xii Mindfulness For Dummies

Soothing Your Emotions ............................................................................... 27

Understanding your emotions ........................................................... 27
Managing feelings differently ............................................................. 28
Becoming Aware: Discovering Yourself...................................................... 29

Part II: Preparing the Ground for Mindful Living .......... 33

Chapter 3: Nurturing Your Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35
Exploring Your Intentions ............................................................................ 35
Clarifying intention in mindfulness ................................................... 36
Finding what you’re looking for ......................................................... 37
Developing a vision.............................................................................. 39
Preparing Yourself for Mindfulness ............................................................ 41
Looking Beyond Problem-Solving................................................................ 41
Honing Your Commitment............................................................................ 42
Mastering self-discipline ..................................................................... 43
Making a commitment that’s right for you ....................................... 44
Inspiring you with extra motivation .................................................. 45

Chapter 4: Growing Healthy Attitudes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47

Knowing How Attitude Affects Outcome .................................................... 48
Discovering Your Attitudes to Mindfulness ............................................... 48
Developing Helpful Attitudes ....................................................................... 49
Understanding acceptance ................................................................. 50
Discovering patience ........................................................................... 52
Seeing afresh ........................................................................................ 53
Finding trust ......................................................................................... 54
Practising curiosity.............................................................................. 55
Letting go .............................................................................................. 56
Developing kindness............................................................................ 58
Appreciating ‘Heartfulness’ .......................................................................... 60
Understanding mindfulness as heartfulness .................................... 60
Developing an Attitude of Gratitude ........................................................... 61
Letting go through forgiveness .......................................................... 62
Tackling Unhelpful Attitudes ....................................................................... 63
Avoiding ‘quick-fix’ solutions ............................................................. 64
Overcoming perfectionism ................................................................. 64
Finding out from failure ...................................................................... 65

Chapter 5: Humans Being Versus Humans Doing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67

Delving into the Doing Mode of Mind ......................................................... 67
Embracing the Being Mode of Mind ............................................................ 70
Combining Being and Doing ......................................................................... 71
Overcoming Obsessive Doing: Distinguishing Wants from Needs .......... 73
Being in the Zone: The Psychology of Flow ............................................... 74
Understanding the factors of flow ..................................................... 74
Discovering your flow experiences ................................................... 76