Advance Praise and Reviews"Laity's approach invites readers to cultivate awareness, presence, and compassion, making mindfulness a transformative practice for body, mind, and spirit."-- National Catholic Reporter
How in our busy daily life can we have the opportunity to stop running and come back to the present moment? God is always present. It is we who have wandered off somewhere forgetting to be there for God.
Sister Annabel Laity, an English-born Buddhist nun in the lineage of Thich Nhat Hanh, offers this unique introduction to the principles and practice of mindfulness for a western, Christian audience by showing parallels between Zen and the teachings of Jesus. Mindfulness, after all, is the ability to dwell in the present moment, the only moment when life is possible. . . . Because we are aware of what is happening in the present moment, we can live in the present moment, free from regrets about the past or worries about the future.
First, Sister Annabel applies these lessons to daily life, learning to breathe, to walk, eat mindfully, and how we can bring this mindfulness to the experience of work, activism, suffering, death, and love. In the second part she outlines principles of double-belonging, showing how it is possible to be at home in more than one spiritual practice.