Jon Kabat-Zinn- Coming To Our Senses

“That insensitivity is particularly onerous, even destructive, when we attempt, as we often do, to force things to be a certain way, ~my way~, without regard for the potential violence, even on the tiniest but still significant scale, that such a break in the rhythm of things carries with it. Sooner or later, such forcing denies the reciprocity, the beauty of the give-and-take and the complexity of the dance itself; we wind up stepping, wittingly or unwittingly, on a lot of toes. Such insensitivity, such out-of-touchness, isolates us from our own possibilities. In refusing to acknowledge how things actually are in any moment, perhaps because we don’t want them to be that way, and in attempting to compel a situation or a relationship to be the way we want it to be out of fear that otherwise we may not get our needs met, we are forgetting that most of the time we hardly know what our own way really is; we only think we do. And we forget that this dance is one of extraordinary complexity as well as simplicity, and that new and interesting things happen when we do not collapse in the presence of our fears, and instead stop imposing and start living our truth, well beyond our limited ability to assert tight control over anything for very long.” Jon Kabat-Zinn- Coming To Our Senses

Well, many people know and talk about mindfulness today and even the scientific community is now very eager to incorporate it in all treatment protocols, but this guy started on it more then 30 years ago being ridiculed and all about it. Still, he was a student of famous teachers like Thich Nhat Hanh and founded the mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program helping people to cope with stress, anxiety, pain and illness.

This book, as well as others written by him, are gems of wisdom. I like to read a paragraph or two in the morning and sit on it. His hypnotic phrases take you to places you never visited inside yourself. Places you want to spend some time in. You can find the guided meditations as well, but this entire book is a invitation to take that journey you didn't even know you longed so much for. Enjoy!