A World of Mindfulness

Finished December 2
A World of Mindfulness: Use Your Senses. Find Your Calm. from the Editors and Illustrators of Pajama Press

This lovely picture book showcases fourteen illustrators that have done work published by Pajama Press, putting them together in this work about mindfulness.

This work includes elements from all the senses to help each child find a path to mindfulness that works for them, and thus helps them find a way to step back from this anxious world and find an inner calm.

Mindfulness for children is becoming more common with many educational institutions adding periods of meditation, mindfulness, and yoga to the school day to help manage behaviour and help children cope with whatever worries or agitates them.

Particularly this year, with the lack of structure and routine, proliferation of screen time, and societal anxiety, this book can help children stop and find balance and calm in their lives. 

The illustrations are beautiful and show the beauty of our world and the diversity of our peoples. Each picture has lots of things to look at and can provide an image to meditate on. They celebrate our self, our natural world, small joys of life, and the act of creation and reflection. 

This is a beautiful book and an apt one for this difficult year.

Guardians of Being

Finished August 12
Guardians of Being, words by Eckhart Tolle, art by Patrick McDonnell

I picked this one up because I'm a huge Mutts fan. It is a short, thoughtful book that encourages you to be in the moment, showing how our animals can help us remember to no think, but to be. McDonnell's art is wonderful, of course, and some of it is from previous work in his Mutts series, as our the characters used. A reminder of what is important in life, and how to take the time to enjoy life for what it is. Just like his comic art predecessor Charles Schultz, McDonnell reminds us with the help of Tolle's words that happiness is indeed a warm puppy (or in my case a purring cat).
A nice little book.