Singularly flat: the new book Living Mindfully: at Home, at Work, and in the World feels oddly dispassionate, and not in a deliberately-mindful way. The language, with few exceptions, is polysyllabic declarative. Poetry is scant; metaphors are few. (And typos, at least in the first several chapters, are distracting: "breath" for "breathe" on pages 8, 24, 34; "chaffing" for "chafing" on page 12, etc.) The author, Deborah Schoeberlein David, takes center stage and intrudes as First Person in describing how she escaped an unsatisfactory childhood, encountered Buddhism, struggled with depression, met with various teachers including the obligatory Tibetan lama, and eventually arrived at the mindful place she is today. As do the authors of so many books of this genre.

And when a chapter titled "Mindful Sex" takes itself super-seriously, something may be missing from the agenda!

Nevertheless there's great good here, presented in a calm and workmanlike way. Starting from the beginning, Living Mindfully leads baby-step-wise through a gentle progression of practices. First suggestion, "Take one Mindful Breath":

• Just breathe in and then breathe out.
• Pay attention to taking that breath.

Brilliant, simple, and worthwhile. Likewise in the next chapter, "Pause":

• Focus on taking a single, full, breath.
• Observe if/when you lose focus on that single, full breath.
• Refocus, if needed.

Author David explores attention versus awareness, and proceeds to explain mindfulness meditation via following multiple breaths, without and with counting ... and then the focus fades. Lectures ensue on mindfulness and thinking, feeling, listening, and sensing — but without obvious conclusion. Likewise lovingkindness is discussed, directed toward oneself and others, in relationships and at work and toward one's children. All good enough, all presented with gentleness and tolerance ... and flat. Where's the joy of now?

And maybe that's ok ... now happens elsewhere.

(cf. Try It for a Few Years (2009-05-19), Being with Your Breath (2010-02-20), Breath and Awareness (2011-03-12), Just Sitting (2011-05-21), Coming Back to Your Breath (2011-09-25), Notice and Return (2013-03-11), Mindfulness for Beginners (2013-07-18), Beginning Mindfulness (2013-09-22), Pause and Breathe (2014-07-25), ...) - ^z - 2016-01-24