Good books on being present/mindfulness?

Your favorite books and links
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TopHatFox
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Good books on being present/mindfulness?

Post by TopHatFox »

Any mindfulness or being present books that you've liked? I've read The Power of Now, though it was mostly fluff and "cult-like."

The goal is to really be present with people/the natural world and to listen and care about everything they say, rather than 60% of it. I get why it's important to enjoy the present, but it's different to want to do so and actually knowing how to do so consistently, and especially when stressed about other matters.

Toska2
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Re: Good books on being present/mindfulness?

Post by Toska2 »

In his seminal work, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Csíkszentmihályi outlines his theory that people are happiest when they are in a state of flow—a state of concentration or complete absorption with the activity at hand and the situation. It is a state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter.[12] The idea of flow is identical to the feeling of being in the zone or in the groove. The flow state is an optimal state of intrinsic motivation, where the person is fully immersed in what they are doing. This is a feeling everyone has at times, characterized by a feeling of great absorption, engagement, fulfillment, and skill—and during which temporal concerns (time, food, ego-self, etc.) are typically ignored.[12]

In an interview with Wired magazine, Csíkszentmihályi described flow as "being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you're using your skills to the utmost."[13]

Csikszentmihalyi characterized nine component states of achieving flow including “challenge-skill balance, merging of action and awareness, clarity of goals, immediate and unambiguous feedback, concentration on the task at hand, paradox of control, transformation of time, loss of self-consciousness, and autotelic experience.”[14] To achieve a flow state, a balance must be struck between the challenge of the task and the skill of the performer. If the task is too easy or too difficult, flow cannot occur. Both skill level and challenge level must be matched and high; if skill and challenge are low and matched, then apathy results.[11]

FBeyer
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Re: Good books on being present/mindfulness?

Post by FBeyer »

Olaz wrote:
Thu May 11, 2017 9:23 am
Any mindfulness or being present books that you've liked? I've read The Power of Now, though it was mostly fluff and "cult-like."

The goal is to really be present with people/the natural world and to listen and care about everything they say, rather than 60% of it. I get why it's important to enjoy the present, but it's different to want to do so and actually knowing how to do so consistently, and especially when stressed about other matters.
Yes.
However, mindfulness comes from practice, not from reading.
If you've read one book my guess is that your theoretical work is done, and you need to learn how to be present.

It's very much like barbell training in that regard. You get 1 hour of instruction and then you do 1000 hours of practice. Unless the initial instruction is absolutely shite, the corrections you'll need are 100% personal and thus cannot be covered by a book.

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jennypenny
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Re: Good books on being present/mindfulness?

Post by jennypenny »

I learned self-hypnosis to deal with pain management but I found it helpful with mindfulness, too.

Campitor
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Re: Good books on being present/mindfulness?

Post by Campitor »

I've read many books and articles regarding mindfulness. It all boils down to practicing meditation or meditation-like focus which strengthens your ability to focus on the present experience/task.

Here is one book recommendation: The Mindful Geek: Mindfulness Meditation for Secular Skeptics

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