When the Joy of Mindful Writing popped through my letterbox I knew after just a few pages that this was going to be one of those books that I keep with me for a long time and refer back to again and again. The Joy of Mindful Writing, one of a number of books in the Mindful series from Leaping Hare Publishing, has been written by Joy Kenward who writes with warmth and a keen understanding of what it is to write and to be mindful.
This isn’t a read once and shelve it kind of book. This is a book that you put page markers in, sticky notes or even highlight (unless you borrow someone else’s copy of course). It’s a reading and understanding book with exercises, meditations and more for you to try, all of which help you get closer to your goal of mindful writing.
Mindfulness is not something you can switch on and off like a light switch unless perhaps you have reached Buddha level (which I have not). I started to gain a keen interest in mindfulness and mindful living last year and as a consequence am now nearly the end of a mindfulness diploma. I’m also someone who loves to write. I’ve been blogging for coming up twelve years and have been a freelance copywriter for nearly nine years full-time. I love to write and I’m pretty good at it. There are different ways to write however and mindful writing is more than rambling in a blog post or working to a client-sent brief. Mindful writing is….. more. I’ve written mindfully in the past, without knowing it. I don’t write that way all of the time because it isn’t relevant. It’s difficult to explain but if you are a writer moving into mindful writing, you might very well know what I mean.
The Joy of Mindful Writing is perfect for those just starting to write and those who, like me, have been doing it for years. It’s not a better way to write or a more professional way to write. It is simply a different way to write and its something I’m exploring more in my personal writing right now.
To fully appreciate the impact this book has you really do need to explore it yourself. There are meditations and more which help bring clarity and open you up to creating something unique and special to you.
This is the only book in the Mindfulness series that I’ve explored however it will most definitely not be the last. Thank you to Leaping Hare for sending me this book to try out, it’s been quite the exploration!
See the full The Mindfulness Series collection for more ways that you may enjoy a more mindful way of living.
As some of you might know, in recent years I’ve started to look differently at things. “Things” is a very general turn of phrase, however, the only suitable other word would be “everything”. I’ve always been a keen advocate for self-development and seeing as I have been self-studying Buddhism, mindfulness and meditation, taking on a mindfulness diploma seemed like a great idea, especially when New Skills Academy got in touch and asked if I would like to take one of their courses (for free) and review the process.