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| The Practicing Mind: Bringing Discipline and Focus Into Your Life | 
 enlarge | Author: Thomas M. Sterner
Publisher: Mountain Sage Publishing
Category: Book
Buy New: $16.95
Buy New/Used from $15.26
Avg. Customer Rating:  (12 reviews)
Sales Rank: 13047
Language: English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1st
Pages: 100
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.4
ISBN: 0977657205
EAN: 9780977657209
ASIN: 0977657205
Publication Date: March 1, 2006
Release Date: March 1, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Present moment awareness is an essential ingredient in life if one expects to experience any degree of authentic peace and contentment. It has been acknowledged for centuries as the cornerstone of spiritual awakening in all traditions of Eastern thought. In the West, however, it is still a relatively unrecognized concept of living. The Western mind is always restless, never content with the moment. Its internal dialogue is always firing off thoughts filled with emotional content and pulling the individual out of the present and into the past or future. But individuals raised in Western culture are becoming increasingly more aware of their overall sense of mental exhaustion, their lack of discipline and their inability to focus on demand. They are willing to expend the energy necessary to experience inner peace and a quiet mind that is waiting to follow the direction of their will. They are realizing that the endless struggle to fulfill the insatiable appetite of instant gratification is fruitless and tiresome at best. They are ripe for a new path in life and eager for a new set of instructions. This is the purpose of The Practicing Mind. It comprehensively deals with helping the individual understand exactly what present moment awareness is, how we are raised in a manner contradictory to this, and how we change our mindset to make this a part of our daily living. This book is accessible to readers of all philosophical backgrounds. Regardless of your perspective, you will find the book's insights most compelling.
Now the wisdom of both The Practicing Mind and The Meditating Mind are available in the new package: The Total Mindset.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...
Sanity in a too busy world September 27, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is definitely a 5 star book. If you've been looking for a bit of sanity, feeling overwhelmed, read too many self-help books, then try this one. Although it is short and very readable, I don't think it should be read quickly. That is the author's entire point. Life is a process. Reaching a goal is about the journey, not the destination. Read a chapter, digest it, read the next chapter, digest it. I found great calmness in reading this book. I loved his analogy to sailing towards the horizon. Sometimes we become so focused on the goal that we forget that we have made progress, even though we keep moving our horizons. A small book with a great message to be read repeatedly.
I wish I could give it 10 stars! August 19, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
How would you like to learn to let go of anxiety? To get twice as much done with half the stress? To find a way to handle intimidating, unpleasant, or even boring tasks without having them take a bite out of you?
What if I told you that this would involve your investing a little over $10 and reading a 98-page book?
I thought you'd be interested.
Here's the deal. Sterner, a musician, a piano technician, a golfer, and an all-around sage (who would probably be a really interesting person to get to know) mined what he he had learned about repetitive tasks, like practicing music and golf swings (and, I guess, piano tuning and adjusting) and put it into a little book. No frills, no fancy language, no huffing and puffing about how profound he is, his message is, or anything else. And, at least from my experience and that of the other contented reviewers here, he got it right.
Um, sorry, that really should have been Got It Right. What he presents here is not novel - it's been around in recorded human wisdom for thousands of years - but it is simple, direct, and easy to apply. His basic principles are: attach to process (which you can control) not to outcomes (which you can't); accept yourself as embodying perfectly whatever stage of development you happen to be at - don't postpone happiness until you reach/have/attain something - break big projects down into tiny tasks; open yourself to learning from those around you and to joy, which is everywhere. He lays them out in simple, functional prose that anyone can read and understand.
This little book is a giant weapon in The War Against Suffering. Read it. Do what it tells you to do. Read it again. Do more of what it tells you to do. Praise it so that others will read it. Give it to your friends.
I've bought books here based on the reviews of others and it was clear to me when I saw the sorry things that passed for books that someone had self-published and then gotten friends to game the process. I don't know Sterner (my loss) and have no interest in doing anything except sharing my pleasure in having discovered this book.
Answers To Years of Frustration May 30, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Start with the best intention and commitment to accomplish a worthwhile goal only to see both wane in a short period of time. What causes this to occur and how to overcome it are the messages in Mr. Sterner's book.
In my opinion he is spot on in his assessment and advice. Accomplish much more with a marked improvement in peace of mind. If these results interest you, buy his book or his CD. Highly recommended.
Zenzibar February 28, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Fantastic application of Zen meditation to everyday life. I am so much calmer after reading it.
Your Last Self Help Book? December 3, 2007
25 out of 25 found this review helpful
Although I have bought and read literally hundreds of self help books in all categories through Amazon, the Practicing Mind by Thomas M. Sterner is by far the 1st book that has compelled me to write my very first Amazon review.
Their are many things that make this book stand out. It is very short, with absolutely, no-fluff or fillings, with the result that every word and every phrase really counts. Sterner's tone is also very down to earth and easy to understand without the use of any pretentious words. The book also has a few very good illustrations and stories to clarify the concepts presented in the book.
But what I think makes the book really practical is Sterner's realization and revelation that the key to success in any area of life is to acquire self-discipline through non-judgmental concentrated practice. Now, I know that this doesn't sound at all like a very profound or new revelation. But if you have been searching through hundreds of self help books - like I have been for the last few years - for the one key ( or system) that would enable me to become successful in improving my spirituality, my role as husband and father, time-management, health and exercise, writing, entrepreneurship and my other personal areas of interest that are of value to me - than the Practicing Mind will be of great value to you.
The Practicing Mind - is not a panacea to cure it all - but for me it turned out to be an amazingly simple and effective system to help me to systematically and measurably improve all the areas of interest in my life.
I highly recommend the Practicing Mind to anyone that has been searching for the key - no matter if you are just starting out or you already own hundreds or even thousands of self-help books - to order this book and put it into practice
I also highly recommend you to get to also get the audio version - as over the years I have realized that the best way to internalize the paradigms like the one presented in this book - is to listen to them over and over again preferably on a daily basis. The audio CD is read by Mr. Sterner himself and the author has a very calm and pleasant voice that helps transmits his ideas perfectly in the audio book version of this book.
Get The Practicing Mind. It might be the last personal self-help book that you ever order.....
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