“An engagingly written call to overcome stress and embrace a life of awareness and simplicity.”
A nuts-and-bolts guidebook to raising the quality of one’s life through mindfulness. This nonfiction debut from Indian author Pathik describes the extent of the psychological, social, and spiritual problems afflicting the modern technological age—and especially the children of the current era. In the United States, he writes, one out of five children experiences mental health problems, which translates to millions of kids. Many adults are similarly oppressed, according to Pathik—overworked and overly stressed by omnipresent technology: “We have become so absorbed in the materialistic world,” he writes, “that we have forgotten how to be human.” The author warns readers that, despite his book’s title, his response to these pervasive societal maladies is not a “quick-fix”; rather, it more closely resembles a journey that one may take alongside the author. In clear prose, Pathik lays out his key concept: that readers should make a clear distinction between their “Inner” and “Outer Minds.” The Outer Mind is the “Subjective Mind,” he says, which deals with thoughts and actions and can blunt the sensitivity that one needs to be content. The Inner Mind, by contrast, is the “Intuitive Mind,” which he defines as the sacred, spiritual inner core of one’s personality. And according to Pathik, modern life is characterized by the tension between these aspects of every person’s brain: “There is a war going on inside our minds,” he writes. Although this is a fairly standard real-world/inner-spirit dichotomy, Pathik effectively outlines major steps to achieving a balance between the two over the course of his book.
The key, he says, is to “silence the Outer Mind for even short intervals” in order to better access one’s more spiritual Inner Mind. He gives readers a straightforward and practical path to reaching this goal, through the use of breathing exercises (“This mindful breath flow creates a natural quietness of the mind”) and other mindfulness techniques. An engagingly written call to overcome stress and embrace a life of awareness and simplicity.
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