Mindfulness Meditation (For Everyday Life)

clearly or break out of our own blindnesses. But
waking up is ultimately something that each one of us
can only do for ourselves. When it comes down to it,
wherever you go, there you are. It's your life that is
unfolding.
At the end of a long life dedicated to teaching
mindfulness, the Buddha, who probably had his share
of followers who were hoping he might make it easier
for them to find their own paths, summed it up for his
disciples this way: "Be a light unto yourself."
In my previous book, Full Catastrophe Living, I tried
to make the path of mindfulness accessible to
mainstream Americans so that it would not feel
Buddhist or mystical so much as sensible.
Mindfulness has to do above all with attention and
awareness, which are universal human qualities. But
in our society, we tend to take these capacities for
granted and don't think to develop them
systematically in the service of self-understanding
and wisdom. Meditation is the process by which we
go about deepening our attention and awareness,
refining them, and putting them to greater practical
use in our lives.
Full Catastrophe Living can be thought of as a
navigational chart, intended for people facing physical
or emotional pain or reeling from the effects of too
much stress. The aim was to challenge the reader to