A Daily Dose of Now - by Nita Sweeney (Paperback)

About the Book

Reduce stress, ease anxiety, and increase inner peace-one day at a time-with easy-to-follow meditation techniques offered by Nita Sweeney, a certified mindfulness teacher, bestselling author, ultramarathoner, wife, and dog-mom.

Book Synopsis

Reduce stress, ease anxiety, and increase inner peace-one day at a time-with a year of easy-to-follow mindfulness meditation techniques.

Certified mindfulness teacher, bestselling author, ultramarathoner, wife, and dog-mom Nita Sweeney shares mindfulness meditation practices to help anyone break free from worry and self-judgment.

Mindfulness meditation trains you to live in the present moment-the now. Feel calmer. Think more clearly. Respond more effectively and enjoy a more fulfilling life. Even in tiny doses, mindfulness is scientifically proven to enhance physical and mental health, boost creativity, and improve cognition function.

CONVENIENT, ACCESSIBLE FORMAT: Each of the 365 short entries includes a meditation-related quotation, a real-life example of how Sweeney uses mindfulness to enhance her life, and a new practice to show how to apply that day's technique to your life. No need to stop your thoughts, travel to a monastery, or contort your body into a pretzel. Go at your own pace. Follow the suggestions in order or use the comprehensive index to find entries tailored to your needs.

BACKED BY SCIENCE: Numerous studies show that mindfulness meditation is an antidote to scattered thinking and emotional distortion. Instead of escaping from reality into denial or distraction, each daily entry offers an expert meditation method for escaping INTO reality as a powerful way to deal with life's inevitable ups and downs.

BASED ON CENTURIES-OLD TRADITION: In A Daily Dose of Now, Sweeney not only draws on her life and meditation experiences, her coaching and teaching, but also on her decades of study with highly respected teachers in traditions that date back centuries. These include Shinzen Young, author of The Science of Enlightenment and founder of Unified Mindfulness, Natalie Goldberg, Zen practitioner and bestselling author of Writing Down the Bones, and Sensei Sean Murphy, author of One Bird, One Stone and co-founder of Sage Institute for Creativity & Consciousness.

RELATABLE, PRACTICAL ADVICE: Sweeney has lived with depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder for most of her adult life. She formulated the exercises over thirty years as she experimented to find the most effective tools to recover from addiction, improve her mental health, and gain insight into the nature of reality. The resulting book, written in her uplifting, straightforward style, is a wellness toolkit for beginning and seasoned meditators alike.

Discover the power of now as you incorporate the time-tested wellness tool of mindfulness into your life with this daily meditation practice guide.

Review Quotes

"Enjoy the quirky quotes and glimpses of Nita's mind. Follow the instructions. At the end of a year, you will have practiced every day. It might crack you open or simply be a good use of time. The year will pass anyway. The book will bring you into the moment-the only thing that exists. Nita's just pointing to what's already there." -Natalie Goldberg, bestselling author of Writing Down the Bones and Three Simple Lines

"Keep this wise and engaging book close at hand...it's wonderful medicine when you need a moment of presence in the midst!"-Tara Brach, author of Radical Acceptance and Trusting the Gold

"A woman asked Roshi Bernie Glassman, 'What does it take to live in the now?' Glassman replied, 'Anyone NOT living in the now please stand?' We're all living in the now-but humans forget and the magic, wonder, and beauty of our lives drains away.

This is where Sweeney's new book comes in. She beautifully and lovingly assures we remember the reality of our lives!-Sean Tetsudo Murphy, Sensei, Zen teacher in the White Plum American Zen lineage, author of One Bird, One Stone, and cofounder of Sage Institute for Creativity and Consciousness

"Daily meditation readers have helped many people seeking recovery, healing, and wellness to begin the necessary art of daily, consistent practice. Nita Sweeney's lovely and practical A Daily Dose of Now will assist many people develop a daily practice. Her real-world examples and friendly, experience-based voice are especially wonderful."-Jamie Marich, PhD, author of Trauma and the 12 Steps, and Founder and Director, The Institute for Creative Mindfulness

"Whether you're a mindfulness skeptic, newbie, or pro, you need Nita Sweeney's book, A Daily Dose of Now. On each page, you'll find a thought-provoking quote, a few insightful words from Nita, and a simple, but juicy practice. There's nothing complicated about Nita's guidance. She shares stories and scenarios to help you effortlessly integrate mindful awareness into everyday life."-Kim Colegrove, author of Mindfulness for Warriors and founder of Pause First Academy

"The simplicity of mindfulness causes confusion. It's not a concept to understand but a natural ability to develop. Nita Sweeney has compiled flexible ways to nudge your attention back to what's happening right now. She knows firsthand there's no substitute for trying different approaches to find a few that you'll enjoy doing again and again. This is easier and more satisfying than you think. If you're looking for encouraging, real-life examples of mindful awareness habits, you'll find plenty here."-Daron Larson, Attentional Fitness, mindfulness speaker, teacher, coach, and creator of theTEDxColumbus Talk: "Don't Try to Be Mindful"

"If you've struggled with mindfulness or found it to be an esoteric concept you don't know how to put into practice, get Nita Sweeney's A Daily Dose of Now, now! It is truly a breath of fresh, mindful air. With quotes, vignettes, and ways to make mindfulness real in your life, Nita is that guide who's been there and done that, someone who will help you not just through example, but with practices that you can make your own. This book is a contemplative and joyful full-body YES!"-Karen C. L. Anderson, master-certified life coach and author of You Are Not Your Mother: Releasing Generational Trauma & Shame

"Anyone struggling with 'staying in the moment' needs this guide, because Nita Sweeney experienced such struggles herself. Her book is the answer to better pathways to resolution that go beyond most 'daily readers' in its encouraging, specific exercises."--Midwest B