Five Good Minutes in the Evening

What a great resource to have on the bedside table - or keep it in your car and carve out 5 minutes before shifting from work to home. This book has a thorough introduction for those new to the practice of mindfulness. It is full of brief meditations, visualizations and exercises to help you leave work at work, enrich your home life, reconnect with self and others and preparing for a good night's rest. As a performance coach, I work with many elite competitors and business people who have trouble winding down at night or getting a good night's sleep. There are some gems in this book to help work through these challenges. I personally found that after using the book for a short while, just seeing the book was enough to create a mental shift back to being truly present at home in the evening and not letting my mind get pulled back to work when I wanted to be giving my family my full attention. I love my family and I love my work. One of the keys to balancing this equation is being fully present wherever I am at the moment. Highly recommended for all. Special recommendation as tool for working mothers who are under such high demands to switch from super woman at work to super mom upon walking in the front door at night. Give yourself the gift of this book and 5 minutes each evening to learn how to better unwind and create more for yourself so you can take better care of those you love. You really can create big changes in a short amount of time. Who does not have or is not worth this type of 5 minute daily investment? If you really don't think so and won't do it for yourself, then do it for your family. Mollie Marti, Ph.D., J.D. Author, Selling: Powerful New Strategies for Sales Success

I picked up this book thinking, "Ahhh, a small, fluffy, 'try this or try that' collection of tips in a book form. How.... splendid." I am always glad when I find out how wrong I was about a really valuable resource such as this one! The book is broken into sections - an introduction which explains the premise of the book, the foundation - incredibly valuable section, and then four sections filled with exercises to try. The exercise sections include Leaving Work at Work, Enriching Your Home Life, Reconnecting with Yourself and Others, and Preparing for a Good Night's Rest. The Foundation includes an explanation (and practice) of the basic Mindful breathing and Mindful listening techniques. This section alone is worth the investment of the book. You could read that over and over (and apply it, over and over) and change your life significantly. The practices are icing on the cake, a wide menu of ideas to try out and see what works the best for you. Highly recommended.

I particularly liked "relax; you're home." it's so helpful to tend the transition between work and home and to consciously infuse my home life with peaceful choices. These simple, yet powerful practices invite stepping out of the forward rush of activity and thought. letting go, and appreciating the innate richness of the moment.

My job is extremely stressful and I often come home and find myself exhausted, irritable, and unable to find joy and pleasure. A friend of mine suggested 5 Good Minutes in the Evening and even though I was skeptical, I gave it a shot. I am so glad that I did! With the help of 5 Good Minutes, I am able to make small windows of time for myself to refocus my energy and bring my stress levels down. I am constantly on the go and so all I have are those few moments here and there, so this book helps me to best utilizes those moments to bring enjoyment and relaxation back to my life. I strongly suggest picking this up, even if you are not an on the go person like me! It is a true benefit.

Peace begins in the home, and this little book does a great job of sharing specific information on how to relax, unwind, and find peace on a nightly basis. When our busy lives, media reports and family issues invade our minds, it truly only takes five good minutes to help ourselves find that peace we so need. This will be one of my favorite gifts to give for the holidays. If more people subscribed to these gentle teachings, the world would be changed for the better. Start your own peaceful revolution--buy this book and share it with those you love.