Wise Mind, Open Mind: Finding Purpose and Meaning in Times of Crisis, Loss, and Change [Paperback]

Ronald Alexander Ph.D. (Author), Lama Surya Das (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2009

Though it's nearly impossible to imagine, times of personal crisis and upheaval are opportunities for self-reinvention and heightened artistic expression. Whether you are healing from a severed relationship, experiencing a job loss, or coping with another traumatic life transition, you can renew your strength and find new passion and purpose after things fall apart.

Wise Mind, Open Mind offers a powerful three-step mindfulness approach to help you navigate times of unwanted change, rediscover your inner well of creativity, and move forward with passion and purpose. This book combines techniques drawn from contemporary mind-body approaches, Buddhist psychology, mindfulness, creative thinking, and positive psychology to show you how to tap into your gifts and create a practical plan for personal transformation that will help you move through the challenges you face. You'll learn to overcome the five common hindrances that may be keeping you from true fulfillment and happiness. Finally, you'll be able to embrace your circumstances, utilizing them to create a renewed personal vision and welcome new possibilities and greater creativity into your life.

…an outstanding guidebook to applying mindfulness practices to artfully navigate times of change and crisis.
—Judith Orloff, MD, author of Emotional Freedom

...a lucid and inspiring guide on the spiritual path!
—Tara Brach, Ph.D., author of Radical Acceptance

Editorial Reviews

Review

From the Publisher

In Wise Mind, Open Mind, a pioneering psychotherapist shows readers how to use mindfulness, meditation, and Buddhist psychology to shift their perspective and open themselves to creativity in the face of crisis and upheaval.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: New Harbinger Publications; 1 edition (September 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 157224643X
• ISBN-13: 978-1572246430
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #523,530 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ronald A. Alexander, Ph.D., a psychotherapist, leadership consultant and clinical trainer is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in the states of California and Colorado. He is also the director of the OpenMind Training(R) Institute in Santa Monica, a leading edge organization that offers personal and professional training programs in integrative mind-body therapies, transformational leadership, and mindfulness. This unique method combines the wisdom teachings of the east with positive psychology and creative thinking into a comprehensive integrated, behaviorally effective mind-body program. This system combines techniques that support strategies of personal, clinical, and corporate excellence including leadership skills, creativity, communication, and conflict resolution.

A leading pioneer in the fields of Somatic Psychotherapy, Holistic Psychology, Mindfulness, Leadership Coaching, Integrative and Behavioral Medicine since 1970, Alexander conducts professional and personal trainings in the USA, Europe, Canada, Asia and Australia. He is a long time extension faculty member of the U.C.L.A. departments of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Entertainment and a lecturer in the David Geffen School of Medicine as well as an adjunct faculty member at Pacifica Graduate Institute and Pepperdine Universities. He is an associate member of the American Psychological Association, a clinical member of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists and a Diplomate in professional psychotherapy in the International Academy of Behavioral Medicine, Counseling and Psychotherapy and the American Psychotherapy Association.

Dr. Alexander teaches workshops and training programs at The New York Open Center, UCLA extension, Omega Institute New York, Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, Esalen Institute in Big Sur, CA, Exhale Center for Sacred Movement, CA, NY and Boston, Santa Monica Yoga Works, and throughout Europe, Canada, Australia and Asia. He has been a consultant and leadership coach working with the entertainment industry for over 30 years.

Alexander is the author of Wise Mind Open Mind: Finding Purpose and Meaning in Times of Crisis, Loss and Change (New Harbinger Publications 2009).

For more information on Ronald Alexander go to www.ronaldalexander.com or www.openmindtraining.com Email: [e-mail]

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very important, path forging book..., September 4, 2009

By 

Judith Orloff, MD (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wise Mind, Open Mind: Finding Purpose and Meaning in Times of Crisis, Loss, and Change (Paperback)

In times of loss or crisis, people tend to shut down and deny that their lives have been forever altered. With gentleness and patience, Dr. Ronald Alexander, trained in modern integrative mind-body methods of somatic psychology, mindfulness, and relational therapies, guides readers through a three-step process that begins with melting even the fiercest resistance to unwanted change. This process is derived from his experiences working with people in the arts who are continually having to reinvent themselves.20Yet it can be used by anyone: Dr. Alexander provides plenty of evidence that contractors, teachers, accountants, single mothers, and people from all walks of life can access their core creativity and passion, and turn calamity into opportunity. He presents insights into the nature of happiness itself, drawing upon Buddhist philosophy, creative thinking and positive psychology, to help readers to learn the art of tolerating the experience of suffering so that the clouds can part and joy arise again, leading to deeper fulfillment.

The most important item in the Wise Mind, Open Mind toolbox is mindfulness meditation, an ancient Buddhist technique for learning to be fully present even in the most trying situations. Dr. Alexander clearly explains how a beginner can begin immediately developing a mindfulness practice that will build his mindstrength so that he can more easily accept change and uncertainty ("Letting Go"), reconnect with creativity ("Tuning In"), and craft a new life and self-definition ("Moving Forward"). Psychology professionals will find Wise Mind, Open Mind extremely useful for their patients who are frozen in fear to begin the difficult but ultimately rewarding process of transformation. Backed by recent research into the efficacy of mindfulness meditation, Wise Mind, Open Mind is a PATH FORGING book marrying the creative process of transformation, creativity thinking with Buddhist psychology.

JUDITH ORLOFF MD,
AUTHOR OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER, EMOTIONAL FREEDOM.
Dr. Orloff synthesizes the pearls of traditional medicine with cutting edge knowledge of intuition, energy. and spirituality.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't wait until you need it. Read it now., November 14, 2009

By 

Cassadaga Cat (Cassadaga, FL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wise Mind, Open Mind: Finding Purpose and Meaning in Times of Crisis, Loss, and Change (Paperback)

Like most books on this type of topic, Open Mind, Open Heart advocates meditation as a means to a better life. Unlike most books, Open Mind, Open Heart actually gives you the how of meditation, complete with specific exercises, and why it works. It really can help you through the unexpected changes life throws at you, but I recommend you read it when things seem to be running smoothly. Why wait until your emotions are whirling around like the contents of a Cuisinart? Read it now, absorb the wisdom, and know that the next time you need a little help moving forward after a setback, you'll handle the situation with more ease and grace than ever before. I read it in a time of relative calm in my life and found that it opened a door to creativity for me. After reading only the explanation of what the book could do for me, before I even got to the exercises and such, there were visions of new and different jewelry designs dancing in my head. Mind you, I'm not a jewelry designer. I noodled around with making jewelry as a hobby a few years back but hadn't thought about it since. So now I'm inspired to take it up again and try new things. I'll keep this book handy for the next time my life seems to crumble like bleu cheese, knowing that the creative channels in my brain will open wide and lead me to new and creative coping mechanisms and solutions.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Step by Step Manual, September 5, 2009

By 

Henry Coffey "HJC Jr" (Tennessee) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Wise Mind, Open Mind: Finding Purpose and Meaning in Times of Crisis, Loss, and Change (Paperback)

I just finished reading Ron's book Wise Mind Open Mind. Great step by step manual on how to integrate mindfullness, meditation, and some of the insights of Buddhism into our daily lives. I found that this booked offered a useful path to practice ways to strengthen one's life while opening to others and the world about. I think everyone will have a favorite section. Mine was chapter's 5, which talked about how to use the Buddhist teaching on the 5 hinderances and chapter 7, which discussed ways to the same thing as it applies to the four nobel truths. That was just me...I think everyone who reads this book will find their own favorite recipes.