The Practice: Simple Tools for Managing Stress, Finding Inner Peace, and Uncovering Happiness

by Barb Schmidt Narrated by Tracy Brunjes

Overview

We lead busy lives. Lost in a daily routine of to-do lists, responsibilities, and unplanned emergencies is our happiness and peace of mind. While we know that we should live in the present, our minds often take us on a treadmill of regrets about the past and worries about the future. Stressed and drained of energy, we focus on outward things that are supposed to make us happy-and we usually come up empty-handed.



In The Practice, you will learn that a wellspring of inner peace and happiness exists inside each one of us and that it is easily accessible with simple techniques that require only minutes a day. Using timeless wisdom and truths from a variety of religions and teachings, author Barb Schmidt has structured an easy-to-implement, three-part daily routine that will guide you to deep happiness, security, and confidence. The Practice fits busy lives because busy lives need it most.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"The Practice is a wonderful spiritual book linking practical wisdom with daily mindful routines to learn to live in the moment. Barb Schmidt's extensive experience as a spiritual sojourner shines throughout the book. Her clear and concise method provides powerful tools for readers to train the mind to live a peaceful life. "As a founder of the organization Peaceful Mind Peaceful Life, Barb Schmidt has presented a multitude of workshops over the years on The Practice, many as part of the Peace Studies Program at Florida Atlantic University. She led thousands of participants, providing them spiritual tools to engage with The Practice and learn the interconnectedness between peace in the world and peaceful lives as humans. As the Director of the Peace Studies Program, I participated in most of her workshops, and with each one increasingly realized how easy yet powerful The Practice is, and how learning to lead a peaceful life positively affects my own mindful routines. 'The Practice' is now my daily 'practice' for living in the moment, for attaining inner peace, for being part of bringing peace in the world."—Noemi Marin, PhD, director, School of Communication and Multimedia Studies, Florida Atlantic University (former director of Peace Studies Program, FAU), author of After the Fall

"Barb Schmidt is a transformational leader who fearlessly shares her authentic truth. In her book, The Practice, Barb offers readers life-changing spiritual guidance in an easy to follow format. What makes this book so magnificent is that Barb has infused her own stories and struggles to help readers connect and learn."—Gabrielle Bernstein, New York Times bestselling author of May Cause Miracles

"Barb Schmidt is one of the most truly beautiful people I've ever met. Her beauty springs from a source within herself, endowing her with qualities that stand the test of time—patience, understanding, self-knowledge, serenity, and compassion, to name a few. She's on a quest to discover ways to tap into the most powerful, positive, life-affirming forces in the universe, and in this wonderful book she invites us to join her on that deeply rewarding journey."I've spent most of my life coaching young men who want to win football games. As any good coach will tell you, there's much more to it than that. The characteristics that make players winners on the field can also make them winners in life. Staying positive in the face of adversity, digging deep to find new wells of inner strength, having faith in yourself and the people around you, visualizing success— all of these things profoundly influence a person's ability to move calmly and confidently through life, savoring its joys and weathering its storms. "The best, and most beautiful, thing about Barb is her passion for sharing her outlook with others. I'm happy and grateful to call Barbara 'coach,' and as you read The Practice I'm sure that you'll be, too."—Howard Schnellenberger, founding football coach and ambassador-at-large, 1998–present, Florida Atlantic University; University of Miami national champions coach, 1983

"For many the world is a noisy, chaotic, overwhelming place. We are incessantly bombarded by stimuli via technology, mobility, and media. Today we must address hundreds of decisions that our grandparents couldn't even have contemplated. Couple that with the human tendency to worry, overanalyze, and fret, and suddenly the mind can become something like Times Square on New Year's Eve— a lot of energy expended, but it doesn't get you anywhere."Barb Schmidt has traveled that course and came to understand that there had to be a better way to journey through life. She found a path that affords tranquility, peace of mind, and serenity; a path that nurtures the soul and elevates the spirit. Her book is a sincerely honest and candid tale of her discoveries. It invites readers to find their own pathway. The Practice is a template for a purposeful, happier, and fulfilling life."—Dan Baker, Ph.D., author of What Happy People Know

"One of the most common questions I am asked is how to integrate a spiritual practice with daily life. Barb Schmidt's small book supplies a very practical answer by setting out clear guidelines on how to transform our daily round into a spiritual path. This includes instruction on being present in the moment with focused attention, mantra recitation, and opening the heart to all others in gratitude and loving kindness. This beautiful book is filled with practical advice and inspirational instruction. "Having embarked on a spiritual search and practiced sincerely for many years, Barb Schmidt herself radiates the intelligence and harmonious kindness that she teaches. So this book is the result of her own experience and will appeal to anyone irrespective of religious affiliations—interested in travelling the spiritual path."—Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, Buddhist nun, author of Into the Heart of Life, teacher and founder of the Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery in Himachal Pradesh, India

"The effectiveness of this book lies in the sincere and encouraging manner in which Barb Schmidt shares her insights and suggestions for meditation and other spiritual practices that she has personally learned from a wide range of spiritual traditions and teachers. She provides practical suggestions to help readers cooperate with the challenges and graces that flow from a quiet, patient commitment to meditation. Those who accept her invitation to begin a lifelong, daily practice of contemplation will be grateful for the interior transformations that will occur as meditation radiates out into their lives, helping them to become a healing presence in the world." —James Finley, Ph.D., Thomas Merton scholar, author of Christian Meditation

Barb Schmidt writes in such a gentle, relaxed conversational style that it felt to me as if she were taking me by the hand and introducing me to the world of meditation and spiritual healing that she knows so well. And the quotes are just perfect—introduced at just the right time and in an unobtrusive way. It is a very moving piece of work.—Doris Kearns Goodwin, Pulitzer Prize–winning American biographer, historian, and political commentator

From the Publisher - AUDIO COMMENTARY

"Barb Schmidt is a transformational leader who fearlessly shares her authentic truth." —Gabrielle Bernstein, author of May Cause Miracles

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170719389
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	08/19/2014
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

Introduction

'Our mind with its incessant stream of thoughts, memories, opinions, hopes and fears is our constant companion, from which we cannot escape even in our dreams. So it makes sense to cultivate a worthy travel companion for our journey.'—Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo

When I listened to Tenzin Palmo talk about the mind on a retreat in 2010, I completely understood what she meant about our mind being our closest companion. It is always with us. I also remember thinking that this companion of ours can often sound like an annoying broken record, harping on the same old complaints and concerns.

Listening to all the mind's judgments, worries, planning, memories, and fantasies is stressful and drains our energy, interferes with our ability to be present, and keeps us focused on outward things that are supposed to make us feel happy. When we are so focused on what is going on in our minds, we are not able to function at our highest level or fully appreciate our blessings. We look at the state of the world and all its problems, all our problems, and we question how we can be happy with all that is going on. We wonder about the injustice of it all and often lose patience with others and ourselves for not being able to 'make things right' and 'just be happy.' Living this way can cause us a great deal of suffering and a lot of stress.

So we look for distractions, outward things, to make us feel better. In our society, there is no shortage of them. The media bombards us with flashy images and false promises. These external influences somehow sink their hooks into our hearts and convince us that we need them to find the happiness and fulfillment we are longing for. From very early on, we have been taught by society that if we 'get this' and 'achieve that,' life will be great and we will be happy. But no matter how much we accumulate or use to make us feel better or forget, we still feel as if something is missing. 'Things' cannot make us happy, and even though we know this deep down, we still hope that maybe this one more thing will be 'the thing' that will do it for us.

Here is the good news: The potential to be happy is right inside of us—there is nothing we need to find and then figure out how to get. Nothing we seek on the outside can compare to that. We might think we have found something or someone who 'completes' us, that gives us the 'wholeness' we are in search of, but we all know from experience that feelings based on changing circumstances do not last. People age and die, situations end, tragedy strikes, natural disasters occur, things get used up or are no longer useful, and the list goes on and on. However, in reality, what never changes is within each one of us, and this is the part that makes us whole.

Carl Jung wrote, 'Your vision will become clear when you look into your heart. Who looks outside dreams, who looks inside awakens.' When our hearts awaken to this Truth, we can all say with deep sincerity and knowing, 'I am complete.' When we live from within, we will know peace and happiness. The daily stresses of life will be more manageable, and our days will be more fulfilling.

When I heard the Dalai Lama speak at Florida Atlantic University as part of the Peace Studies Program in 2010, he repeated a sentiment that he often shares: 'Life is meant to be happy.' We are meant to be happy. Our minds con us into wondering what that means. Are we happy? Why aren't we happy? We think it is a feeling we sometimes have: 'How do you feel?' someone asks, and the other person replies, 'Well, I was happy yesterday, but today I'm not so happy because this happened to me. It was so stressful!' That sort of happiness is like riding a roller coaster—fleeting at best.

When the great masters and teachers talk about happiness, they are talking about that underlying sense of joy, peace, and security that we will find inward when we seek it through stillness and by being present to the moments of our lives. This place of stillness is within each one of us, and we can tap into it by having a spiritual practice that quiets the mind—not to get rid of it, but to enrich and nourish it and teach it to listen inwardly. 'The word that comes out of listening changes hearts,' says my friend James Finley, a Thomas Merton scholar. This is a profound Truth: change happens within.

The idea is to cultivate our minds the way we would a garden, by planting the plants we want, tending to them regularly, and keeping the ground fertile. When we do this daily, we start to align our mind, body, and heart so that each part of us works together in unity with a beautiful rhythm. This is what The Practice helps us do.

We are like a magnificent tree with an incredible root system. Even though we cannot see what is going on underground, we know that the root system is vital to the tree's ability to thrive. The roots are its strength, its foundation, and what gives the tree its nourishment. And the same is true for us. Even if we cannot see it, our strength and nurturing is there inside us, providing us with everything we need to thrive.

©2014 Barb Schmidt.All rights reserved. Reprinted from The Practice: Simple Tools for Managing Stress, Finding Inner Peace, and Uncovering Happiness. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the written permission of the publisher. Publisher: Health Communications, Inc., 3201 SW 15th Street, Deerfield Beach, FL 33442.

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