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    Change Your Story, Change Your Brain
    Change Your Story, Change Your Brain
    Change Your Story, Change Your Brain
    Ebook108 pages1 hour

    Change Your Story, Change Your Brain

    By Dr. Linda Miles

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    About this ebook

    Do you feel as if someone else is writing the story of your life? Does the world seem to be brimming with negativity? Do you feel trapped in a mental prison of blame, depression, anxiety, or fear?

    It’s time to rediscover your most powerful weapon.

    Change Your Story, Change Your Brain is a guide to living more fully in the present moment and propelling yourself free from the cesspools of toxicity. Merging powerful anecdotes with neuroscientific findings and simple practices, this book invites you on a life-altering quest to rediscover purpose and joy through the practice of mindfulness. Learn to program your brain to live purposefully. Seize control of your thoughts and unleash your utmost potential.

    As you live with greater intention, you’ll discover that you can literally change the structure of your brain—and your life.

    “Great insights and strategies to deal with loss and pain through the practice of mindfulness. Anyone who is struggling with a major life transition will benefit from this book, recover, and move on to a healthier, happier life.”

    Amy Botwinick, Life Coach, Founder of WomenMovingOn.com

    “Change your Story, Change Your Brain cut through my pain with scalpel-like precision. It brought my deadened heart back to life and enabled me to revive my career. This is no self-improvement book. This is a book that will change your life.”

    Martin Terrell, author of Beyond Tomorrow

    “Read this if you are interested in exploring, cultivating, and nurturing yourself and those around you.”

    Shengli Dong, Professor of Psychological and Counseling Services at Florida State University

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchway Publishing
    Release dateSep 9, 2019
    ISBN9781480879652
    Change Your Story, Change Your Brain
    Author

    Dr. Linda Miles

    Dr. Linda Miles earned her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Florida State University and has worked in the mental health field for over thirty years as an award-winning psychotherapist, consultant, and professor. She has authored several books, including The New Marriage, chosen as a finalist for Forward Book of the Year Award. She has appeared on national radio and television, and her articles have appeared in The Boston Globe, The Wall Street Journal, and Miami Herald.

    Read more from Dr. Linda Miles

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    • 5/5
      An immensely readable and helpful book. It's like a psychotherapist friend giving you the best advice and leaving you lots of activities to try out the advice. Would read and reread favorite chapters until I thoroughly master them. Thanks for this and for you.

    Book preview

    Change Your Story, Change Your Brain - Dr. Linda Miles

    Copyright © 2019 Dr. Linda Miles.

    All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

    This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

    Archway Publishing

    1663 Liberty Drive

    Bloomington, IN 47403

    www.archwaypublishing.com

    1 (888) 242-5904

    Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

    Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

    Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

    ISBN: 978-1-4808-7964-5 (sc)

    ISBN: 978-1-4808-7965-2 (e)

    Library of Congress Control Number: 2019909036

    Archway Publishing rev. date: 8/19/2019

    CONTENTS

    Acknowledgments

    Introduction

    MINDFULNESS AS A SURVIVAL STRATEGY

    Where Do You Put the Pain? A Powerful

    Reperception of Grief

    Freedom From Mental Captivity: Lessons From a

    Concentration Camp Prisoner

    Labeling Thoughts to Enable Clear Thinking

    Everyday Miracles: Lessons From the Snow Child

    The Mindfulness Mentality

    A Piece of Mind for Your Peace of Mind: Living With Mindfulness

    Freedom Within: How Mindfulness Liberated Anne Frank

    The Sensation of Living In the Now

    Igniting Your Inner Light: A Lesson In Joy

    Mindfulness As the Road To Recovery

    The Art of Mental Rewriting: Reframing Memories To Revamp Perspectives

    Mental Suicide: the Danger of Grudges and How To Let Go

    Trigger-Happy: How to Rewire Reliving and Practice Rewriting

    Mindfulness As A Path of Self-Discovery

    Self-Love As the Foundation of A Sane Society

    Out of Your Head and Into Your Soul

    Using Mindfulness to Break the Chains of Mental Slavery

    Washing the Windows of Your Mind’s Eye: Insight From A Room With A View

    DEDICATION

    To Robert, my husband and love.

    ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

    Thanks to my dear, life-long friend Lucy Baney, who helped shape and edit this material. Thanks also to my editors Angela Panayotopulos and Christina Morfeld… two of the best.

    INTRODUCTION

    WHY MINDFULNESS?

    There is nothing noble about suffering except the love and forgiveness with which we meet it. -Stephen Levine

    In the fast-paced world which we live in, it’s easy for the little things to get trampled by the big things. The little things as we tend to call them, however, are actually the big things. Peace, positivity, joy, and gratitude: things that are so often underrated and neglected, things that can seem ephemeral or belonging to other people. And yet these exact things are the essence of life.

    Please take a moment to consider the following questions.

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    Chances are, like most of us, you’ve answered yes to at least one of the above questions. It’s not enough that we are bombarded by the world. We are bombarded by our own negative thoughts, rendering ourselves our greatest enemy instead of our best and most long-lasting friend. We might find ourselves trapped in a self-made prison of blame and judgment that prevents us from relishing the good in our lives. We can find ourselves slipping into a downward spiral of self-fulfilling toxic prophecies.

    We forget that we have wings and capes to break free of these mind traps and rise above them. We forget that humans have lifted 3,000 pound cars, they’ve run walked on tightropes across Niagara Falls and tread across paths of burning embers, they’ve literally carved roads through mountains, and they’ve survived wars and torture chambers only to emerge stronger and more human than ever before. We forget our minds are the most powerful weapon.

    Literature helps to remind us. Mindfulness gives us the skills to cope.

    Now is where love breathes. -Rumi

    THE SCIENCE OF MINDFULNESS

    Mindfulness is a scientific approach to acceptance and inner peace, extensively studied by John Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., at the University of Massachusetts. He defines mindfulness as paying attention in a particular way; on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally. In short, mindfulness translates to an enriched awareness of the present.

    Dr. Kabat-Zinn’s research propelled mindfulness as a way to reduce the pain of patients who dealt with medical illnesses, and as a way to help people tackle everyday life challenges. His work has contributed significantly to a growing movement of mindfulness in areas of medicine, psychology, healthcare, neuroscience, education, corporations, prisons, governmental organizations, and professional sports.

    As a psychotherapist, practicing mindfulness is a huge part of my own job description; as a human, practicing mindfulness is my right and my blessing. I’ve acknowledged mindfulness as the valuable practice that it is and I help others cultivate it within themselves. I’ve watched firsthand as it has contributed immensely to the lives of many.

    However our ancestors termed it, mindfulness has always been a way of life; it’s one of the most ancient practices. It’s as simple (and, simultaneously, as profound) as rediscovering the blessing of freely breathing, the sensation of a caress or a kiss, the vastness of the universe. Happiness can be a benefit of mindfulness. Science shows that happiness has a biological basis; research proves that we can take steps toward creating a positive and healthy mental space for ourselves, despite the stresses of thriving in a demanding and technology-driven world.

    By actively exercising kindness and appreciation, we can prompt the brain’s natural production of oxytocin and dopamine—two chemicals that enable us to feel pleasure and

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