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Smiling Mind: Mindfulness Made Easy
A practical guide to applying mindfulness meditation into everyday life. Smiling Mind provides personal insight into the practice of mindfulness meditation. Coming from a firm belief that mindfulness can take people to a more positive and emotionally aware place, Smiling Mind demonstrates how this can be achieved in all areas of our lives—our work, relationships, families, and parenting. It is full of ideas, advice, practical tools, and inspiration to lead a fulfilling life, which in turn means we can build thriving, happy, and successful communities.
176 pages, Hardcover
First published February 2, 2016
6 people are currently reading
111 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
November 10, 2018
This non-fiction book is a starter guide to mindfulness and the rationale behind the Australian not-for-profit organisation, Smiling Mind.
It was a quick listen- since I borrowed this as an audiobook via the BorrowBox app- and it opened my eyes to some of the benefits of meditation and mindfulness-thinking of being in the moment.
As the authors said time and time again, it’s too easy to get caught up in the busyness of life. It also had me contemplating about how easy it can be to miss the little things: the sensation of the wind on my face, the warmth of the sun and things like that. I never saw those things as particularly important, but maybe that’s a sign to start my ‘mindfulness journey’.
I’m a bit sceptical, but there’s no harm in giving it a go- especially with all the benefits listed in the book that are backed by science.
All in all, a short listen and it offered some insight into something new to try in my life.
It was a quick listen- since I borrowed this as an audiobook via the BorrowBox app- and it opened my eyes to some of the benefits of meditation and mindfulness-thinking of being in the moment.
As the authors said time and time again, it’s too easy to get caught up in the busyness of life. It also had me contemplating about how easy it can be to miss the little things: the sensation of the wind on my face, the warmth of the sun and things like that. I never saw those things as particularly important, but maybe that’s a sign to start my ‘mindfulness journey’.
I’m a bit sceptical, but there’s no harm in giving it a go- especially with all the benefits listed in the book that are backed by science.
All in all, a short listen and it offered some insight into something new to try in my life.
February 14, 2017
This is a really accessible guide to mindfulness and meditation. The audio book has some great exercises and I love the Australian accents!
June 13, 2021
This book didn’t re-invent the ‘mindfulness wheel’ but it was a nice refresher for me. Far from condescending, the authors give practical tips and reinforce the importance of nothing being THAT important to sacrifice your health and wellbeing for it.
January 17, 2020
Loved it, short but we'll written, structured and to the point
May 15, 2017
Smiling Mind is the perfect starting place for anyone interested in incorporating mindfulness meditation in their daily life. I also strongly recommend this audio book to anyone who’s never understood what mindfulness is all about. It strips away the mumbo jumbo and explains the scientific and socio-cultural foundation of meditation. It also engages listeners in short exercises that help you start your own mindfulness journey.
Smiling Mind: Mindfulness for Everyone, Everyday is the audio book companion for the Smiling Mind app. The app offers tailored meditation programs for all age groups in various contexts to help you find calm. When the average human brain registers 60,000 thoughts every day, you can imagine how worry can get so overwhelming sometimes.
Mindfulness is deceptively easy and instantly helpful. The techniques and habits taught in this audio book inspire a positive lifestyle in which you nurture your values and engage in an attitude of gratitude. Different techniques will work for you in different situations. The journey is about practising the skills regardless of your mental noise.
In my own life, mindfulness quiets my anxious thoughts, grounds me in my values, and helps me to enjoy my day with a renewed sense of self and others. I started using mindfulness techniques to combat stress. For example, I love to do a deep belly breathing meditation during my work breaks, while driving, even while walking or talking. Mindfulness is my go-to when my environment or thoughts become stressful.
I enjoyed the structure of this audio book – infodumps balanced with guided meditations and exercises that left me feeling inspired and focused. I love how the authors continually connect the exercises back to their own values, making the journey more meaningful. These down-to-earth examples also make it easier for people who are new to mindfulness to see the practical applications.
Smiling Mind is a fantastic resource that makes mindfulness accessible to everyone, everywhere. I hope that listening to this book and using some of the techniques it teaches impacts your life as much as it has mine.
This review can also be found on my blog Paige's Pages.
Smiling Mind: Mindfulness for Everyone, Everyday is the audio book companion for the Smiling Mind app. The app offers tailored meditation programs for all age groups in various contexts to help you find calm. When the average human brain registers 60,000 thoughts every day, you can imagine how worry can get so overwhelming sometimes.
Mindfulness is deceptively easy and instantly helpful. The techniques and habits taught in this audio book inspire a positive lifestyle in which you nurture your values and engage in an attitude of gratitude. Different techniques will work for you in different situations. The journey is about practising the skills regardless of your mental noise.
In my own life, mindfulness quiets my anxious thoughts, grounds me in my values, and helps me to enjoy my day with a renewed sense of self and others. I started using mindfulness techniques to combat stress. For example, I love to do a deep belly breathing meditation during my work breaks, while driving, even while walking or talking. Mindfulness is my go-to when my environment or thoughts become stressful.
I enjoyed the structure of this audio book – infodumps balanced with guided meditations and exercises that left me feeling inspired and focused. I love how the authors continually connect the exercises back to their own values, making the journey more meaningful. These down-to-earth examples also make it easier for people who are new to mindfulness to see the practical applications.
Smiling Mind is a fantastic resource that makes mindfulness accessible to everyone, everywhere. I hope that listening to this book and using some of the techniques it teaches impacts your life as much as it has mine.
This review can also be found on my blog Paige's Pages.
August 29, 2022
Read more bookish goodness on my book blog: Cal's Constant Raving Reviews
MY EXPERIENCE WITH THE BOOK:
I listened to this in one sitting, during quite a rage-burst. It helped. Not extremely, but it's great for beginners.
IMPACT:
I liked the anecdotes inside this story. I would easily reread this when I'm feeling overwhelmed, and need a 30 min break :)
MY EXPERIENCE WITH THE BOOK:
I listened to this in one sitting, during quite a rage-burst. It helped. Not extremely, but it's great for beginners.
IMPACT:
I liked the anecdotes inside this story. I would easily reread this when I'm feeling overwhelmed, and need a 30 min break :)
June 8, 2017
good book that explains a bit more about how the app Smiling Mind came about. I recently started using smiling mind and am enjoying and am getting good benefit from the meditation app so I wanted to read more about smiling mind. Great concept and a non-for profit organization.
April 14, 2018
The content of this wonderful book is very insightful on the subject of mindfulness. It shows us how to improve our lives from within. «All you have to do is breathe, relax and let the thoughts subside.»
March 29, 2017
basic and perfect for a beginner.
July 22, 2018
This is an easy read with some great ideas to live more mindful. I already do most of these things, but I still picked up an idea or two and it is nice to know I'm on the right track.
January 12, 2019
This short book, written by the founders of Smiling Minds details their different approaches and benefits of practicing mindfulness meditation. As someone who practices mindful meditation everyday, using the specific Smiling Mind app, I found the story and personalities behind the not-for-profit really interesting. Their journey through meditation and the different responses to it being a ‘hippy’ or ‘monk like’ practice were interesting, their combined personal benefits and the research included from various psychology and neuropathology faculties from universities were interesting supporting research for many of the claims of calmness being made.
The book entirely lends itself to audio formats as there are short meditation exercises throughout the book. These are similar to many of the beginners practices in the programs offered through Smiling Mind. They were a wonderful moment of pause to take stock of the information being conveyed to the reader. Which was a wonderful sensation as it is common for readers and listeners of audiobooks to passively consume, rather than be present and engaged with the text. These exercises broke this up and acted as a gentle reminder to try and be active, engaged and present in your daily life.
The importance of the present and the little things were another reminder throughout the book which is something I am still carrying with me, days after finishing the book. Even as someone who meditates daily. The reminder of small kindnesses, gratitude and the little things in life are something that I need to be more attentive to. The feeling of fresh sheets when I lay down to sleep at night, the feeling of soft warm sunlight, the smell of tea offered to me. These small moments in a day are the opportunities to ground oneself in the present and focus on now, rather than allowing anxieties about life dominate our thinking.
The use of altered language throughout this book really asked me to examine the ways in which I talk about myself. To the point where I had to go back and edit part of this review as it is so ingrained in modern speech patterns. The notions of busy-ness and work are critically examined in this book. Asking the reader to reexamine their relationship with these words and how time is used and utilised. This was one of the best points, for me, raised in the book. Asking us to everyday pause, breathe and focus on the right here and right now, with an open heart and mind to the daily kindness and small joys of life.
4 stars.
The book entirely lends itself to audio formats as there are short meditation exercises throughout the book. These are similar to many of the beginners practices in the programs offered through Smiling Mind. They were a wonderful moment of pause to take stock of the information being conveyed to the reader. Which was a wonderful sensation as it is common for readers and listeners of audiobooks to passively consume, rather than be present and engaged with the text. These exercises broke this up and acted as a gentle reminder to try and be active, engaged and present in your daily life.
The importance of the present and the little things were another reminder throughout the book which is something I am still carrying with me, days after finishing the book. Even as someone who meditates daily. The reminder of small kindnesses, gratitude and the little things in life are something that I need to be more attentive to. The feeling of fresh sheets when I lay down to sleep at night, the feeling of soft warm sunlight, the smell of tea offered to me. These small moments in a day are the opportunities to ground oneself in the present and focus on now, rather than allowing anxieties about life dominate our thinking.
The use of altered language throughout this book really asked me to examine the ways in which I talk about myself. To the point where I had to go back and edit part of this review as it is so ingrained in modern speech patterns. The notions of busy-ness and work are critically examined in this book. Asking the reader to reexamine their relationship with these words and how time is used and utilised. This was one of the best points, for me, raised in the book. Asking us to everyday pause, breathe and focus on the right here and right now, with an open heart and mind to the daily kindness and small joys of life.
4 stars.
October 13, 2025
This book found me at a very stressful time in my life. Yet, instead of the tips giving me more peace and "mindfulness", reading it was so incredibly boring that it possibly gave me even more anxiety as I felt trapped and unable to read the books I really wanted to.
I heavily respect the authors for creating the Smiling Mind app, but this book was completely unnecessary. I have actually had a huge interest in mindfulness and complementary medicine ever since I had a subject on it in university. I came into this book expecting a lot of hard statistics and scientific references, but it ended up being a sort of weird ramble on how much the two authors personally enjoy meditation. Thus, I found this book to be over simplistic and not well substantiated. The layout was quite strange as well, jumping between pages with few words in giant print, and then subsequent pages filled with massive paragraphs in the tiniest writing. This further worsened the structure of the book, which was already quite jarring as different sections didn't seem to flow into each other that well, and it felt as if the authors kept back-flipping between certain topics.
I was very exhausted mentally and physically during this reading journey, and I really did hope this book would give me comfort –but unfortunately it just all felt so bland and uninteresting, hence the 1 stars. Nothing a Reddit post couldn't give me.
Rating Breakdown
Well Researched- 1
Clarity and Structure- 1
Style - 1
Usefulness/Impact - 2
Originality - 1
I heavily respect the authors for creating the Smiling Mind app, but this book was completely unnecessary. I have actually had a huge interest in mindfulness and complementary medicine ever since I had a subject on it in university. I came into this book expecting a lot of hard statistics and scientific references, but it ended up being a sort of weird ramble on how much the two authors personally enjoy meditation. Thus, I found this book to be over simplistic and not well substantiated. The layout was quite strange as well, jumping between pages with few words in giant print, and then subsequent pages filled with massive paragraphs in the tiniest writing. This further worsened the structure of the book, which was already quite jarring as different sections didn't seem to flow into each other that well, and it felt as if the authors kept back-flipping between certain topics.
I was very exhausted mentally and physically during this reading journey, and I really did hope this book would give me comfort –but unfortunately it just all felt so bland and uninteresting, hence the 1 stars. Nothing a Reddit post couldn't give me.
Rating Breakdown
Well Researched- 1
Clarity and Structure- 1
Style - 1
Usefulness/Impact - 2
Originality - 1
November 14, 2019
What a beautifully-crafted, human, introspective book. Jane and James ooze resilience, vulnerability and inspiration - and that has translated right through the work of their non-for-profit organisation, Smiling Mind. The leading work Smiling Mind do for the mental health space through their mindfulness education programs and app is hugely resonant with me. The book shares a lot of little reflective activities and actions to try, so it's nice for the reader to feel they are developing their mindfulness practice further. Highly, highly recommend this book.
January 1, 2022
Read more bookish goodness on my book blog: Cal's Constant Raving Reviews
MY EXPERIENCE WITH THE BOOK:
I listened to this in one sitting, during quite a rage-burst. It helped. Not extremely, but it's great for beginners.
IMPACT:
I liked the anecdotes inside this story. I would easily reread this when I'm feeling overwhelmed, and need a 30 min break :)
MY EXPERIENCE WITH THE BOOK:
I listened to this in one sitting, during quite a rage-burst. It helped. Not extremely, but it's great for beginners.
IMPACT:
I liked the anecdotes inside this story. I would easily reread this when I'm feeling overwhelmed, and need a 30 min break :)
December 21, 2019
Lots of simple, easy ideas to start being mindful, more playful and greatful. Practical tips include 1 minute reflections and gratitude letter writing. Author's read the audiobook so it's nice to hear their voice. They're parents, so it's pitched at busy adults. Not for profit for kids sounds good.
November 26, 2020
I was looking for something to convince me to start with mindfulness and mediation; this book did the job. References are very appreciated and appropriate. Got me tempted to try their app!
November 8, 2021
Made me actually smile when I needed it most
June 22, 2017
4 Stars
This is a handy little guide to mindfulness and meditation. It's short and to the point, with a smattering of easy and helpful tips to steer you in the right direction.
This is a handy little guide to mindfulness and meditation. It's short and to the point, with a smattering of easy and helpful tips to steer you in the right direction.
March 8, 2017
The web site is good.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews