See Your Way to Mindfulness

The author of The Little Zen Companion and The Little Book of Prayers, among other bestselling Workman books, is back with a new and beautifully creative idea. Open Your I will give readers the inspiration to disconnect from I their devices and focus on the visual both in the book and in their lives. This four colour book of photographs, illustrations, and inspirational quotes inspired by the Zen Calendar Tumblr includes prompts for readers to practice truly seeing the world around them. Seeing is like meditation, a direct means to be here now. And like meditation, seeing requires that we hit pause, slow down, try to let go of the endless stream of thoughts, and just focus on what's in front of us. It is about being present, as well as the path to being present. Seeing is paying attention. And in the same way that meditation needs to be taught - even the act of noticing our breath needs to be taught we also need some direction in remembering how to see. It isn't "looking," and it's not "watching," both activities that are passive compared to active seeing. The lesson is taught through 100 pieces of art - 75 images paired with inspirational quotes, and 25 paired with ! prompts or exercises that encourage the reader to see for herself - that provide a lesson in truly seeing. The exercises include drawing, writing, taking pictures; ways to compare that we think we know with what we can ; actually see; prompts that demonstrate the difference between the way we "remember" how something looks and the discovery of what it actually looks like.