Book Recommendation: The Headspace Guide to Meditation & Mindfulness
If you’re considering trying mindfulness, or are curious about it, then a good place to start is with this book by Headspace founder, Andy Puddicombe.
When we think about meditation it conjures up images of us sitting cross-legged on the cushion, burning incense sticks and chanting. We find out though, that meditation is a practice which can be truly life changing, training our minds in awareness and an understanding of how and why we think and feel the way we do, getting a healthy sense of perspective in the process.
The book explains how just 10 minutes of meditation each day can bring about transformative results by helping us to manage our thoughts and feelings. Meditation isn’t about changing who you are, or what you think.
The authors learnings did not come without their struggles and frustrations, and Andy talks openly about having a head full of thoughts and confusing emotions at the time. Sharing one experience in particular about an exchange he had with a senior teacher at his monastery, this is such a lovely story around how to think of your mind as a clear blue sky. His teacher asked if he’d flown on a plane to get to the monastery, and if it was cloudy when he left. ‘If you get on a plane and fly up through the clouds, there’s nothing but blue sky on the other side. Even when it appears as though there’s nothing but big, dark, heavy clouds, there’s always blue sky there.’ This helps to remind us that however cloudy and dark our thoughts might be, they are not permanent and blue sky is always there waiting, unchanged, no matter how we feel.
May you always fly above the clouds.
Source: The Headspace Guide to Mindful Meditation
www.headspace.com
