May is National Meditation Month. May can also be a busy month, the school year is winding down and summer is gearing up. What a good month to schedule some time to slow down and meditate. We are going to look at some books that can be found at the Chatham Area Public Library to help you learn about and participate in meditation.
Deepak Chopra, a well-known speaker on alternative medicine, has written the book Total Meditation: practices in living the awakened life. He says this is the definitive book of meditation that will help you achieve new dimensions of stress-free living. Emily Fletcher’s Stress Less, Accomplish More is an entertaining and enlightening book filled with fascinating real-life transformations, interactive exercises, and practical knowledge. Fletcher, the founder of Ziva Meditation, introduces you to a revelatory daily practice and shows you how to make it work for your modern life. Mindfulness for Beginners by Jon Kabat-Zinn is a book that can be used in three unique ways; as a collection of reflections and practices to be opened and explored at random; as an illuminating and engaging start-to-finish read; or as an unfolding 'lesson-a-day' primer on mindfulness practice.
If meditation isn’t your thing, maybe check out these fiction books for a purely entertaining time. In Jayne Ann Krentz’s Untouchable, FBI consultant Jack Lancaster engages in deep meditation therapy to navigate the darkness of his work as a cold-case arson investigator. This suspense novel has Jack going up against Quinton Zane, a man resolved to eliminate Jack. Starcarbon by Ellen Gilchrist is a thoughtful story on love. In this novel, Olivia returns to Oklahoma to explore the Indian half of her family history. While there, she resumes a romance with an old boyfriend while her sister is stuck in a rocky marriage with a new baby. Tom Hank’s Uncommon Type isn’t about meditation, but these short stories can encourage slowing down and enjoying stories about the human condition.
These children’s books will help the whole family be a bit more mindful. Being a Dog: a tail of mindfulness by Maria Gianferrari invites us to join a young child and their dog as they experience every minute of the day to its fullest--from the second they wake up to the moment they fall asleep. Readers will love barking, wagging, and sniffing along with the gentle cues in the book. Breathe like a Bear, by Kira Willey, guides readers through fun exercises to help us relax and stretch our imaginations. Because just like we need to exercise our bodies, we need to flex our mindfulness muscles. In I am peace by Susan Verde, a child starts to get carried away with worry and rushing thoughts before taking a breath, steadying, observing thoughts, feeling kindness, feeling thankful, and experiencing the world.
Enjoy all of the busy times, but don’t forget to slow down and appreciate your life and the world around you. All these meditation books are available at the Chatham Area Public Library.