Alice Benson

The Power of Mindful Thinking Alice Benson

My third book of poems, mostly within the context of mindfulness, plus some with intriguing themes. What is mindfulness about, what does it mean to me? I think if you have been through a troubled time, for example, a traumatic bereavement, mental health problems like depression, or something else, then mindfulness can help kind of 're-boot' you in a way. It helps me to see the little things in life all around us, and not just to respond to the big things in life. This way of thinking can help during the darkest moments of your life. Working as a Samaritan I have found that sometimes the smallest thing can trigger terrible suicidal feelings. This is because of a build-up of feelings that have been ignored. So the more we focus on the lovely small things in life e.g. Noticing a beautiful sunset, a flower, a friends smile, the more we 'bank' those valuable feelings of gratitude. The first poem and the most important poem in the book is called The Breath is Life. We need to just remind ourselves sometimes that we always have the breath to fall back on. For those of us who sing or speak in public, we know how the breath is important for strength and power to sustain notes or sound, however, noticing the breath can do so much more for us. By noticing the breath we focus the mind, we notice how we are feeling, and by using the breath we can begin to find ourselves calming down. The side effects of mindfulness may be general happiness, calm, maybe even more energy! Thank you for buying the book, I hope you like it! Alice xxx