Author, Irene Kraegel, is a licensed psychologist who works with college students, church groups, teaches and lectures on a variety of subjects focused on self care, anxiety and meditation centered on God focused mindfulness. She begins this journey with her definition of meditation: “taking time to focus your attention on a particular thing, and pulling your attention back to that thing over an over whenever your focus wanders.” Kraegel goes in to carefully explain that the subject you choose to focus on is completely your choice and that there is no particular religion tied to meditation. Meditation is not owned by Buddhist or any other religious sect. Examples are given from Christ thru contemporary Jesuits, along with Bible verses, for support of the practice.
150 brief devotions make up the bulk of this volume. Each is a single page that begins with a scripture in medium blue type that’s a different font from the rest of the page. That’s followed by a few paragraphs from the author offering inductive commentary and query about the scripture. These are all finished off with a final paragraph called: PRACTICE - in large, medium blue script, inside a blue box that gives the reader mindful/meditation guidance.
After going thru this book, I found it would have been useful to have read the end of the book BEFORE starting the individual devotions. Beginning on page 164 in my copy, there’s a section called: “Mindfulness Meditation Guides where Kraegel explains how the different techniques, (that she uses to facilitate meditation), are executed; very helpful.
Following this section is FAQ’s: Nuts and Bolts of Meditation. Here, the author asks and answers 6 big questions many who are new to meditation will have: Is it ok for Christians to meditate? What if I get uncomfortable? anxious? Are there other kind of meditation? Guides? There’s more but these are the crux.
My copy doesn’t contain any notes or index nor any information to further investigate the subject of meditation. It’s all together possible my version is not the final edition that will be presented for sale as this was a free for review copy. Altho’ there’s a brief mention of teens, there’s really nothing about the book or it’s content that makes it a book for teen or young adults.
All things considered, a book for beginners interested in meditation from a Christian perspective📚