Mindfulness for Dummies product reviews

Sceptics are a dime a dozen - you can find them everywhere you look - especially on here. I'm one of them - those people who don't automatically fall for the hype and buy something that makes all the right-sounding claims. You could be one too, since you're reading this review instead of rushing out to buy this book.

But you should.

It worked... for me... to an acceptable degree.

Nothing can help you reduce your stresses to zero - if you have zero stress, you're dead. Or soon will be, the next time you get behind the wheel of your car, or cross the road... because to have no stress means to have no cares about the dangers in the world around you. This will rapidly translate into a truck hitting you, or a bus, or a fast car.

The trick is, to find the tools that will help you reduce your stresses to a manageable level, by putting things back into perspective, prioritising them, so you need only focus on the factors active in the moment, not those that have passed, or are not yet relevant. Meditation may sound 'hokey' to some of you, but a rose by any other name still smells as sweet. it's a tool, a method of calming your mind so that the crowd of voices all screaming for attention settle out into distinct groups, that can either be silenced, amplified into clear focus, or basically told to shut up until spoken to first.

At the risk of sounding a little 'hokey' myself, I have found meditation has helped me many times in life... times when the stresses of living in a modern world where the rules often contradict the instincts, where doing what feels right more often than not turns out to be wrong - at least in the eyes of those carrying the biggest sticks. It can be as simple as sitting comfortably on the floor in a dark room, with some soothing music (Try "The Theme to Harry's Game" by Clannad, it really sets the mood), and just letting your mind slow down a few thousand RPM's. Thinking clearly about what is stressing you out, not in an emotional way, just quietly listing out all the things 'on your mind' and working out which ones you can change, and how, and which ones you need to find a way to accept because they are either beyond your ability to change, or can't be changed before others are first. (You can't pay the power bill until you've been paid for the work, so deal with the work, and the power bill goes away - that kind of thing.)

This book takes the basic concept to a new level, introducing a few extra, but vitally important, steps into the cycle... and includes ways to help prevent extreme and negative emotion from clouding your judgement. For those not blessed by Asperger's, emotion is a might strong driving force, built into your instincts by thousands, if not millions (depending on your belief system), of years of civilisation.and development.In times of danger, it can give you the tools to survive, but more and more these days it can just lead you deeper into the handcuffs-and-jailcell arena. A calm mind can still use emotion, but an emotional mind has no other tools at it's disposal - which is why it is better to be mindful of your nature, and work out ways to use your mental and emotional tools more effectively.

It won't be to everyone's taste - nothing ever is - but for those who want to try something that doesn't come in a pill or capsule, this is a small price to pay for a chance at something that has no side-effects, no ongoing maintenance costs, and is around half the cost of a single doctor's visit... and even if the very worst case happens - that it does nothing for you - you can at least pass it on... unlike all the aforementioned options.

Overall, I am glad I gave this a go. It has helped, and will undoubtedly help more in future as I learn more and apply it more effectively to life. It won't make me start to walk around in a bedsheet with paint on my forehead handing out rice cakes and bran muffins, but it should help me deal with life in a calmer, more loving way... and that's gotta be a good thing, right?