Mental Resilience: The Power of Clarity: How to Develop the Focus of a Warrior and the Peace of a Monk

by Kamal Sarma

Book Overview

Do you frequently feel stressed, overwhelmed, depressed, anxious? Do your thoughts sometimes have too much control over you? What if you could focus your mind and find peace in any situation?

We all face challenges--complex decisions, difficult personalities, constant demands on our time--but we don't have to be at their mercy. By developing the skills outlined in this book, which create what author Kamal Sarma calls mental resilience,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1577316258
• ISBN13: 9781577316251
• Release Date: February 2008
• Publisher: New World Library
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.6" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Review of Mental Clarity

This is the clearest explanation of how to meditate I've ever read. Period. The author provides step by step instructions for everything from simple relaxation to meditation on wisdom and compassion. His audio meditations, included with the purchase of the book, are perfect. This is a book for people of all religious persuasions, as the author doesn't operate out of one specific religious tradition. Highly recommended.

The best resource for Meditation!

This is the best book on meditation that I've read and I endorse it enthusiastically! I teach meditation and relaxation in business settings and have placed this item as my number one recommended resource. It explains the value and purpose of strengthening the mind in a clear, practical and easy to understand way. It's common to focus on keeping the physical body healthy and yet the mind, which has an uncanny ability to go it's own way and get caught up in life's dramas, is often ignored. The book reinforces the view that we each have tremendous personal power to strengthen the mind muscle, see with greater clarity and as a result make wiser choices and decisions in our lives. In today's world especially it's important to learn ways to reduce stress and anxiety and stay present to counteract and balance the negativity about us. The step by step approach the author uses is simple, factual and devoid of religious or mystical connotations. The guided CD which accompanies the book is a helpful way to get started on your own. Be aware though, that there are long periods of silence challenging the listener to stay focused or sleep could be a distinct possibility!. The book provides a major contribution to the field of personal development particularly in the area of stress management.

Absorbing book, corny subtitles

The book is about meditation for professionals in fields such as software, finance, engineering, and medicine. The book cover is unattractive, the binding feels cheap, the author looks like a dork in the back cover photo and the sub-titles are cliches. Even the title is not catchy enough. However, the book is powerful reading. The author wisely does not use the word "meditation" in the title as some educated professionals are put off by the word which implies giving up sensual pleasure and that too with hard work and concentration that they want to get away from in the first place. The book does not delve on spirituality, peace, faith, bliss, or nirvana; though it is about that and more. Mental clutter debilitates our thought process. Unwinding helps. However, many a times we are simply numbing ourselves temporarily with TV, alcohol, and diversions without redressing issues with clear thought. This book takes you beyond hedonistic relaxation. The book has exercises to lead you through stages of meditation including relaxation, deeply calm, emotional tranquility, insight and wisdom. The accompanying CD is sparse but requisite for putting the book's precepts into practice. I have just started to implement the techniques, so I cannot comment on the results, but I am optimistic.

Mental Resilience

Meditation has been a regular part of my daily routine for quite some time. I find that through this practice, I am far more calm, centered, and productive. In taking just a little time out from the chaos of my day, I realize that a lot of the worries that I fixate on aren't really all that important to who I am, how I live my life, or in loving those around me. Even in the midst of my most difficult life experiences, I gain perspective and find meaning in the situation. Mental Resilience is one of those books that I wish I would have had years ago when I first started to meditate. This book is perfect for those who want to explore meditation but don't know where to begin. In the first part of the book, the author answers common questions and clears up misconceptions about the practice. Then, in the second portion of the book, the author presents a variety of meditation stepping stones that the reader can practice to become more and more adept. Accompanying the book is a CD with all of the meditations for ease of use.

Should be required reading for any MBA student

Let's face it, we're all inundated by noise. Work is becoming all more consuming, and gadgets like the Blackberry don't help. Work has consumed our lives, making it difficult to balance our thoughts and ideas. As a businessperson, I too have allowed work to consume my life. My crackberry habits were destructive both from the family front as they were in making me an ineffective decision maker. When a friend first introduced me to this book, my flippant reaction was negative as I neither like Tofu nor do I have any crystals. To my surprise, neither does the author. In fact, he too comes from a similar business background to my own, an MBA as ex management consultant with a global highly recognized name. I could relate perfectly with his "real world" examples in his book. Regardless of your own background, this book is perfect for any beginner to novice looking for ways to both declutter and find balance. Unlike other books on the subject, this book gives those good introduction as to why meditation is important, let alone offering constructive instructions as to how best to implement. I say this as I admit I was an utter failure my first few times. But following Kamal's voice on the CD, along with the reading, made it all the easier for me to begin. Trust me, meditation may be silence, but for those of us who's lives are consumed by everyday noise, meditation takes practice. This book is an excellent source of information as it is instructive. I highly recommend this book to other business leaders and decision makers. After you've experienced this, you'll find you too will be recommending this book and CD. Silence is bliss.