The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion: Freeing Yourself from Destructive Thoughts and Emotions
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- ISBN13: 9781593859756
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
(20100129)Amazon.com Review
“In this intelligent, concise, and simple-to-read book, Christopher Germer presents an exciting synthesis of mindfulness and self-compassion that is much needed and long overdue. Drawing upon decades of practice as a clinician and meditator, Dr. Germer offers a rich and insightful guide to emotional healing. While painstakingly covering the significant psychological research, the book is written for a all-purpose audience, and will be of enormous benefit to both therapists and their clients….Germer’s narrative voice is warm, gentle, and down-to-planet. His years of meditation practice have clearly paid off in the writing of this book: every word is infused with wisdom and compassion. An invaluable guide to anyone wanting to learn how to transform their relationship with hard emotions, this vital book will undoubtedly change the lives of many who read it.” -British Journal of Psychology
“Very well written…filled with practical suggestions and methods….Both the reasoning supporting the importance of the method and the method itself are open in a clear and compelling fashion. I felt excited, touched, and enriched as I read on, and I am sure most readers will have a similar response….Offers a excellent integration of Eastern spirituality with Western science to make a compelling argument for the values and effectiveness of mindfulness and compassion meditation. Not only is the argument clear and convincing, but the book also offers plenty of practical aids….Should you read this book? Enthusiastically, yes….An brilliant review of the evidence for mindful self-compassion in a psychoeducational manual and a step-by-step guide to developing awareness, self-compassion, and loving kindness.” -PsycCRITIQUES
“A superb introduction to mindfulness meditation….This brilliant manual demonstrates how by long-suffering and embracing emotions, one can go to a privileged plane of harmony with oneself and others. Interspersed with supporting data from psychology experiments, this book provides practical, life-changing self-help techniques and suggestions for further readings and practice. Highly recommended. (starred review).” -Library Journal
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I bought the following book:
The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion: Freeing Yourself from Destructive Thoughts and Emotions. The book is very well written and informative. I would recommend it to others.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
I perhaps selected this book up for the incorrect reason. I don’t (usually) have a problem with self-compassion. But I like to read books that chat about mindfulness because they invariably give me a sense of peace AS I READ. Germer’s book had the opposite effect on me, making in me a feeling of sheer drudgery and anxiousness to hasten up and get through it.
I’m sure he means well, but he has 80 pages of the most mindfulness-preventing description of how to attain mindfulness that I can imagine. I say mindfulness-preventing because it is hard to imagine a writing style less likely to get you in the mindfulness mood. He approaches mindfulness like a boss with a stopwatch: This many minutes breathing like this, this many minutes feeling your body like this, this many minutes labeling your emotions like this . . .
A much better discussion of mindfulness is in Peace is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh (and it’s probably covered in just a few pages if I remember correctly). You’ll feel mindful and at peace right as you’re reading the entire book, which covers so much more. Also, for that peace-as-you’re reading feeling, try Wherever You Go, There You Are by Kabat-Zinn or It’s Simpler Than You Reflect: The Buddhist Way To Happiness, by Sylvia Boorstein.
The self-compassion aspect of Germer’s book is also covered by books on Buddhism (which is perhaps why I didn’t need this book to tell me about it). Loving-kindness, as Germer states in this book, includes having loving-kindness toward yourself as well as others, so again, you might as well read the Thich Nhat Hanh book because it covers so much more in so very many fewer words.
Germer’s book obviously works for some readers (it got lots of five star reviews), but it didn’t work for me.
Reader’s Rating: 3 / 5
“Meditation practice isn’t about trying to throw ourselves away or become something better. It’s about befriending who we are already.” – Pema Chodron
How do we sabotage our deeply conditioned tendencies towards self-criticism? In this competitive, stressful society, we are easily thrown into competition with ourselves – fighting desperately to eradicate the more vulnerable parts of ourselves and cultivate the qualities, experiences and possessions that we reflect will help us get yet to be. In this struggle, we regularly lose touch with the capacity to have compassion for our plight, one that is shared by everyone. In The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion, psychologist Christopher K. Germer offers a way out of this regularly demoralizing battle. In the introduction, Germer calls this an “un-self-help book.” In many ways, the methods of befriending hard emotions and practicing compassion could directly neutralize what sends many of us to the self-help section of the bookstore. This book presents an engaging, friendly guide to navigating this regularly very devious, tough work.
The book is divided into three parts. Part I (Learning Self-Compassion) is a all-purpose introduction to mindfulness meditation and the concept of self-compassion. Customers may have noticed this book is similar in title to another from the same publisher: The Mindful Way through Depression. I’ve read that book (which really has helped me prevent a relapse of depression for two years now) and, indeed, both books present much the same material in much the same manner. Both feature mindfulness of the breath, body and sound. Part II (Practicing Loving-Kindness) is where the two books depart. Whereas the authors of TMWTD incorporates modern cognitive behavioral therapy to transform self-defeating habits, Germer introduces the very ancient technique of metta (loving-kindness) meditation.
Germer’s meditation instructions are regularly reasonably poetic (such as observing bodily sensations “like a mother staring at a newborn baby, wondering what it’s feeling”). In Part III (Customizing Self-Compassion), he offers ways to balance compassion for oneself as well as others. What I appreciate about Germer’s approach is that it is so eclectic. For instance, like additional books on meditation, he has the reader mark emotions. But, unlike additional books on meditation, Germer provides an wide list of emotion words compiled by computer linguist Stephen DeRose. He also includes things like a list of “schemas” (patterns of habitual thoughts/feelings) from psychologist Jeffrey Young and an appealing set of {personality types” that might help customize the practice to your own particular idiosyncracies. All of this is in addition to page after page of tales from his own life and practice, fascinating studies from the fields of neuroscience and psychology, as well as poetry and cartoons.
Germer surprised me with his understanding of Buddhism. His incorporation of the Buddha’s words is sometimes so devious and natural it’s easily missed. For example, in his introduction, Germer writes: “No matter how hard we try to avoid emotional pain, it follows us everywhere. Hard emotions–bring shame on, rage, loneliness, dread, despair, confusion–arrive like clockwork at our door. They come when things don’t go according to our expectations, when we’re separated from loved ones, and as a part of ordinary sickness, ancient age, and death. It’s just not possible to avoid feeling terrible.” Persons familiar with Buddhism will admit this as a modern reworking of the First Noble Truth (particularly its iteration in the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta — the Buddha’s first sermon). His explanations of rather hard Buddhist concepts such as not-self and interdependence demonstrate a nuanced understanding.
You don’t have to be a Buddhist to benefit from this book. In fact, Germer includes a centering meditation establish in a Trappist (Christian) monastery, I poem from the Sufi poet Rumi, as well as discussion of prayer. Germer’s book would benefit anyone struggling with feelings of inadequacy, bring shame on, anxiety or rage, and comes at a time when the synthesis of modern science and very ancient wisdom are blossoming. Also recommended is British psychologist Paul Gilbert’s brilliant The Compassionate Mind, which discusses the practice of compassion in a larger evolutionary framework.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
I have permanently been interested in self reflection and using psychiatric help as a way to acheive personal growth. I have also been very interested in learning to meditate and have been searching for suggestions from persons who have establish success. This book combines the two seamlessly! I establish it simple to ready and extremely informative. I will refer back to this regularly as I continue on my path toward personal and spiritual growth.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
Mindfulness has a remarkable healing effect in the mind and is one of the best tools available for effective with emotional suffering. This scholarly book describes how mindfulness heals in detail. Compassion is the outer dimension of Mindfulness and the two together heal everything that falls within the light of mindfulness. If you want to read more about mindfulness, I also recommend ‘The Path of Mindfulness Meditation’, available through Amazon.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5