Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Finding the Blue Sky
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE:
CITY: Pointe-Claire
STATE: QC
COUNTRY: Canada
NATIONALITY: Canadian
http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/237434/joseph-emet * http://mindfulnessmeditationcentre.org/about/
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: n 2012072020
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/n2012072020
HEADING: Emet, Joseph
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670 __ |a Buddha’s book of sleep, 2012: |b ECIP t.p. (Joseph Emet)
953 __ |a xh92
PERSONAL
Male.
EDUCATION:Boston University, doctorate.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Teacher, writer, and therapy counselor. Mindfulness Meditation Centre, Montreal, Canada, founder, 1997–.
AWARDS:Fulbright scholar; COVR Award for Book of the Year, 2013, for Buddha’s Book of Sleep.
WRITINGS
Buddha’s Book of Sleep has been translated into ten languages.
SIDELIGHTS
Joseph Emet is a Dharma teacher of Buddhism who trained with Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh at Plum Village in France. His Dharma name is Dwelling in Peaceful Concentration. Emet has a doctorate in music and is founder of the Mindfulness Meditation Centre in Montreal, Canada. Though the center Emet has trained numerous people in mindfulness practices. He has also conducted training sessions for organizations. Emet is certified in reality therapy counseling and practices T’ai Chi.
Buddha's Book of Sleep
Emet is the author of several books discussing Buddhism and various aspects of mindfulness. For his first book, A Basket of Plums: Songs for the Practice of Mindfulness, Emet draws from his doctorate in music as well as his training in Buddhism and mindfulness to set to music twenty of Hanh’s practice verses in mindfulness, drawn from Hanh’s poems, books, and talks. Emmett’s next book, Buddha’s Book of Sleep: Sleep Better in Seven Weeks with Mindfulness Meditation addresses sleep deprivation and teaches people how to use the practice of mindfulness meditation to achieve better sleep.
Buddha’s Book of Sleep is divided into two sections, beginning with a section that discusses mindfulness meditation with a focus on why the practice can help people sleep better. Emet also discusses the specifics of how mindfulness meditation is practiced in general. In the second part, seven specific exercises are presented to practice at bedtime or whenever people have difficulty sleeping. The exercises “are spelled out in easy-to-follow detail, and in language that is at once engaging and soothing in rhythm and intent,” wrote Huffington Post Web site contributor Peter Clothier, who went on to note: “While modulated particularly to a single purpose, Emet’s book serves also as a fine introduction to the Buddha’s teachings.” Emet is also the author of book about stress reduction titled Buddha’s Book of Streses Reduction: Finding Serenity and Peace with Mindfulness Meditation and another focusing on the practice of mindfulness meditation to improve life in general and titled Buddha’s Book of Meditation: Mindfulness Practices for a Quieter Mind, Self-Awareness, and Healthy Living.
Finding the Blue Sky
In his book Finding the Blue Sky: A Mindful Approach to Choosing Happiness Here and Now, Emet focuses on what makes people happy and how they can achieve happiness. To do so he examines the age-old wisdom of Buddhism combined with scientific research concerning happiness. Following the introduction Finding the Blue Sky begins with a chapter focusing on how to regulate moods. The following chapters address topics such as the need to embrace both work and “laziness,” personal growth, appreciation for what a person has, compassion, and relationship intelligence.
Each chapter contains three section, beginning with a story that illustrates the chapter’s theme followed by a text to stimulate reflection and then various exercises. The exercises can also be listened to as MP3s. Emet includes information on how to download songs from the Internet to be used in practicing mindfulness to achieve happiness. Some of the major themes in the book are ways to eliminate negative thinking and replace it with positive thinking, achieving the ability to experience quiet contemplation, and the importance of living a happy life not only for ourselves but also for the benefit of others. In the process, Emet teachers readers how to retell their personal narrative, eliminate destructive habits, and understand various emotional states. In addition Emet discusses the media in terms of indoctrination.
Emet “makes it all seem achievable in this stirring, heartfelt book,” wrote Julie Hale in a review for BookPage. Noting that readers already familiar with mindfulness meditation may find much of the book a basic primer, a Publishers Weekly contributor went on to note: Emet’s inclusion of “positive psychology is fresh and welcome,” adding that the book contains a “fount of compassionate wisdom to begin the work of personal growth.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
BookPage, January, 2017, Julie Hale, “Keep on the Sunny Side of Life,” includes review of Finding the Blue Sky: A Mindful Approach to Choosing Happiness Here and Now, p. 15.
Publishers Weekly, August 8, 2016, review of Finding the Blue Sky, p. 59.
ONLINE
Huffington Post, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ (November 12, 2012), Peter Clothier, review of Buddha’s Book of Sleep: Sleep Better in Seven Weeks with Mindfulness Meditation.
Mindfulness Meditation Center Web site, http://mindfulnessmeditationcentre.org/ (April 30 2017), author profile.
New Spirit Journal, http://newspiritjournalonline.com/ (April 30, 2017), Krysta Gibson, review of Finding the Blue Sky.
Penguin Random House Web site, http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/ (April 30, 2017), author profile.
Spirituality & Practice, http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/ (April 30, 2017), Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, review of Finding the Blue Sky.*
Joseph Emet
Photo of Joseph Emet
Photo: © Nancy Lyon
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JOSEPH EMET trained with Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh at Plum Village in France and was made a Dharma teacher in Thich Nhat Hanh’s tradition. He has a doctorate in music from Boston University and is the author of Buddha’s Book of Sleep (winner of the 2013 COVR Award for Book of the Year), Buddha’s Book of Stress Reduction, and Buddha’s Book of Meditation. The founder of the Mindfulness Meditation Centre in Montreal, Emet lives in Pointe-Claire, Canada.
Joseph Emet
Joseph EmetJoseph Emet is the author of Sleep Better With Mindfulness Meditation (Tarcher/Penguin), Buddha’s Book of Stress Reduction (Tarcher/Penguin), A Basket of Plums, Songs for the Practice of Mindfulness Meditation (Parallax Press), and Buddha’s Book of Meditation, (Tarcher/Penguin). These books all have forewords by Thich Nhat Hanh. His book on sleep has won an award as the best self-help book of the year in 2013, and has been translated into 10 languages. The French version is entitled En pyjama avec Bouddha, and is published by Les Éditions de l’Homme. His next book, Finding The Blue Sky (Penguin/Random House), will be out in 2016.
Joseph started the Mindfulness Meditation Centre in 1997, because he had found the practice of mindfulness very helpful in his own life, and wanted to share it with others. On January 14, 2003, he was invited by Thich Nhat Hanh to receive the Lamp Transmission as a Dharma teacher. His Dharma name is Dwelling in Peaceful Concentration. He has been trying to live up to that name ever since. Joseph has trained several thousand people in mindfulness practices in large and small groups, for organizations, and in private sessions.
Joseph holds a Doctorate in Music from Boston University. He has been certified in Reality Therapy Counselling with Dr. William Glasser, and has been a Fulbright scholar. He has been a long time T’ai Chi practitioner with Master Lee Shiu Pak, one of the original Yang school students.
Contact: josephemet @ gmail.com (please remove all spaces)
Print Marked Items
Keep on the sunny side of life
Julie Hale
BookPage.
(Jan. 2017): p15. From Literature Resource Center.
COPYRIGHT 2017 BookPage
http://bookpage.com/
Full Text:
Most of us would agree that happiness is a state of mind, one that requires more than a little maintenance. Perfect for
giving your attitude a tuneup, the books below are all about achieving--and sustaining--a sunny mindset. Get ready to
focus, reflect and feel happy, starting today.
In a 2016 United Nations report, Denmark was named the happiest place in the world, a title the country has earned in
previous years. The sod, it seems, really is greener in Scandinavia. What's the key to Danish contentment?
Copenhagener Meik Wiking, a researcher for the World Database of Happiness, believes it's hygge (pronounced huegah),
the feeling of snug domesticity, companionship and security that's central to the country's culture.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
For those of us who live in less idyllic locations--the U.S. ranked 13th on the list of happy nations--Wiking has written
The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living (Morrow, $19.99, 240 pages, ISBN 9780062658807). In
brief, breezy chapters, Wiking outlines ways we can weave hygge into the fabric of our daily lives, offering ideas on
everything from decorating (candles are a hygge must-have) to dining (try the recipe for robust Skipper Stew). But
hygge, Wiking points out, is much more than an aesthetic. It's a state of mind that fosters optimism and stresses pleasure
over the pressure to be perfect. The hygge way means it's OK to disconnect from work and assemble with friends, to
indulge in--yes--a Danish or two (statistics show that Denmark outeats the rest of Europe when it comes to sugary
treats). As life philosophies go, this one sounds pretty sweet.
Author Malene Rydahl presents a different take on what makes Denmark tick in Happy as a Dane: 10 Secrets of the
Happiest People in the World (Norton, $14.95, 144 pages, ISBN 9780393608922), arguing that her homeland is
flourishing thanks to a solid social framework and a value structure that emphasizes personal contentment instead of
status. Her 10-secrets list features qualities that define Danish society--traits such as trust, a supportive educational
system, a sense of unlimited opportunity and an appreciation for simple pleasures.
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When applied to our personal lives, Rydahl says, these big-picture elements can generate the same sense of positivity
that makes Denmark the happiest place on the map. Rydahl, who is Copenhagen's goodwill ambassador, suggests simple
shifts in perspective. By focusing on community, calibrating the career-life equation and developing independence and
self-worth, we can create a strong foundation for fulfillment. From start to finish, Rydahl lays out a persuasive case for
making 2017 the year of living Danishly.
HOW-TOS FOR HAPPINESS
For more than a decade, sought-after speaker Halley Bock has worked with companies across the country as an advisor
on workplace relationships. She's the founder of Life, Incorporated, an organization that promotes connection,
compassion and good old-fashioned joy as prime factors in personal satisfaction. Bock shares her unique approach to
self-growth in Life, Incorporated:
A Practical Guide to Wholehearted Living (Greenleaf, $22.95, 296 pages, ISBN 9781626343559). The key word here is
practical, as Bock provides concrete techniques that can help readers find new ways to flourish.
Bock's position on self-fulfillment is holistic. She urges us to inventory our lives--to take stock of home environment,
physical health, career and downtime and, through writing prompts that tap into personal inspiration, envision more
rewarding versions of each. Building self-esteem, finding a sense of purpose and maintaining authentic connections with
others are among her areas of emphasis. "The more we are able to live life on our own terms," Bock observes, "the more
we are able to experience wholehearted success and fulfillment." If you're looking for a hands-on plan for cultivating
happiness, Bock's book is for you.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
POSITIVE PRACTICES
So many of us, it seems, are creatures of habit, ruled by schedules and routines. In the midst of all the busyness, it's easy
to stagnate--and stress (two verbs you should banish from your vocabulary in 2017!). Are we humans really capable of
change? According to Zen master Joseph Emet, the answer to that question is a resounding yes, and in Finding the Blue
Sky: A Mindful Approach to Choosing Happiness Here and Now (Tarcher Perigee, $16, 208 pages, ISBN
9780143109631), he shows readers how. Through a series of daily practices that includes planned meditation, Emet
offers a blueprint for forming a more mindful mode of living and stopping the cycles of negative thinking that so often
undermine happiness.
Drawing on his Buddhist background, Emet provides themes for meditation and soul-searching questions, all aimed at
helping the reader develop a more affirmative outlook. He also delves into issues that can complicate daily life,
including mood management and relationships. Establishing positive habits and patterns of thinking is central to
contentment, Emet notes, but practice makes perfect--we have to act with intention if we want the changes to be
permanent. He makes it all seem achievable in this stirring, heartfelt book.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
PATH TO A HAPPIER YOU
Full of smart suggestions for finding fulfillment, Rachel Kelly's Walking on Sunshine: 52 Small Steps to Happiness
(Atria, $18, 144 pages, ISBN 9781501146442) is sure to put a spring in your stride. In this mood-brightening guide,
Kelly, a bestselling British author and mental health advocate who has struggled with depression, reveals the techniques
she relies upon for leading a bountiful life.
In journal entries attuned to the seasons, Kelly supplies 52 ideas--one for each week of the year--for creating a more
satisfying lifestyle. Try building into your schedule "pockets of peace"--times to power down, pause and reflect--in
order to become more mindful of the present moment. Start practicing gratitude by pinpointing positive incidents and
recording them in a notebook. Tiny tweaks like these, Kelly says, can make a big difference in our attitudes and
interactions.
Source Citation (MLA 8
th Edition)
Hale, Julie. "Keep on the sunny side of life." BookPage, Jan. 2017, p. 15. Literature Resource Center,
go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=LitRC&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA475225425&it=r&asid=4f1ee3b822480fc4392e268a5a16673a.
Accessed 25 Mar. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A475225425
Finding the Blue Sky: A Mindful Approach to
Finding the Blue Sky: A Mindful Approach to
Choosing Happiness Here and Now
Publishers Weekly.
263.32 (Aug. 8, 2016): p59. From Literature Resource Center.
COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
* Finding the Blue Sky: A Mindful Approach to Choosing Happiness Here and Now
Joseph Emet. TarcherPerigee, $16 trade paper (208p) ISBN 978-0-143-10963-1
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Emet, a dharma teacher in Thich Nhat Hanh's tradition, blends mindfulness practice with positive psychology, offering a
different perspective on life and the mind. Though most popular books on mindfulness offer techniques for meditative
practice and advice for life situations, few suggest a full external engagement with positive thinking as Emet's does. He
presents his teachings by providing stories, thoughts for reflection, and practice exercises and songs. By engaging with
life mindfully, Emet argues, one is made aware that choice is a possibility. He treats the mind as a fertile garden,
watering the positive emotions that lead to greater personal growth, self-knowledge, and creativity. Emet effectively
teaches the importance of mood regulation and maintenance, reminding readers to consider their personal needs and pay
attention to their mental states and disturbances, and to make room for observing and feeling before expressing. While
Emet's teaching of mindfulness is fairly basic for those already familiar with the subject, his approach through positive
psychology is fresh and welcome; the newcomer will find a fount of compassionate wisdom to begin the work of
personal growth. (Oct.)
Source Citation (MLA 8
th Edition)
"Finding the Blue Sky: A Mindful Approach to Choosing Happiness Here and Now." Publishers Weekly, 8 Aug. 2016,
p. 59. Literature Resource Center, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=LitRC&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA460900419&it=r&asid=a746e87d13ed2a7540e10296740b6e7e.
Accessed 25 Mar. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A460900419
Finding the Blue Sky
BY KRYSTA GIBSON REVIEWS
review-finding-the-blue-skyFinding the Blue Sky
A Mindful Approach to Choosing Happiness Here and Now
by Joseph Emet
TarcherPerigee
If you read my reviews on a regular basis, you know I love practical spirituality and I know many of you feel the same way. Finding the Blue Sky fits this category perfectly. Not only does the book give solid concepts about being happy, it gives tools that can be used on a daily, even hourly, basis.
Joseph Emet trained with Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh at Plum Village in France and was made a Dharma teacher in that tradition. Finding the Blue Sky is full of references to these teachings and takes them further. We’re not only given some meditative practices in writing and as MP3s, but there are a series of songs – yes, songs – that can be downloaded from the Internet and used to help practice states of happiness.
Readers will learn to:
-retell their personal narrative
-incorporate moments of pleasure into each day
-identify and omit destructive habits
-understand emotional states
-determine needs versus wants
-counteract the daily indoctrination of the media
-practice mindfulness
-experience agelessness by being in the moment.
This is a solid book full of treasures to be unlocked and activated in daily life.
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ABOUT AUTHOR
KRYSTA GIBSON
Krysta Gibson is publisher of New Spirit Journal as well as an author, spiritual teacher, and mentor. Currently she is working with self-published authors to assist them in reaching a wide audience. For information on this mentoring program or to learn about her other services and programs visit anoasisforyoursoul.com. Listen to her the third Thursday of each month at 7 a.m. on the Conscious Talk radio program, KKNW 1150 AM, streaming live and archived at conscioustalk.net.
Finding the Blue Sky
A Mindful Approach to Choosing Happiness Here and Now
By Joseph Emet
A blend of Zen insights and scientific research into positive psychology on happiness.
Book Review by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
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Joseph Emet trained with Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh at Plum Village in France and was made a dharma teacher in that lineage. He has a doctorate in music from Boston University and is the founder of the Mindfulness Meditation Centre in Montreal, Canada. In this paperback, he seeks to plant the seeds of happiness so that readers can grow and flourish. Each section of the book contains three sections: a story, a text designed to stimulate reflection, and a practice section with exercises.
Wisdom, good humor, and lightness of spirit are character qualities that can be cultivated by meditation. They in turn counter stress and fear; Emet suggests that when we imitate the process of balancing, we experience that art of mood regulation. Here expectations and disappointments are the challenge; accepting them is better than over-reacting to them.
The singer Willie Nelson once recalled:
"Maybe the most valuable thing I learned from my grandmother Nelson was that you can get through hard times if you've got a song in your heart."
With chapters on embracing work and laziness, appreciating what you have, taking care of yourself, connecting with compassion, and developing your "relationship intelligence," Emet blends the best of Zen and the scientific input of positive psychology.
11/12/2012 04:30 pm ET | Updated Jan 12, 2013
Buddha’s Book of Sleep Review
By Peter Clothier
SHUTTERSTOCK
I’m a pretty good sleeper under normal circumstances. As Ellie says, I’m usually asleep before my head hits the pillow. At my age, of course, nature tends to call at least once, sometimes twice and, on rare occasions, more often in the course of the night. Unless I have something on my mind I have little trouble getting back to sleep. As I learned on a recent trip to Europe from “unless” can be a big one. What was on my mind? Packing up to move on to our next destination, making plans for the next day, getting to the train station and carting the bags about, adjusting to an unfamiliar environment, the discomfort of heavy food at unusual times, sometimes late (for us) in the evening, a distress call from our daughter with news of little Luka’s visit to the emergency room and generally being out of touch. It seemed like a million different things. I resorted, I confess, to sleeping pills — first in the middle of the night when I couldn’t fall back asleep; and then as a preventative measure before going to bed. Half an Ambien, I told myself, can’t be that bad.
Joseph Emet, unsurprisingly, disapproves of the sleeping pill option. (I’m happy to report that I managed to kick the habit soon after my return.) Emet is the author of Buddha’s Book of Sleep: Sleep Better in Seven Weeks with Mindfulness Meditation, due out in January 2013 from Tarcher/Penguin, a book which those who do have trouble sleeping will find eminently useful — if they approach it with patience and a willingness to do the necessary work. Sensibly, Emet does not offer a quick fix, nor does he suggest that “mindfulness meditation” is something that can be learned overnight. His seven-week program is entirely feasible, but will need to be followed up for months and years if the results are to be maintained. What he proposes is a change of life, and most immediately a change of mind.
It’s Emet’s argument that if we have difficulty sleeping, we are standing in the way of ourselves. Those familiar with breath meditation practice will recognize the busy mind he writes about — a mind that is obsessed with worries about the future or attachment to the past. They will have experienced the simple pleasure of being in the moment, a place where sleep comes naturally and unhindered by the mind’s activity. The “mindfulness meditation” he advocates has proved an invaluable tool to address a variety of ills, from depression and anxiety to addictions and other self-destructive behaviors. It’s a way of bringing mind and body to a place of calm detachment, a perch from which one can observe the brain’s reactive patterns and learn to be at peace with them. Giving up the battle with sleep, Emet writes, is more than half the battle.
Roughly the last third of his book is devoted to that seven-week program referred to in his subtitle. Emet walks us though a series of seven basic meditation exercises, proposing a week’s practice to learn each of them in turn. (An e-book version is available, which will usefully allow people to listen to the instructions, rather than attempt to follow and read them at the same time.) The exercises focus on the breath as a means to calm the mind, the body scan, the metta practice of sending out goodwill and so on. They are spelled out in easy-to-follow detail, and in language that is at once engaging and soothing in rhythm and intent. Emet writes, I imagine, as he speaks: The reader can hear the dharma teacher’s gentle voice of guidance throughout.
There are many portals that lead us to the dharma, and this is certainly one of them. While modulated particularly to a single purpose, Emet’s book serves also as a fine introduction to the Buddha’s teachings, as well as to their application to the art of sleeping well. Readers may come to it attracted by its primary purpose. If they read attentively and follow the program of exercises with due patience, they will come away not only with changed sleeping habits, but changed lives.
Follow Peter Clothier on Twitter: www.twitter.com/peteratlarge
Peter Clothier
Author and Blogger, Boyhood Memories