OK, he had me at "Often our lives become so driven that we are moving through our moments to get to better ones at some later point. We live to check things off our to-do list, then fall into bed exhausted at the end of the day, only to jump up the next morning to get on the treadmill once again." (p.18)
Did you ever feel like a book showed up in your life for a reason? I have read many of Jon Kabat-Zinn's books and enjoyed them immensely. But I have to be honest and say that I have found mindfulness meditation difficult to incorporate in my life. It seemed like a great idea, but in practice I just found myself too distracted, and slowing down to focus on breathing always seemed to make my mind go in a million directions. It didn't seem worth the effort. But this book has changed how I approach mindfulness and helped me understand what was going on (which turned out to be perfectly normal). It is a gentle book, which, through the use of very short (1-2 page) chapters guides you gradually and carefully through the process of understanding mindfulness, explaining why your mind does what it does when you try to meditate, and how to simply become aware. Just reading the book is a meditation in itself. In fact, if you wanted to, I think even just reading one chapter a day and taking time to meditate or think about what you've read would be a great way to go through the book-- and likely change your life, even without ever meditating.
Kabat-Zinn has a gift for explaining deep insights in ways that are logical and easy to grasp. For instance, he has a wonderful analogy for how we substitute "thinking" for calming "awareness" as our default setting. He compares it to watching a sports event on TV. Not only are we watching the event, we are listening to an incessant running commentary on the game. And even if we turn off the sound and just watch the game, our minds will still be watching ourselves watch the game and judging it. This, he explains, is why when we slow ourselves down to meditate, our minds immediately start questioning what we're doing, noting that we're "bored", or this is useless, or whatever. And, being the patient and gentle guide that he is, he helps the reader understand that this is normal, and OK. Just breathe.
This book has so many insights crammed into each page, the review could be as long as the book itself. I learned that the word discipline (which I always considered a negative thing- as in "driven" or "forced") actually comes from "disciple" meaning someone who is in a position to learn. Interesting-- and causes me to rethink how I approach challenging things I'm trying to learn.
I highly recommend this book if you are at all interested in mindfulness meditation. It is a great starting book-- and a great book for returning to mindfulness if you've tried it before and it didn't stick. Even if you don't practice the meditations, which are provided on the companion CD at the back of the book, simply reading the text will calm your mind and help you breathe more easily.