Mindful Peaceful Joyful

Angela Spence

Description

Do you ever think life is just passing you by, without you having time to appreciate it? Is your life not as good as it could be because you worry too much, get anxious, low or fearful? Could relationships with others or with yourself be better? Making small personal changes can often make a huge difference in a person's life. This short book will introduce you to simple techniques and guide you to make those small changes that could make a big difference to your everyday life - to help you enjoy your life and to be more mindful, peaceful and joyful. Meditations to start you along the way are also included in this book.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: Pneuma Springs Publishing
• Date de parution: 24 mai 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781782284642
• Langue: English

Extrait

Contents

Mindful Peaceful Joyful - ebook
Copyright
Quote
Acknowledgements
Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1 - Being mindful
Chapter 2 - Enjoying the moment
Chapter 3 - Positive thinking
Chapter 4 - Freedom from worry
Chapter 5 - Learning to forgive
Chapter 6 - Kingdom living
Chapter 7 - Like and value yourself
Chapter 8 - Harmonious relationships
Chapter 9 - Life coaching and prophetic imagining
Chapter 10 - A few more meditations for you
Bibliography
About Angela Spence
Review Request
Restoring our minds to transform our lives

Mindful Peaceful Joyful



Angela Spence
Copyright
First Published in 2018 by Pneuma Springs Publishing Mindful Peaceful Joyful Copyright © 2018 Angela Spence Angela Spence has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this Work Mobi eISBN: 9781782284581 ePub eISBN: 9781782284642 PDF eBook eISBN: 9781782284611 Paperback ISBN: 9781782284550 Pneuma Springs Publishing E: [e-mail] W: www.pneumasprings.co.uk British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Cover Artwork Credit © Publicdomainphotos | © Creative Commons Zero (CC0) ID 101226906 | Dreamstime Stock Photos Published in the United Kingdom. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. Contents and/or cover may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the express written consent of the publisher.
“The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.”
John Milton, Paradise Lost
Acknowledgements
Thanks to my family and church family for being you.
Thank you to the people who directly helped with this book – Sam Lawson, Heather Spence, Vicki Bonaccorso, Richard Bradbury and Marie Miller.

Soli Deo Gloria
Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1. Being mindful
Chapter 2. Enjoying the moment
Chapter 3. Positive thinking
Chapter 4. Freedom from worry
Chapter 5. Learning to forgive
Chapter 6. Kingdom living
Chapter 7. Like and value yourself
Chapter 8. Harmonious relationships
Chapter 9. Life coaching and prophetic imagining
Chapter 10. A few more meditations for you
Bibliography
Introduction
Imagine walking around with a small stone in your shoe. You’re only half aware of it, every now and again, tapping the toe of your shoe on the floor as you walk to move the stone to a more comfortable position. But of course, the stone moves back. So what do you do? You tap the toe on the floor to move the stone again, and so on. How much more effective would it be to stop for a minute, take the shoe off, shake the stone out of the shoe and put the shoe back on? You would then be free to walk untroubled by the stone. In the same way we can stop and take some time out of our lives to consider our thoughts - the thoughts which bring about struggling with things like low mood, anxiety, anger, fear and relationship problems. We can then make a few changes (i.e. remove the stone) and continue with our lives much freer and more able to appreciate and enjoy our lives, even when circumstances are difficult. Sometimes we only need to make a few adjustments to massively improve our lives. So why don’t we? Often it’s just a case of not realising how easy it is or how much of a difference it will make. This short book aims to guide you through this by introducing you to meditation and mindfulness, as well as making adjustments to your thinking and behaviour. The key to getting the most out of it is a willingness to put into practice what you have learnt. I truly hope that you enjoy reading this book as much as I have enjoyed writing it.
You may find that what I have written is enough for you, or you may wish to look more deeply in to some of these areas. I have recommended some books that should be helpful; you will find these at the end of each chapter. Please e-mail me with any queries or insights, I would love to hear from you at:
[e-mail].
Chapter 1 - Being mindful
"Change your thoughts and you change your world" - Norman Vincent Peale

Our minds are extremely powerful. They are at the core of our feelings. Often, we have thoughts that may not initially seem important, yet they lead to huge difficulties including anxiety, moodiness, low self-esteem and even sleep problems. We can have a tendency to let thoughts run without challenging them. By taking steps to be mindful of our thoughts we can make a difference to how we feel and to our overall health. Research 1 has shown that exercising the attention and awareness muscle literally rewires the brain. Areas associated with peace, calm and happiness are activated while those associated with stress and anxiety are dampened down. The mind is being renewed.
Many people allow their feelings to drive the choices in their lives. Often when talking we will say “I feel…”. The problem is that this can lead to a downward spiral of bad feelings. What is more helpful is if we increase our awareness of what is in our minds. What we fill our minds with affects how we feel. So, by taking control of our minds, we become more effective in taking control over our feelings. I make a conscious effort now when talking to say “I think…..” rather than “I feel….”
__________ 1 ‘Oxford Mindfulness Centre’ (online) <http://www.oxfordmindfulness.org> [accessed 12.11.2017], &
Scott Symington PhD & Melissa Symington PhD, ‘A Christian model of mindfulness: using mindfulness principles to support psychological well-being, value based behaviour, and the Christian spiritual journey’, The Free Library . <https://www.thefreelibrary.com/A+Christian+model+of+mindfulness%3a+using+mindfulness+principles+to...-a0293812661 > [accessed 28.10.2016]


The Bible says: “be transformed by the renewal of your mind”. (Romans 12:2); and we “demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ”. (2 Corinthians 10:5). To do this we need to take control over what we think about, rather than dwelling on things which are unhelpful to us, often things which are not true. Sometimes we are not even aware of what is in our minds. At other times we let things like anxieties, regrets, worries and concerns go round and round and take no control over them. An effective way to break this is by meditating to increase our self-awareness and awareness of our current circumstances. We can find truths and positives to meditate on, and to fill our minds with, rather than harmful negatives.


Meditation
You can think of meditation as being what is on our minds, what we are thinking about, mulling over, reflecting on, brooding over, considering and continuously dwelling on.
This meditation is to bring your awareness into the here and now. I find it is particularly useful in times of worry such as before an upcoming meeting or when I am not able to quieten my mind enough to sleep. One thing I have found is that doing this meditation in the day (and I have not been disciplined enough to do it every day) has helped me sleep better.