Introduction: Understanding Mindfulness
p. 7 In a 2010 study at Harvard, psychologists concluded: Steve Bradt, “Wandering Mind Not a Happy Mind,” Harvard Gazette, November 11, 2010, https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2010/11/wandering-mind-not-a-happy-mind.
Chapter 1: Living with Embodied Awareness
p. 20 In a 2008 study, researchers found that, after only eight weeks: J. Carmody and R. A. Baer, “Relationships between Mindfulness Practice and Levels of Mindfulness, Medical and Psychological Symptoms and Well-Being in a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program,” Journal of Behavioral Medicine 31, no. 1 (2008): 23–33, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17899351.
Chapter 2: Listening and Tending to the Body
p. 29 In one 2010 study, researchers found that increased practice of mindfulness: Desleigh Gilbert and Jennifer Waltz, “Mindfulness and Health Behavior,” Mindfulness 1, no. 4 (2010): 227–34, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225152897_Mindfulness_and_Health_Behaviors.
Chapter 3: Working Carefully with Physical Pain
p. 33 Cohen wrote: “People sometimes ask me where my own healing energy”: Quotes by Darlene Cohen are from her book Turning Suffering Inside Out: A Zen Approach to Living with Physical and Emotional Pain (Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2000).
p. 35 Research has shown that mindfulness practice helps reduce anticipatory fear: J. Lutz et al., “Mindfulness and Emotion Regulation—An fMRI Study,” Social Cognitive Affective Neuroscience 9, no. 6 (2014): 776–85, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23563850.
p. 35 Similarly, a 2008 pain study considered older adults with chronic low back pain: N. E. Morone et al., “‘I felt like a new person’: The Effects of Mindfulness Meditation on Older Adults with Chronic Pain: Qualitative Narrative Analysis of Diary Entries,” Journal of Pain 9, no. 9 (2008): 841–48, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18550444.
Chapter 5: Meeting Aging with Kind Awareness
p. 50 This extract from a poem by Carmelene Siani speaks beautifully about meeting: Carmelene Siani, “A 73-Year-Old Woman’s Ode to the Art of Aging Gracefully,” Elephant Journal (blog), November 8, 2015, https://www.elephantjournal.com/2015/11/a-73-year-old-womans-ode-to-the-art-of-aging-gracefully-poem.
p. 52 In a 2014 research study using fMRI scans, findings revealed: E. Luders, N. Cherbuin, and F. Kurth, “Forever Young(er): Potential Age-Defying Effects of Long-Term Meditation on Gray Matter Atrophy,” Frontiers in Psychology 5 (2014), https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25653628.
p. 52 Similar findings by Lutz and others have shown that long-term meditators: A. Lutz et al., “Attention Regulation and Monitoring in Meditation,” Trends in Cognitive Sciences 12, no. 4 (2009): 163–69, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2693206.
Chapter 6: Embracing Death’s Invitation
p. 59 In the poem “When Death Comes,” Mary Oliver wrote about confronting: Mary Oliver, New and Selected Poems: Volume One (Boston: Beacon Press, 1992).
Chapter 7: Riding the Waves of Pleasure and Pain
p. 64 Or as the poet Jack Gilbert writes in his poem “A Brief for the Defense”: Jack Gilbert, “A Brief for the Defense,” Refusing Heaven: Poems (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005); copyright © 2005 by Jack Gilbert.
Chapter 8: Understanding the True Nature of the Body
p. 70 As Rilke once wrote in Letters to a Young Poet: Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet (New York: Norton and Company, 1962).
Chapter 9: Working with the Thinking Mind
p. 79 The National Science Foundation posited that we can think upwards: George Dvorsky, “Managing Your 50,000 Thoughts,” Sentient Developments (blog), March 19, 2007, http://www.sentientdevelopments.com/2007/03/managing-your-50000-daily-thoughts.html.
Chapter 12: Identifying the Judging Mind
p. 99 In one 2008 study, researchers investigated the impact of mindfulness: Paul A. Frewen et al., “Letting Go: Mindfulness and Negative Automatic Thinking,” Cognitive Theory Research 32 (2008): 758–74, https://contextualscience.org/system/files/Frewen,2008.pdf.
Chapter 13: The Illusion of Time
p. 106 An illuminating radio series on National Public Radio called Serial: NPR, Serial (podcast, 2014), https://serialpodcast.org/season-one.
Chapter 16: Learning the Wisdom of Letting Go
p. 124 In Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl wrote about his experiences in the Nazi concentration camps: Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning (Boston: Beacon Press, 1959/2006).
p. 125 Ajahn Chah, a renowned Thai meditation master, once said: “If you want a little peace”: Ajahn Chah, Being Dharma (Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2001).
Chapter 17: Freedom from Attachment
p. 133 The Third Zen Patriarch, a famous Chinese Chan meditation master of the fifth century, wrote: Seng-T’san, “The Third Patriarch of Zen Hsin Hsin Ming,” Age-of-the-sage.org (no date), https://www.age-of-the-sage.org/buddhism/third_patriarch_zen.html.
Chapter 19: Releasing Mistaken Identity
p. 147 Astoundingly, over half our body weight is made up of microorganisms: http://www.sciencealert.com/how-many-bacteria-cells-outnumber-human-cells-microbiome-science.
p. 148 In Apocalypse, D. H. Lawrence hypothesized poetically almost a century ago: D. H. Lawrence, Apocalypse (New York: Penguin Classics, 1931/1995).
p. 154 Wes Nisker, a colleague and meditation teacher, gave this solution to the problem: Wes Nisker, Buddha’s Nature: A Practical Guide to Discovering Your Place in the Cosmos (New York: Bantam Books, 1998).
Chapter 20: The Causal Nature of Everything
p. 161 Researchers in Canada have found that, over the past twenty years, the average human: Kevin McSpadden, “You Now Have a Shorter Attention Span Than a Goldfish,” Time, May 14, 2015, http://time.com/3858309/attention-spans-goldfish.
Chapter 21: Exploring the Nature of Awareness
p. 167 A text called The Flight of the Garuda by Shabkar Tsogdruk Rangdrol: Keith Dowman, The Flight of the Garuda: The Dzogchen Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism (Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2014).
Chapter 22: Opening to Vulnerability with a Kind Heart
p. 176 In the United States alone, more than sixteen million children go hungry each year: Katie Dupere, “6 Startling Facts about Child Hunger in the U.S. — and How You Can Help,” Mashable, July 14, 2016, https://mashable.com/2016/07/14/child-hunger-united-states/#Bulr0aa0Yaql.
p. 176 Up to 10 percent of the U.S. population is on some kind of mental health medication: Sara G. Miller, “1 in 6 Americans Takes a Psychiatric Drug,” Scientific American, December 13, 2016, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/1-in-6-americans-takes-a-psychiatric-drug.
p. 176 Suicide rates, perhaps an expression of many people’s inner struggles, are also increasing: National Institute of Mental Health, “Suicide,” last updated May 2018, https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/suicide.shtml.
Chapter 24: Cultivating Self-Compassion
p. 191 Kristin Neff, a psychologist and leading researcher on self-compassion, talks about three key components necessary to foster self-compassion: https://self-compassion.org/the-three-elements-of-self-compassion-2/.
Chapter 26: Embracing Loss
p. 203 The Palestinian American poet Naomi Shihab Nye speaks of the inseparability of loss: Naomi Shihab Nye, Words under the Words: Selected Poems (Portland, OR: Eighth Mountain Press, 1995); copyright © 1995 by Naomi Shihab Nye; excerpt from “Kindness” reprinted with the permission of Far Corner Books.
Chapter 27: Living with a Steady Heart
p. 213 They remind me of a poem by the Russian poet Anna Akhmatova: Anna Akhmatova, Poems of Akhmatova: Izbrannye Stikhi, ed. Stanley Kunitz (Boston, MA: Houghton-Mifflin, 1997).
p. 214 In one 2007 study, researchers found that people who had even minimal experience: J. Kingston et al., “A Pilot Randomized Control Trial Investigating the Effect of Mindfulness Practice on Pain Tolerance, Psychological Well-Being and Physiological Activity,” Journal of Psychosomatic Research 62, no. 3 (2007): 297–300, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17324679.
Chapter 29: Extending Compassion to Others
p. 227 Nadine Collier, the daughter of seventy-year-old Ethel Lance, who was slain: Marc Maxmeister, “Gratitudes: Small Acts in Defiance of Hate, in Service of Love,” Chewy Chunks (blog), December 18, 2016, https://chewychunks.wordpress.com/2016/12/18/gatitudes-small-acts-in-defiance-of-hate-in-service-of-love.
Chapter 30: Mindfulness in Relationships
p. 237 François Fénelon, a seventeenth-century archbishop and theologian, put it beautifully: François De Salignac De La Mothe-Fénelon, Spiritual Letters of Archbishop Fénelon (Germany: Hansebooks, 2012).
p. 240 or in the Sufi poet Rumi’s words: “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing”: Coleman Barks, trans., The Essential Rumi (New York: HarperCollins, 2004).
Chapter 31: Freeing Ourselves from Self-Centeredness
p. 246 Though Darwin is renowned for popularizing the term “survival of the fittest”: Christopher Kukk, “Survival of the Fittest Has Evolved: Try Survival of the Kindest,” NBCnews.com, March 8, 2017, https://www.nbcnews.com/better/relationships/survival-fittest-has-evolved-try-survival-kindest-n730196.
Chapter 33: Service in the World
p. 261 Despite being the wealthiest country, it sadly ranks eighteenth on the UN World Happiness Report: J. Helliwell, R. Layard, and J. Sachs, World Happiness Report 2018 (New York: Sustainable Development Solutions Network, 2018), http://worldhappiness.report/ed/2018.
p. 262 Dogen, one of the most significant teachers in Zen and founder of the Soto Zen lineage, taught: Jay L. Garfield, Engaging Buddhism: Why It Matters to Philosophy (New York: Oxford University Press, 2015).
p. 263 Research shows that when we are generous, the areas in the brain associated with happiness: Ana Sandoiu, “How Does Generosity Benefit Health? Brain Study Sheds Light,” Medical News Today, August 31, 2018, https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322940.php.
p. 265 In Blessed Unrest, Paul Hawken and his team chronicle a global movement: Paul Hawken, Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Social Movement in History Is Restoring Grace, Justice, and Beauty to the World (New York: Penguin Books, 2007).
Chapter 34: Waking Up to Unconscious Bias
p. 268 For instance, in a well-known study by Daniel Simons, participants: D. J. Simons and C.F. Chabris, “Gorillas in Our Midst: Sustained Inattentional Blindness for Dynamic Events,” Perception 28, no. 9 (1999): 1059–74, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10694957.
p. 269 For example, minorities and black people are killed by police at disproportionate rates: German Lopez, “There Are Huge Racial Disparities in How US Police Use Force,” Vox, November 14, 2018, https://www.vox.com/identities/2016/8/13/17938186/police-shootings-killings-racism-racial-disparities.
Chapter 35: Waking Up to Nature as Teacher
p. 275 In his poem “The Peace of Wild Things,” Wendell Berry writes: Wendell Berry, The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry (Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint, 2010).
Chapter 36: Being a Steward of the Earth
p. 281 Climate change and habitat reduction threaten to kill 50 percent of all large mammals: Paul Brown, “An Unnatural Disaster,” Guardian, January 8, 2004, https://www.theguardian.com/science/2004/jan/08/biodiversity.sciencenews.
p. 285 The heart of the poem “School Prayer” by Diane Ackerman speaks beautifully: Diane Ackerman, “School Prayer,” I Praise My Destroyer (New York: Vintage Books, 2000). Used by permission of Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.