Field Guide to Now: Notes On Mindfulness And Life In The Prese...

Every self-help book tells us to “be present,” but few succeed in showing us how. With this beautiful book, author and artist Christina Rosalie leads readers to discover how the small and seemingly mundane aspects of daily life can—through a shift in focus—become a springboard for the profound. Part adventure guide and part survival guide, A Field Guide To Now is filled with thought starters and creative exercises that will lead you to uncover your own extraordinary life amidst the ordinary moments of every day.

From the Inside Flap

A Field Guide To Now is a reference manual for creating an extraordinary life out of ordinary moments. This collection of illustrated essays and field notes explores the tenuous line between survival and thriving; between wanderlust and making a home; between being and becoming; and about how these things inevitably converge in the scarce, haphazard, simple moments of right now. It is both an invitation to create whatever opportunity your heart yearns for, and proof that it is possible. Reinvent the way you engage with the moment and explore the texture of your present tense.Imagine if you could look for the present moment in a field guide, the way you might look up the name of a tree you see outside your window?For as long as you can remember, the tree has just been a tree. But when you look it up, it becomes something more a sassafras maybe, or a tulip maple and suddenly you can feel the way your attention toward it shifts. You recognize the way its pollen gathers fine and yellow in the weft of your bedroom screen in May, or the way its shade freckles the dying grass at the end of summer. In the act of naming it, in discovering its traits and marks, the tree becomes something more to you.What if you could do this for all the moments that fill your life? That is what this book is about. Begin. Take note. Be right here.|A Field Guide To Now is a reference manual for creating an extraordinary life out of ordinary moments. This collection of illustrated essays and field notes explores the tenuous line between survival and thriving; between wanderlust and making a home; between being and becoming; and about how these things inevitably converge in the scarce, haphazard, simple moments of right now. It is both an invitation to create whatever opportunity your heart yearns for, and proof that it is possible. Reinvent the way you engage with the moment and explore the texture of your present tense.Imagine if you could look for the present moment in a field guide, the way you might look up the name of a tree you see outside your window?For as long as you can remember, the tree has just been a tree. But when you look it up, it becomes something more a sassafras maybe, or a tulip maple and suddenly you can feel the way your attention toward it shifts. You recognize the way its pollen gathers fine and yellow in the weft of your bedroom screen in May, or the way its shade freckles the dying grass at the end of summer. In the act of naming it, in discovering its traits and marks, the tree becomes something more to you.What if you could do this for all the moments that fill your life? That is what this book is about. Begin. Take note. Be right here.

From the Back Cover

A Field Guide To Now is a reference manual for creating an extraordinary life out of ordinary moments. This collection of illustrated essays and field notes explores the tenuous line between survival and thriving; between wanderlust and making a home; between being and becoming; and about how these things inevitably converge in the scarce, haphazard, simple moments of right now. It is both an invitation to create whatever opportunity your heart yearns for, and proof that it is possible. Reinvent the way you engage with the moment and explore the texture of your present tense.  Imagine if you could look for the present moment in a field guide, the way you might look up the name of a tree you see outside your window?For as long as you can remember, the tree has just been a tree. But when you look it up, it becomes something more—a sassafras maybe, or a tulip maple—and suddenly you can feel the way your attention toward it shifts. You recognize the way its pollen gathers fine and yellow in the weft of your bedroom screen in May, or the way its shade freckles the dying grass at the end of summer. In the act of naming it, in discovering its traits and marks, the tree becomes something more to you.What if you could do this for all the moments that fill your life? That is what this book is about. Begin. Take note. Be right here.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

An Invitation  Survival and thriving: these are the poles between which the moments of our lives are strung. The balance is tenuous and the outcome for each of us is different. Yet we mostly start with the same raw stuff: skin, a mother, food, shelter, breath, and each moment as it unfolds, one after the next, right now. From these moments all the intricacies of our lives are made. And no matter who you are, your day—like mine—is occupied with the small repetitive tasks of living, and these are the moments that shape us, even as we’re dreaming of other things.This book is an invitation. You’ll see. You’ll find yourself here at the page, and then gone in an instant on your own adventure of identifying the moments that are unfolding in your own ordinary, remarkable life.  Give yourself this: leap with arms flung wide toward the heart of today. This is your only day.Jump in.

About the Author

Christina Rosalie is a writer, mixed-media artist, and creative consultant whose award winning work and been featured in print and online. Visit her at christinarosalie.com

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