June Read/2

Title: Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness

Author: Kabat-Zinn Jon

Call Number: 155.9042 K11F 2013

Book Description from amazon.com:

Stress. It can sap our energy, undermine  our health if we let it, even shorten our lives. It makes us more vulnerable to anxiety and depression, disconnection and disease. Based on Jon Kabat-Zinn’s renowned mindfulness-based stress reduction program, this classic, groundbreaking work—which gave rise to a whole new field in medicine and psychology—shows you how to use medically proven mind-body approaches derived from meditation and yoga to counteract stress, establish greater balance of body and mind, and stimulate well-being and healing. By engaging in these mindfulness practices and integrating them into your life from moment to moment and from day to day, you can learn to manage chronic pain, promote optimal healing, reduce anxiety and feelings of panic, and improve the overall quality of your life, relationships, and social networks. This second edition features results from recent studies on the science of mindfulness, a new Introduction, up-to-date statistics, and an extensive updated reading list. Full Catastrophe Living is a book for the young and the old, the well and the ill, and anyone trying to live a healthier and saner life in our fast-paced world.
My Read: 

This is a book of the landmark work on mindfulness, meditation, and healing. What I take away is pretty simple. It’s one of the subtitles in chapter one. It states: You Have Only Moments to Live. In addition I found the chapter titled “Yoga Is Meditation” helpful. Meditation comes with different forms and activities. With mindfulness and paying attention one can practice meditation through 1)sitting, 2) walking, 3)body scan, or 4)yoga. Breathing, specially deep breathing(below belly button) not only can calm you down it is also your ally in the healing process.

When you are mindful take a deep breath!

June Read

Title: The Surrender Experiment: My Journey into Life's Perfection
Author: Michael, A. Singer
Call Number: 204 S617S 2015
Book Description from amazon.com:
• A thriving spiritual community on over six hundred acres of pristine forest and meadows in Florida
• A cutting-edge software package that transformed the medical practice management industry
• A billion-dollar public company whose achievements are archived in the Smithsonian Institution
• A book that became a New York Times bestseller and an Oprah favorite
• A massive raid by the FBI that would lead to unfounded accusations by the U.S. government

How could all of this spring from a man who had decided to live alone in the middle of the woods, let go of himself, and embrace a life of solitude? 

Michael A. Singer, author of The Untethered Soul, tells the extraordinary story of what happened when, after a deep spiritual awakening, he decided to let go of his personal preferences and simply let life call the shots. As Singer takes you on this great experiment and journey into life’s perfection, the events that transpire will both challenge your deepest assumptions about life and inspire you to look at your own life in a radically different way.
My Read:
Page 4: We have been gifted with the power of will. From deep inside, we can determine how we want something to be and apply the power of our minds, hearts, and bodies in an attempt to make the outside world conform.
Page 34: I would eventually learn that everything in life has something to teach you and that it is all for your growth.
Page 54: I didn't want to be in charge of my life; I wanted to be free to soar far beyond myself. What would happen to me if I just inwardly surrendered my resistance and let the flow of life be in charge?
The author described how he let go of his own personal preferences and instead, allowed the flow of life to be in charge in his life.
To me, it feels like when things happened in a timely manner or coincided with each other I had better pay attention to events that unfolded in front of me. Sometimes things would not make sense in the beginning. But as time would tell that things usually happened with certain reasons known or unknown at the moment. I like the term "flow of life" the author used repetitively in this book.