The Mindfulness Solution: Everyday Practices for Everyday Problems - Hardcover

Siegel, Ronald (PsyD, Center For Mindfulness And Compassion, Harvard Medical School/Cambridge Health Alliance, MA)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1606234560 ISBN 13: 9781606234563

Verlag: Guilford Publications, 2009

Inhaltsangabe

Mindfulness offers a path to well-being and tools for coping with life's inevitable hurdles. And though mindfulness may sound exotic, you can cultivate it--and reap its proven benefits--without special training or lots of spare time. Trusted therapist and mindfulness expert Dr. Ronald Siegel shows exactly how in this inviting guide. You'll get effective strategies to use while driving to work, walking the dog, or washing the dishes, plus tips on creating a formal practice routine in as little as 20 minutes a day. Flexible, step-by-step action plans will help you become more focused and efficient in daily life; cope with difficult feelings, such as anger and sadness; deepen your connection to your spouse or partner; feel more rested and less stressed; curb unhealthy habits; find relief from anxiety and depression; and resolve stress-related pain, insomnia, and other physical problems. Free audio downloads of the meditation exercises are available at the author's website: www.mindfulness-solution.com. Start living a more balanced life--today.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

Ronald D. Siegel, PsyD, is Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychology at Harvard Medical School/Cambridge Health Alliance, where he has taught for over 25 years. He is a long-time student of mindfulness meditation and serves on the Board of Directors and faculty of the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy. He teaches internationally about mindfulness and psychotherapy and mind-body treatment, has worked for many years in community mental health with inner-city children and families, and maintains a private clinical practice in Lincoln, Massachusetts. Dr. Siegel is coauthor of the self-treatment guide Back Sense, which integrates Western and Eastern approaches for treating chronic back pain, and coeditor of an acclaimed book for professionals, Mindfulness and Psychotherapy. Dr. Siegel lives in Lincoln with his wife and daughters. He regularly uses the practices in this book to work with his own busy, unruly mind.

Ronald D. Siegel, PsyD, is Assistant Professor of Psychology, part time, at Harvard Medical School/Cambridge Health Alliance, where he has taught since the early 1980s. He is a longtime student of mindfulness meditation and is a faculty and board member at the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy. Dr. Siegel teaches internationally about the application of mindfulness practices in psychotherapy and other fields, and maintains a private practice in Lincoln, Massachusetts. His books include The Mindfulness Solution, for general readers, as well as several acclaimed works for professionals.

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The Mindfulness Solution

Everyday Practices for Everyday Problems

By Ronald D. Siegel

The Guilford Press

Copyright © 2010 Ronald D. Siegel
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-60623-456-3

Contents

Cover, 
Title Page, 
Dedication, 
Copyright, 
PREFACE, 
PART I Why Mindfulness Matters, 
CHAPTER 1 Life is difficult, for everyone, 
CHAPTER 2 Mindfulness: A solution, 
CHAPTER 3 Learning to practice mindfulness, 
CHAPTER 4 Building a mindful life, 
PART II Everyday Practices for Unruly Minds, Bodies, and Relationships, 
CHAPTER 5 Befriending fear: Working with worry and anxiety, 
CHAPTER 6 Entering the dark places: Seeing sadness and depression in a new light, 
CHAPTER 7 Beyond managing symptoms: Transforming pain and stress-related medical problems, 
CHAPTER 8 Living the full catastrophe: Mindfulness for romance, parenting, and other intimate relationships, 
CHAPTER 9 Breaking bad habits: Learning to make good choices, 
CHAPTER 10 Growing up isn't easy: Changing your relationship with aging, illness, and death, 
CHAPTER 11 What's next?: The promise of mindfulness, 
WHEN YOU NEED MORE HELP: HOW TO FIND A THERAPIST, 
RESOURCES, 
NOTES, 
INDEX, 
ABOUT THE AUTHOR, 
About Guilford Publications, 

CHAPTER 1

Life is difficult, for everyone

Do you ever wonder, "Why is my life so difficult?" I wonder about this a lot. Compared to the vast majority of the six billion people on the planet, I've had it pretty easy. Good parents, no really serious diseases so far, plenty of food and shelter, a loving wife and children, caring friends, even an interesting career. Still, not a day goes by without my mind generating some sort of subtle or not-so-subtle emotional suffering:

"Am I starting to get a cold? I really don't want to be sick over the weekend."

"I hope my daughter does well on today's test—she was so upset after the last one."

"I wish this traffic would clear up; I can't be late again."

"If only I had ..."

"Getting old really sucks. Who knew?"

Why does my mind fill with thoughts like these all day long? Do I just have bad genes? Perhaps—but if so, I seem to have plenty of company.

Emotional suffering comes in all shapes and sizes. We might worry about the future, be angry or sad, feel guilty or ashamed, get upset about physical pain, or just feel bored or stressed. Sometimes it's pretty subtle—we "don't feel great" or are "out of sorts." Other times we can get so taken over by anxiety, depression, addictions, pain, or stress related symptoms that it's hard to even function. A remarkable amount of the time, being human isn't easy.

Happiness is possible—but optional

The problem may be that we did not evolve to be happy. Natural selection, the process that guides evolution, favors adaptations that help us reproduce successfully. This means surviving long enough to mate, snag a partner, and then support our children's survival. Evolutionary forces don't particularly "care" whether we enjoy our life—unless this increases our survival or mating potential. And they really don't "care" about what happens to us after our childbearing and protecting years are over.

But we care. While most of us think the survival of humanity is a good idea, we would also like to be able to enjoy our lives while we're here. It doesn't seem like a lot to ask.

Yet we struggle. As a clinical psychologist, I've had a window into the lives of many other people, and they all find life to be difficult. Of course, my patients might be an unusual lot. After all, aren't people with problems the ones that seek psychotherapy? While there is some truth to this, I suspect that most of them are actually in no more distress than people who are not in therapy—they're just more motivated and able to do something about it. On top of this, every friend, colleague, and family member that I've ever known well—whether or not they've been in therapy—seems to find life emotionally challenging too.

What's wrong with us? Life is so remarkable. The natural world and human culture are astonishingly complex and interesting, and by historical standards almost everyone in developed countries lives privileged lives full of riches. Most of us never experience the tragedies that we see on the news, like losing a family in a natural disaster, being attacked by a hostile army, or barely surviving a horrible accident—and yet we all experience a surprising amount of stress and emotional pain.

Have we actually evolved to be un happy? In a sense, yes. What counts in natural selection is the survival of the species. Certain instincts and intellectual abilities that have helped our species prosper over the past few million years have created some pretty negative consequences for us as individuals. Let's look at an example from the past:

Fred and Wilma were early Homo sapiens living on the plains of East Africa about 40,000 years ago. They had evolved quite a bit from their Homo erectus ancestors, developing enormous brains. In fact they each needed to eat 400 calories a day—a fifth of their normal diet—just to keep these going. The couple used their brains to do all sorts of marvelous things that helped them survive: to think abstractly, plan for their future, find novel solutions to problems, and trade with their neighbors. They were even able to make cave paintings and stone jewelry in their spare time.

But all was not well on the savannah. Fred's and Wilma's brains also gave them trouble. They worried about rhinoceroses and lions, were envious of their neighbors who had a bigger cave, and got into arguments over who should haul the water on hot days. When it was cold and rainy, they both got irritable, remembering how much better they liked the sun. They noticed changes around them, fretting when there wasn't as much fruit on the trees, roots to eat, or insect larvae (a favorite treat) to snack on. When neighbors got sick or died, they were distressed to realize that this could happen to them too. Sometimes Wilma got upset when Fred looked at other women. Then she wouldn't have sex with him—which upset him. Sometimes they both thought about their dog that was eaten by the hyenas. And they felt terrible whenever their son was hurt by the bully from over the hill.

Even when everything was going well, they had thoughts about what had gone wrong in the past or what might befall them in the future. Fred and Wilma were surviving pretty well, and their son had a good chance of making it too, but they still had a lot on their minds.

In some regards, things haven't changed much over the last 40,000 years. Our brains—marvelous as they are—continue to give us trouble. Fortunately, though, some of the same abilities that helped our ancestors survive have also enabled us to develop effective practices to deal with our troublesome brains and enhance our happiness. Luckily these techniques have come a long way since Fred and Wilma's time.

Mindfulness: an antidote

Mindfulness is one of these practices. It developed through thousands of years of cultural evolution as an antidote to the natural habits of our hearts and minds that make life much more difficult than it needs to be. Mindfulness is a particular attitude toward experience, or way of relating to life, that holds the promise of both alleviating our suffering and making our...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Guilford Publications
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2009
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1606234560
• ISBN 13: 9781606234563
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 356
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
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