Many of us face unprecedented levels of stress. Long congested commutes added to longer working hours, cell phones and email which never let us actually "clock out," and backlogs of projects and looming deadlines are just a standard characteristic of our work-life. Fortunately, mindfulness has entered mainstream culture as a wonder practice for reducing the negative impacts of stress while increasing productivity and critical soft-skills.The Art of Being Present: Mindfulness Meditations for Work and Life delivers over 52 weekly reflections on the practice, benefits and philosophy of meditation. Each week the book offers helpful insights (backed by peer-reviewed research) into creating new habits of the mind that will revolutionize how you work and live. And you can start your mindfulness meditation journey any time of the year. (There are nine additional entries for seasonal or holiday-themed reflections.) The information is accessible and informative for all levels of meditators, from the novice to the highly experienced.Whether you are a partner at a law firm, a rising star in a blue chip company, or your own boss and the only employee in your home-based office, this book will set you on course and will support your endeavor to live a more mindful, peaceful, and happier life. You'll notice positive differences in your stress levels, working memory, and compassion towards the suffering of yourself and others within weeks of daily practice. Whether you are purchasing this book to start, restart or bolster your practice, The Art of Being Present will motivate and inspire you to live more mindfully and reap the many benefits of being fully present.

“Excellent. Fully Present offers one of the clearest introductions to mindfulness in the field.” —Library Journal Mindfulness has attracted ever‑growing interest and tens of thousands of practitioners, who have come to the discipline from both within and outside the Buddhist tradition. In Fully Present, leading mindfulness researchers and educators Dr. Sue Smalley and Diana Winston provide an all‑in‑one guide for anyone interested in bringing mindfulness to daily life as a means of enhancing well‑being. This new edition, how with a new afterword, provides both a scientific explanation for how mindfulness positively and powerfully affects the brain and the body as well as practical guidance to develop both a practice and mindfulness in daily living, not only through meditation but also during daily experiences. Now, you can wait in line at the supermarket, exercise, or face difficult news with calm and mental fortitude. Ditch the absent-minded lifestyle and begin bringing your full self and your full mind everywhere. With research studies, personal accounts, and practical applications, Fully Present highlights how things like simply breathing, listening, and walking can change your perspective--and your life.

Whether mere bumps in the road or genuine crises, we live in a world of unwanted events that no willpower can prevent. In The Art of Disappearing, Ajahn Brahm helps us learn to abandon the headwind of false expectations and follow instead the Buddha's path of understanding. Releasing our attachment to past and future, to self and other, we can directly experience the natural state of serenity underlying all our thoughts and discover the bliss of the present moment. In that space, we learn what it is to disappear. Ajahn Brahm, an unparalleled guide to the bliss of meditation, makes the journey as fun as it is rewarding. The Art of Disappearing, comprised of a series of teachings Ajahn Brahm gave to the monks of Bodhinyana Monastery, where he serves as abbot, offers a unique glimpse into the mind of one of contemporary Buddhism's most engaging figures.

This beginner’s guide to meditation offers a year of daily reflections to help bring greater mindfulness into your life. Meditation and mindfulness may seem like daunting ideas but making room for these practices in your daily life is simpler than it looks. Longtime therapist and meditator David Kundtz gives you permission not to fret about whether you're getting it right or not. The whole purpose of meditation is to be as awake and aware as possible. Being Present offers daily quotes to ponder that will help you live in the moment once a day, every day. As you start to accumulate these mindful moments, your life will become more peaceful, more rewarding, and more awakened. With these daily reflections, Kundtz guides us through the seasons of a year—and the seasons of a life—by drawing inspiration from poets and scientists, spiritual teachers and children, butterflies and big cities. With the help of this book, you will discover how to: · Become a more mindful person · Maintain the focus, awareness, and equanimity through stressful situations · Experience the peaceful moments of mindful living

"In The Art of Stillness, Iyer draws on the lives of well-known wanderer-monks like Cohen--as well as from his own experiences as a travel writer who chooses to spend most of his time in rural Japan--to explore why advances in technology are making us more likely to retreat. Iyer reflects that this is perhaps the reason why many people--even those with no religious commitment--seem to be turning to yoga, or meditation, or tai chi. These aren't New Age fads so much as ways to rediscover the wisdom of an earlier age."--Publisher's description.

An inspiring and timely debut novel from Lisa Williamson, The Art of Being Normal is about two transgender friends who figure out how to navigate teen life with help from each other. David Piper has always been an outsider. His parents think he's gay. The school bully thinks he's a freak. Only his two best friends know the real truth: David wants to be a girl. On the first day at his new school Leo Denton has one goal: to be invisible. Attracting the attention of the most beautiful girl in his class is definitely not part of that plan. When Leo stands up for David in a fight, an unlikely friendship forms. But things are about to get messy. Because at Eden Park School secrets have a funny habit of not staying secret for long , and soon everyone knows that Leo used to be a girl. As David prepares to come out to his family and transition into life as a girl and Leo wrestles with figuring out how to deal with people who try to define him through his history, they find in each other the friendship and support they need to navigate life as transgender teens as well as the courage to decide for themselves what normal really means.

BRING THE TECHNIQUES OF THE STAGE TO THE BOARDROOM. For more than a decade, Belle Linda Halpern and Kathy Lubar have applied the lessons and expertise they have learned as performing artists to the work of their company, The Ariel Group. Halpern and Lubar have helped tens of thousands of executives at major companies around the country and the globe, including General Electric, Mobil Oil, Capital One, and Deloitte. In Leadership Presence, they make their time-tested strategies available to everyone, from high-profile CEOs to young professionals seeking promotion. Their practical, proven approach will enable you to develop the skills necessary to inspire confidence, command respect, build credibility, and motivate others. Halpern and Lubar teach you: • How to handle tough situations with heightened confidence and flexibility • How to build your relationships to enhance collaboration and business development • How to express yourself dramatically and motivate others • How to integrate your personal values into communication to inspire others and become a more effective leader Learning the skills of the true performance experts, readers will understand why Leadership Presence is the key to dynamic and authentic leadership.