Jon Kabat-Zinn

Maybe this doesn't come out when reading Jon Kabat-Zinn's work. Maybe one needs to listen to his books on audio because before now I never realized Jon Kabat-Zinn is really funny. Everything he talks about in Mindfulness Meditation makes perfect sense but it's laced with humor I hadn't noticed before. The other benefit to listening to Mindfulness Meditation is being able to hear the bells he rings during the practice.

Mindfulness Meditation is all about playing attention to world around you show more in minute detail. His prime example is to focus on eating just one raisin but don't just throw it into your mouth. Really look at it. Get all five senses involved in looking at it, feeling it, smelling it, and even putting it in your ear to hear it crackle (I kid you not). Finally, when you put it in your mouth to taste it you savor it slowly, again paying attention to how it feels while you chew. Kabat-Zinn goes beyond the raisin and explains that meditation is not about emptying your mind to alleviate stress. It's all about focusing the mind to transform the way you think and deal with life. show less

I borrowed this book from my friend Melanie ages ago (maybe three years ago). I started it right away after I borrowed it, and while I appreciated the Kabat-Zinns' perspective, the book didn't really hold my interest. It felt like old news. I'd been through those difficult early years with my kids, and while the suggestions were good, I didn't really need them anymore. But there was enough there that I didn't want to give the book back to Melanie unread, so I put it on my TBR Challenge list show more for 2015---and actually read it.

This time the book spoke to me, probably because I started 2015 with a view toward more mindful living, which, because I have young children, is essentially the same as mindful parenting. Apparently right now is the right time for me to be reading this book.

In the months after my first child was born, I used to pick up the La Leche League staple The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, not because I needed help with breastfeeding---I'd paid the lactation consultants for that and was finally nursing nearly pain-free after six weeks---but because the tone was so supportive. I would dip in after my daughter had nursed herself to sleep but wasn't ready to latch off yet, and the words would wrap around me. I would feel, for a few minutes, like I wasn't alone.

Reading Everyday Blessings this month, I was reminded of that feeling of embrace. Myla and Jon Kabat-Zinn provide an open and honest look at the challenges and benefits of being present with our children. They don't offer anything I didn't already know, but they did offer reassurance. Here were people who had engaged in the same type of parenting to which I aspire, who tried and failed and tried again, over and over, and not only lived to tell the tale, but reaped benefits even from their imperfect parenting. This is comforting to me because, as much as I hope for perfection, there's no such thing as perfect parenting. I will always make mistakes; I will always have regrets. There will always be times when I'm confused and have no idea how to proceed, but I'll have to proceed anyway because that's my job. Everyday Blessings reminds me that this is okay. This is just another part of the process.

Even with all of these warm fuzzies, I found myself dreading the last section, Darkness and Light, about the loss and grief inherent in parenting. I wasn't sure I wanted to go there after being buoyed gently along on the rest of the book, but it turned out that this section pulled everything together well. Here is where they talked about their own fears and failures, and as much as I don't like looking at those in my own life, it was helpful to see them presented so gently. Practicing empathy for the parenting mistakes of those who share my parenting intentions helps me have more empathy for my own shortcomings. show less

I've never been a consistent meditator, but I've often thought that I am a good candidate. My mind often races, and I'm a chronic multi-tasker. Although I try, I'm not great at focusing on the present moment. But when I slow down enough to think about it, I don't want to miss a minute of the rest of my life. It sounds like a cliché to say that time flies, but that cliché has felt very real to me lately. My kids are getting older - one just finished his first year of middle school and the show more other will be a high school sophomore in the fall. My older son just got his first paying job - worship leader and praise band director at our church. (Yes, he's getting paid to play guitar - he's on top of the world!) My husband and I have started talking about what we'll do when we are empty nesters. Losing both of my parents recently has also made it very real that the next moment is not guaranteed. This makes me want to live in the moment, and so I picked up Kabat-Zinn's book on mindfulness meditation.

This book is made up of short chapters. There is a little bit of "how to," but even more reflection on the role of meditation and mindfulness in our lives. So, while people looking for a mediation guidebook might not find what they need here, it was quotes like this one that made this a worthwhile read for me:

"Meditation is simply about being yourself and knowing something about who that is. It is about coming to realize that you are on a path whether you like it or not, namely, the path that is your life. Meditation may help us see that this path we call our life has direction; that it is always unfolding, moment by moment, and that what happens now, in this moment, influences what happens next." show less

A relatively simple text about mindfulness and meditation practice, and as such wants a close and careful reading—otherwise you're just going to think you've heard all this stuff before. But why bother reading it in the first place if you don't want to actually think about it? Otherwise, y'know, just read some inspirational stuff on Facebook. But actually taking the time to read this slowly, and think about everything he says, was rewarding. He's intelligent and compassionate about the show more human condition in general, and stays pretty much away from dogma. It's all stuff worth thinking about. Recommended. show less