Amit Sood

Hoe to find joy, peace and contentment in your life

Have you ever driven several miles wihout noticing anything on the road, or read a page in a book without registering any of it? Do the day's worries and disappointments crowd your mind as you're trying to fall asleep at night? Do you feel stressed much of the time and aren't sure how to find peace? In this book, Amit Sood, M.D., M.Sc, a Mayo Clinic specialist in stress and resiliency, reveals how the mind's instinctive restlessness and shortsightednesss generate stress and anxiety and presents strategies for living a more peaceful life. The book is based on the highly popular stress management program offered at May Clinic that Dr. Sood developed after two decades of work with tens of thousands of people.

Drawing on groundbreaking brain research, Dr. Sood helps you understand the brain's two modes and how an imbalance between them produces unwanted stress. From this basis, you learn skills that will help you:

Develop deep and sustained attention
Practice gratitude, compassion and acceptance
Live a meaningful life
Cultivate nurturing relationships
Achieve your highest potential

All of these concepts are weaved into a practical and fun journey that has been tested in numerous scientific studies with consistently positive results. Take the first step to discover greater peace and joy for you and your loved ones.

Praise for the stress-free living program:

'Dr. Sood has put together a sinple, secular and structured program that is anchored in science, is free of rituals and dogmas, and is accessible to everyone. This book can change your life.'-Dr. Andrew Weil

'An important innovative approach to well being, one we all should know about.'-Dr. Daniel Goleman

Amit Sood, M.D., M.Sc., is a professor of medicine at Mayo clinic College of Medicine and chair of the Mind Body Medicine Initiative at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

Contents

Preface
Introduction: The workshop
Part 1 The brain and the mind
Chapter 1 The brain: Why your mind wanders
Chapter 2 The mind: Focus and imperfections
Chapter 3 The anatomy of an experience
Chapter 4 The stress free living program
Part 2 Attention training
Chapter 5 Joyful attention
Chapter 6 Integrating joyful attention
Chapter 7 Kind attention
Part 3 Refining interpretations
Chapter 8 Integrating interpretation skills
Part 4 Gratitude
Chapter 9 What is gratitude?
Chapter 10 Why practice gratitude?
Chapter 11ow to practice gratitude
Part 5 Compassion
Chapter 12 What is compassion?
Chapter 13 Why practice compassion?
Chapter 14 How to practice compasion
Part 6 Acceptance
Chapter 15 What is acceptance?
Chapter 16 Why practice acceptance?
Chapter 17 How to practice acceptance
Part 7 Higher meaning
Chapter 18 What is life's higher meaning?
Chapter 19 Why search for life's higher meaning?
Chapter 20 How to find life's higher meaning
Part 8 Forgiveness
Chapter 21 What is forgiveness?
Chapter 22 Why forgive?
Chapter 23 How to forgive
Part 9 Tribe
Chapter 24 Your tribe: Seed and feed
Chapter 25 Your tribe: Weed
Part 10 Relaxation and reflection
Chapter 26 Relaxation, meditation and prayer
Conclusion: Self-actualization
Acknowledgments
Credits
Notes
Index… (mais)