Mindfulness, Acceptance, and Positive Psychology: The Seven Foundations of Well-Being (The Context Press Mindfulness and Acceptance Practica Series)

Reading Kashdan and Ciarrochi's mind-expanding book is like going on a long-awaited exotic cruise to well-being, stopping at 13 never before discovered destinations. Each stop is more topographically fascinating than the one before. Thirteen chapters of unchartered, eye-brow raising exploration. This appealing book is an incredibly unique journey into cutting edge theory, welcomed new practical applications, scientifically based, and the best part, fun to traverse. No psycho-babble BS here!This book is a robust, novel compendium of how to live the good life. It opens mind-bending sensory doors into the world of positive psychology (PP), mindfulness, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Even if you are a novice, the charts and easy-to-understand explanatory style assures easy sailing.At first, writing this review was daunting. Why? Because no matter what I write, to capture the eloquent essence of this monumentally remarkable book and do it justice, was challenging. As a positive psychology coach and clinical psychologist, I am blown away by the diversity, thoughtfulness, and academic rigor this book delightfully delivers. Each chapter is so contextually rich, it deserves its own review!As a human being, this book resonated with me and rocked me to my core. It is truly life-altering and mind-bending with specific new mindfulness and how-to flourish applications I am beginning to incorporate in my life, with my family, and with my coaching clients. Like understanding how negative emotions serve as a wake up call. They are not evil to be banished. ACT enlightens specifically how you can accomplish this, and so much more, using amazingly simple strategies. All to help you discover what you need to thrive and to live the meaningful life you desire.The valuable juxtaposition of the lightness of mindfulness bolstered by the substantial theory and rigorous science-based ACT research gives this book powerful momentum. You discover how to facilitate your flourishing right now. You travel to fun excursions discovering ramifications for the future, too. You decipher just how important mindfulness practices are to yourself and your relationships, as well as for organizations and cultures.Specifically and beautifully explained, the "7 Foundations of Well-being" offer you a bird's eye view of your life well-lived. Feel your enlightenment and transformation as you dive into how you can customize your own character strengths to achieve your richest flourishing:1. Fundamental beliefs about self, others, and the world2. Mindfulness and awareness3. Perspective taking4. Values5. Experiential acceptance6. Behavioral control7. Cognitive skillThis book is a how-to-live heaven, but it's so much more than the run of the mill happiness enhancer tome.For wisdom, insight and continued learning, this exceptional book is one you will go back to time and time again. Deep bows of gratitude to each one of the contributors who so powerfully hoisted the gridirons for this steely superior book that bridges PP and ACT. Gutsy Editors Kashdan and Ciarrochi have done themselves proud. Every page of this book deserves an A+.

Here's what this book is not. It is not a book that tries to simplify wellbeing into 7 easy steps. It is not a book that claims to have all the answers. And it's not a book that argues for one particular perspective or theory or another. The book explores the intersection of two bodies of work, Positive Psychology and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, two schools of thought that often find themselves at odds: with positive psychology being the champion of all things positive and ACT encouraging a more accepting approach to the full spectrum of human experience. But PP and ACT have great areas of overlap also. Both are concerned with human wellbeing and both have an emphasis on pathways involving meaning and values to achieve it.Through a variety of chapters with leading researchers and practitioners from both perspectives, the book not only explores the areas of difference and similarity between these two fields, but also begins to build bridges towards a more complete science of wellbeing drawing from what probably represent the two fastest-growing disciplines in mental health.Along the way, the book delves into a variety of interesting and important topics: mindfulness, love, self-compassion, positivity, rationality, guilt, shame, meaning and more. Do not miss the last chapter by Steven Hayes in which he provides a synthesis of the rest of the book and touches on "what PP can learn from ACT" and "what ACT can learn from PP." For anyone interested in either discipline, this chapter alone is worth the price of the book.It is hard to imagine anyone coming away from this book without some new ideas and perspectives about wellbeing. I happen to be more fluent in positive psychology so the book helped me to learn a great deal about ACT. But I am also excited by the prospect of ACT practitioners learning about and being more open to some of the ideas from PP.I have to admit that I had hoped that by the end of the book that PP and ACT would ride off into the sunset together, and sadly, this is not the case (it was more like an awkward first date, or as Hayes says, "the beginning of a conversation.") The editors aptly use the word "foundations" in the title, and I think we will see these foundations being built on for years to come.

Well written drawing on latest research. Not a easy read as it quite in depth research driven would recommend to those interested in understanding the vast topic of mindfulness

Brilliant and lucid