindfulness practices offer teachers self-care and attention skills that prepare them to teach with greater energy and mastery. Discover how simple exercises can help manage stress, focus attention, develop compassion, and savor positive experiences in everyday life. Part III, Cultivating a Mindful Classroom, explores the qualities of a mindful teacher, the ingredients of a mindful learning environment, and helpful skills for appropriate, supportive work with cultural diversity, student stress and trauma, and varying age groups and developmental stages. Finally, in Part IV, Mindful Education Curriculum, we learn eighteen ready-to-use mindfulness lessons for use in schools. These practical exercises, designed to foster skills like embodiment, attention, heartfulness, and interconnectedness, can be readily adapted for any age group and population, and the author draws from his extensive personal experience to offer a wealth of tips for introducing them to students in real-time. Decades of research indicate the impressive benefits of mindfulness in social, emotional, and cognitive development, and as an antidote to emotional dysregulation, attention deficits, and social difficulties. This book invites teachers, administrators, and anyone else involved in education to take advantage of this vital tool and become purveyors of a mindful, compassionate, ethical, and effective way of teaching.

Many have wondered if there is a key ingredient to living a full and happy life. For decades now, scientists and psychologists alike have been studying the strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive. The positive psychology movement was founded on the belief that people want to lead meaningful and fulfilling lives, to cultivate what is best within themselves, and to enhance their experiences of love, work, and play. At the same time, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT)—a mindfulness-based, values-oriented behavioral therapy that has many parallels to Buddhism, yet is not religious in any way—has been focused on helping people achieve their greatest human potential. Created only years apart, ACT and positive psychology both promote human flourishing, and they often share overlapping themes and applications, particularly when it comes to setting goals, psychological strengths, mindfulness, and the clarification of what matters most—our values and our search for meaning in life. Despite these similarities, however, the two different therapeutic models are rarely discussed in relation to one another. What if unifying these theories could lead to faster, more profound and enduring improvements to the human condition? Edited by leading researchers in the field of positive psychology, Mindfulness, Acceptance, and Positive Psychology is the first professional book to successfully integrate key elements of ACT and positive psychology to promote healthy functioning in clients. By gaining an understanding of "the seven foundations of well-being," professionals will walk away with concrete, modernized strategies to use when working with clients. Throughout the book, the editors focus on how ACT, mindfulness therapies, and positive psychology can best be utilized by professionals in various settings, from prisons and Fortune 500 business organizations to parents and schools. With contributions by Steven C. Hayes, the founder of ACT, as well as other well-known authorities on ACT and positive psychology such as Robyn Walser, Kristin Neff, Dennis Tirch, Ian Stewart, Louise McHugh, Lance M. McCracken, Acacia Parks, Robert Biswas-Diener, and more, this book provides state-of-the-art research, theory, and applications of relevance to mental health professionals, scientists, advanced students, and people in the general public interested in either ACT or positive psychology.

PROVEN STRATEGIES FOR SUSTAINABLE SUCCESS Naz Beheshti distills the most valuable lessons she learned from her first boss and mentor, Steve Jobs, into a holistic method to live your best life. Presenting the highly effective framework that Beheshti has used with clients for over a decade, this book is a guide for self-discovery, better choices, and purposeful growth. Now more than ever, when stress and burnout are ubiquitous, we must access our authentic self by closing the gap between leading with our head and our heart. When we integrate every aspect of our life (career, relationships, self-care, and self-development) and fuel that ecosystem as a whole, we can both be well and do well. Rooted in neuroscience, mindfulness, and positive psychology, Pause. Breathe. Choose. offers more than eighty proven strategies to improve yourself and your workplace and achieve sustainable success. When you become the CEO of your well-being you will: • master mindfulness to access your authentic self and make better choices • strengthen emotional intelligence to cultivate stronger connections • upgrade your mindset and behavior to take charge of your life • manage stress and build resilience to bounce forward and thrive • connect your head and your heart to lead with passion and purpose • gain greater energy, clarity, and creativity to navigate change and growth with confidence • improve leadership effectiveness, employee well-being and engagement, and company culture

The Way of the Mindful Warrior provides a fresh, authentic, and structured path to using mindfulness to embrace living in awareness and reconnecting with our innermost nature of peace, wisdom, and compassion. Mindfulness is a 2,500-year-old Buddhist meditation practice that involves focusing awareness on the present moment, the only place where an individual can truly embrace and experience life. In recent decades, mindfulness has gained popularity amongst scientists, healthcare practitioners, and the public more generally. An abundance of popular books has subsequently emerged providing different interpretations of how to practice mindfulness and apply it in daily-living contexts. However, most current approaches to mindfulness have removed it from its traditional spiritual context or overlook important scientific insights from research into this ancient contemplative technique. The Way of Mindful Warrior addresses this oversight and integrates the traditional Buddhist teachings on mindfulness with emerging insights from the scientific study of mindfulness, wellbeing and the human mind. This book is timely and presents a fresh, easily digestible, and structured path to using mindfulness not only as a tool for coping with the stresses and strains of contemporary living, but also as a means to cultivating unconditional wellbeing and for flourishing as a human being.

Mindfulness in Positive Psychology brings together the latest thinking in these two important disciplines. Positive psychology, the science of wellbeing and strengths, is the fastest growing branch of psychology, offering an optimal home for the research and application of mindfulness. As we contemplate mindfulness in the context of positive psychology, meaningful insights are being revealed in relation to our mental and physical health. The book features chapters from leading figures from mindfulness and positive psychology, offering an exciting combination of topics. Mindfulness is explored in relation to flow, meaning, parenthood, performance, sports, obesity, depression, pregnancy, spirituality, happiness, mortality, and many other ground-breaking topics. This is an invitation to rethink about mindfulness in ways that truly expands our understanding of wellbeing. Mindfulness in Positive Psychology will appeal to a readership of students and practitioners, as well as those interested in mindfulness, positive psychology, or other relevant areas such as education, healthcare, clinical psychology, counselling psychology, occupational psychology, and coaching. The book explores cutting edge theories, research, and practical exercises, which will be relevant to all people interested in this area, and particularly those who wish to enhance their wellbeing via mindfulness.