Present Moment Awareness: A Simple, Step-By-Step Guide to Living in the Now

As a writer and a long time scholar of philosophy, spirituality and religion, I feel compelled to share my thoughts on this particular book. A friend of mine had been begging me to read it for some time. She wanted to be able to discuss her experiences in practicing what Mr. Duncan had prescribed. I'll admit that I was never really interested. The volume is quite slim, and looked like any other pop-spirituality / pop-self help book. She persisted and so I set aside an evening to read it. That evening of reading turned into a full week of reading and rereading and practicing. I've not been so pleasantly surprised by a book in a very, very long time.Initially I took the lack of pages to mean a lack of content. Not so! The genius of this work is Mr. Duncan's ability to take large and often complicated psychological and spiritual concepts, bring them together and then make them succinct and easily digestible. As a non-fiction writer, this is one of the hardest things there is to do. Without a doubt he understands what he is writing about, down to his bones, or he could never put in plain words these teachings as he has. Most other authors would have taken four or five times the number of words to attempt to explain exactly the same concepts and ideas. This is not just a guide for beginners, but for everyone. I see this book as a manual for getting anyone's feet squarely on (or back on) the path of greater self awareness and thus greater present moment awareness. Slipping off of that path is entirely too easy in the midst of all the random teachings and ideas floating around today.I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

I required students in my high school class to read Present Moment Awareness because of its simplicity and relevance to everyday life. The book provided me with tools to cope with fear, stress, uncertainty, and emotional turbulance and I immediately saw the value for young people. The response was tremendous. One student even asked his mother, who he described as "stressed out", to read the book. He was certain it would help her find the balance he had achieved. I encourage you to not only read the book and practice the exercises for present moment awareness, but also to share this valuable resource to the young people in your life.

This is a good one!I had just finished The Power of Now, by Eckhart Tolle (which I reviewed favorably here), when this book came into my hands. I could say many of the same things about it that I said about Mr. Tolle's book. There are a few differences, but the basic message is the same: right Now is where all life occurs. The past is finished and cannot be changed, and its main function is to enable us to use the wisdom gained there to make our choices Now. The future is not yet here, and is not predestined. Our choices, which we can only make right Now have a dynamic effect on what the future will hold. All actions, choices and changes are made in the immediate Now. Everything that was ever done was done in a Now.The other message which (Mr.) Shannon Duncan teaches is the importance of examining the beliefs and prejudices you hold.As Dr. Robert Anthony said, "If you don't change your beliefs, your life will be like this forever. Is that good news?" Or, Ludwig Borne's statement, "Getting rid of a delusion makes us wiser than getting hold of a truth." But perhaps Henry Ford got more directly to the point when he said, "He can who thinks he can and he can't who thinks he can't. This is an inexorable, indisputable law."We have all heard people say things like, "I've never been good at math." And so, of course, they are not good at math. And those who say, "I've always loved to paint" are usually proficient at painting. Such preconceptions and thoughts are a powerful form of self-suggestion, or self-hypnosis, if you wish.What if you examined your self-assessment and your beliefs about what you can and cannot do for their objective accuracy? Will the negative assessments stand up to close scrutiny? What objective evidence is there that suggests their accuracy?This is the kind of thing this book is about, together with some relatively simple exercises to help you achieve inner peace.Like The Power of Now, the refreshing thing about this book is not that it contains any wisdom not previously available--for those conversant with Eastern wisdom, many of these observations are "old hat," but the Vedas, the writings of the Buddhists, and the Tao are so filled with Eastern jargon and nomenclature that it makes the lessons found there hard to assimilate for a Westerner. The refreshing thing about this book is that it was written in plain English by a contemporary Westerner--and written very well indeed, I might add. It is extremely easy to understand, and the exercises are relatively easy to accomplish with any investment of effort at all.I recommend this book highly; especially to those souls who are unnerved by their chattering minds, and whose own thoughts of remorse over past actions or fears of the future are causing them mental anguish.You will find peace here, if you read this book, take it to heart, and practice the author's exercises.Joseph Pierreauthor of The Road to Damascus and other books

Very enlightening. The focus of this book can only help anyone who cares about their well being. I am 64 years old with a favorable past and many pleasant life experiences and accomplishments. However, constant reminders of those not so good times and theuncertainty of the future has made for a difficult mind set. My son referred this book to me and I have to say it has made a significant difference in dealing withpast issues and future concerns. Today is what life is all about. This book with it's conceptsand examples allows the reader to focus on what is importantin life and how to accomplish that objective in a simple and practical way. Very highly recommended reading.

I received this book as a gift, and have to say that I was a bit skeptical. I've read the Power of Now, and thought it was quite wonderful - but had no idea how to get to this amazing place that Eckhart was describing. Now I do.Present Moment Awareness, when combined with the focus tool, is nothing short of powerful and truly life changing. Instead of talking about all sorts of goody-goody stuff and trying to make himself some kind of a guru, this author shows that anyone can free themselves and become more and more "enlightened". Nobody is or can be more than a human being, and recognizing this can set you free!Why suffer and toil through life, when you (or anyone for that matter) can flow through it. Shannon stated that "life can be less of a struggle and more of a pleasure when you learn what it means to be present in the moment." I've found for myself that this is very, very true.