Auman's Spiritual Mindfulness

Bruce Von Sties

Catherine Auman has been written up in The Therapist magazine, Whole Life Times and LA Yoga. In her years as a licensed psychologist, Catherine helped a lot of people, some of whom were celebrities but many who were not.

Over the years, Catherine has written articles and essays for both print and online publications. She was a regular columnist for the web site Sex.com for a while. All in all, there are an estimated fourteen thousand people who have read Catherine's work.

Catherine has taken many of those essays that she has written over time and put them together in a single volume. The title of the book is Shortcuts to Mindfulness: 100 Ways to Personal & Spiritual Growth.

The book was published by Green Tara Press. It is soft covered and has 265 pages. There are 8 chapters, along with introduction, acknowledgements and the author bio and contact information.

One of the first essays is about feeling more alive by being active. That is followed by one on learning to breathe and one on being better prepared in life. These were all included in the first chapter, aptly titled It Takes A Strong Vase To Hold The Water.

Other early essays in the book deal with not having to love yourself first before others and one about the danger of blaming your parents for the way your life has turned out.

All most all of the writings are two pages long. There are a few that contain lists with explanations for each item on them.

Catherine's ideas and thoughts aren't earth shattering. For the most part, they are bits and pieces of common sense that you might not think about. That is, until someone else points them out. One example is a few tips on improving relationships with others. Again, none of these ideas are mystical, yet might need to have someone else present them to us.

But Catherine does have a few interesting take on things. On such take is how certain people might be labeled as sex addicts just because they “really, really like sex.” And that their sex life might have nothing to do with psychological problems.

One essay is about the friends with benefits dynamic. Catherine offers conflicting ideas from two experts in the relationships field. But Catherine ends the piece by saying she doesn't have the definitive answer and the debate continues. As I mentioned earlier, Catherine had written a column for a sex web site, so some of the pieces in this book deal with sex and sexual relationships.

One very interesting essay later in the book is titled The Bossa Nova Cure. It's about how we let music influence our moods. Again, this is kind of a common sense idea, but normally you don't think about it. As for me, I know it well. When I want to chill out, I listen to something sedate from my music collection. When I want to kick things into high gear, sometimes I'll listen to something fast paced or a tough, guitar laden rock song.

As the book's title indicates, Catherine also writes on spirituality. There is a whole chapter with articles that deal with the various aspects of spirituality. From ways it could hurt you to utilizing it in business to not letting you get in the way of your spiritual growth, Catherine covers a lot of ground.

Shortcuts to Mindfulness: 100 Ways to Personal & Spiritual Growth is definitely interesting. Most of the essays deal with common sense ideas, but are presented in a way meant to be thought-provoking. Catherine Auman has a way of conveying these ideas that allows for you either accept of decline them without any heavy-handed psychoanalysis.

Shortcuts to Mindfulness: 100 Ways to Personal & Spiritual Growth is available at amazon.com and other book retailers.

To find out more about the book and Catherine Auman, visit her official website at http://catherineauman.com/

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© 2016 Bruce E Von Stiers