Jan 19
29
Mindfulness – Access to Excellence
An Introduction by the Editor
Mark Kennedy has just finished a new book and the book is with a new publisher, Provident House Publishing LTD in Nevis, W.I.
Mindfulness, Access to Excellence began as a co-authored project by Mark and me, but as everyone who knows both of us well, also knows that Mark and I process things quite differently and we both insist upon what works for us as individuals.
Mark started his mindfulness journey just about the time I met him, 21 years ago and he quite clearly explains in this book how the practice came to him long before the term mindfulness, became so popular.
I learned the basics from Mark, but to make it work for me there was an essential ingredient missing and once I incorporated that ingredient into my own daily practice; my life began to make a steady AND sustained series of needed improvements.
Our collaborative co-author project soon became bogged down due to a constant tension of my wanting to present what I felt were the essentials of my own practice as a means to tell everyone to build their own brand of mindfulness.
While we agreed whole-heartedly with the concept that everyone needs to practice what works for them, as individuals because everyone IS different, he felt the way I was approaching the book was too scattered and I soon realized I was interfering with what could be a very powerful process for anyone to learn the basics of what, after all, is Mark’s very own unique system. In fact, the book could be used as a companion to his own very effective corporate and individual coaching sessions.
It soon became apparent to both of us that co-authoring with this kind of tension between the two disparate visions of how the process should look was a big stumbling block to getting to a winning end result.
We agreed to get answers to the problem by also, in our own individual ways, of accessing the same source …and talk about what we received. His answer was that he needed to take responsibility for the book, instead of dumping it on me, the answer I got simultaneously was that it needed to be his book and if he wanted it, I could be the editor I always wanted to find for my own writing, but never could. We both welcomed each other’s answers and for my taste, the book is an excellent read.
Mark’s approach is far more structured than mine and, after all, he’s been practicing his brand of mindfulness for over twenty years, and his book is backed with scientific facts that are an essential for many readers beyond just reading and to begin applying what he clearly demonstrates how to do.
I’m proud of this brand new author and his wonderful book and whatever mistakes you come across don’t blame him, they’re mine, after all, I’m the editor. The book is on Amazon.com, listed under books, Mindfulness, Access to Excellence.
–Doug Ferguson, author of Brad Cullen books and articles …and now editor, after all.