Customer Reviews

Peaceful Living: Daily Meditations for Living with Love, Healing, and Compassion

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've been reading one of the meditations a day for roughly 4 months now. Overall, it's a pretty good book.

Sometimes the meditations are more autobiographical than suits my taste. While having a story associated with the concept helps illustrate the point, having that story be the author's sometimes seems a bit self-indulgent. It would have been more enjoyable for me if the author had either invented a situation to illustrate the point, or referred to someone else's story.

This being said, most of the daily thoughts are interesting and thought-provoking. Recent quotes have reminded me to think in various ways about my life: to openly share my experience with someone close to me; to be open to hear my loved one's experience; and, when a situation is not to my liking, to search for a something that is better for me and for others involved.

Overall, I've enjoyed the book.

*****
This book is a daily meditation book, laid out with one short essay or meditation for each day of the year. The meditation starts with a quotation about the day's topic. Next comes an essay which ranges from less than one up to two pages for the day's lesson. At the end of the essay is a sentence about how to apply that lesson for the day.

For example, tomorrow, August 19th, has as a quote: "Keep your eye on the sunshine and you will not see the shadows.---Helen Keller", followed by an essay on "Observing without Judgment", and ending with the sentence "Today stick to the facts and don't make up stories about why people behave in certain ways."

There is also a list of NVC feelings and needs in the front and an index.

This is the type of book that people familiar or unfamiliar with NonViolent Communication will enjoy. In fact, it's a great way to learn about NonViolent communication in bite-size pieces, so that it is less overwhelming (especially for people who hate to study or take classes). My husband and I read a little bit each morning and discuss it, finding the focus very useful in starting out our day.

I would highly recommend this book for anyone who wishes to improve their communication skills.
*****

While this is a daily meditation book, it is so much more. I'm reading it cover to cover and nearly finished. It has given me clear communication tools to finish up with leaving a former employer so that both of us happy about the outcome, developing a strong understanding with a new long-term client that will serve us both well, and keeping peace in our home while my husband and I prepare to move to another state.

My husband and I are reading the daily readings together and then discussing how we can apply the information to that day, or to our lives. The clarity of Mary's writing in Peaceful Living is so refreshing. I've studied and practiced Nonviolent Communication for a number of years and have found it enormously useful - however, sometimes it felt difficult to wrap myself around the principles while actually in a difficult communication situation. Mary's layperson's language and specific examples are giving me a whole new set of skills to use.

Of strong value to me, Mary gives numerous examples of self-empathy, compassion and self care, in addition to excellent interpersonal examples. I've often been 'other oriented,' sometimes to the detriment of my own health and often less than fully compassionate about my own needs. The author's point that it's difficult to truly be of service to others if we are not taking care of ourselves is finally reaching me in a way I can embrace - in fact, I feel myself easing up on the 'jackal' or critical internal chatter that so often gets in the way of my feeling true happiness, joy and delight!

I really enjoy reading the daily meditations in Peaceful Living at the beginning or end of my day. As a busy health care professional, communication is critical to the success of my encounters with patients. Peaceful Living has provided me with helpful insights that have enabled me to be more effective and compassionate in my work.

Dee Kaserer, Family Nurse Practitioner

I've never been one for affirmations or daily meditations, but this book is very useful if you want to change the way you communicate and move through the world, especially if you experience social stress and frustration. It's designed like a perennial calendar, you can start on today's date and keep using the book year 'round, and start again. The format is based on the idea that you begin again each day with new opportunities to make changes, and acknowledges that change is hard, requiring daily practice. The small daily reminders take the big ideas and put them into small bite size pieces that aren't overwhelming. I am reassured that I can work on one small piece at a time, and that over time adjustments will come.

I have been using this book for a few months now as part of my daily reading and reflection. It makes my daily practice easier because I look forward to reading each daily portion. I like the combination of principle and practical example in each meditation.

Using this book helps me remember and renew my intention to live compassionately and joyfully, based on the principles of Nonviolent Communication developed by Marshall Rosenberg.

Daily delicious nuggets to savor, learn from and enjoy throughout each day for the entire year. What a gift!

This book of daily meditations goes beyond other books in this genre by giving short, easy to grasp ways to increase our chances for happiness and peace day by day. Mary Mackenzie teaches us the process of compassionate communication without our even knowing it. This process makes it more likely that our own needs will be met, as well as the needs of others. She shows us how to connect with ourselves and with others, but does not leave us there - once we have connected we make requests, based on the valuing of our own and others' needs. Best of all it does not require the people around you to *change*!

Based on Marshall Rosenberg's time-tested Non Violent Communication, Peaceful Living is a great boost for people who would like to make their world a more peaceful and happier place.

This book is a wonderful companion to the book "Non-Violent Communications". The author uses similar terminaology and helps the reader continue growing in their efforts to establish peace in their everyday interactions with the people in their lives. I look forward to my daily readings.

Daily, I've been enjoying Mary's experiences as she integrated Nonviolent Communication into her world. Even though I'm a long-time student of NVC, my struggle remains aligning my behavior with my life dreams and desires.
Using Peaceful Living as a daily touchstone is serving as the guidance and companionship that I seem to enjoy, if not require, on such a journey.
I found Day 157 to be a gem among the many jewels she offers. ... I guess by that I mean it especially spoke to me. Thank you, Mary.
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