Congressman Tim Ryan - A Mindful Nation: How a Simple Practice Can Help Us Reduce Stress, Improve Performance, and Recapture the American Spirit

Praise forA Mindful Nation

Congressman Ryan has written a book that explores the importance of being mindful and self-aware and the benefits of improved performance and reduced stress that follow.
Perhaps, if more members of Congress were mindful of the moment, our country would be a better place.

Linda Snchez, United States Congresswoman, California, co-author of Dream in Color

Tim Ryan is telling us alleducators, politicians, and business peopleto wake up and be mindfulof ourselves, of each other, of our families, of our country.
His message couldnt come at a better time.

Timothy Shriver, CEO, Special Olympics
and Chair of Board, CASEL

Congressman Ryan has deftly shined a light on the quiet revolution taking place in our midst.
This visionary book shows how the simple practice of mindfulness can help us flourish as individuals and as a nation.

Tara Brach, Ph.D., clinical psychologist, author of Radical Acceptance

At its heart,A Mindful Nationis a manifesto setting out a sharply focused vision for the pursuit of authentic well-being, one that ultimately leads to the creation of a healthier, more harmonious and spiritually fulfilled society.

Victor Chan, Trustee and Founding Director of The Dalai Lama Center for Peace and Education, author of The Wisdom of Forgiveness

Copyright 2012 by Tim Ryan

Published in the United States by: Hay House, Inc.: www.hayhouse.com Published Australia by: Hay House Australia Pty. Ltd.: www.hayhouse.com.au Published in the United Kingdom by: Hay House UK, Ltd.: www.hayhouse.co.uk Published in India by: Hay House Publishers India: www.hayhouse.co.in

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording; nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise be copied for public or private useother than for fair use as brief quotations embodied in articles and re-viewswithout prior written permission of the publisher.

The information contained in this book is not intended to diagnose, treat, prevent, or cure any disease, or to provide specific medical advice. Questions about the relationship between nutrition, supplements, meditative practices and your health should be directed to a qualified health practitioner. The reader and associated health professionals are responsible for evaluating the risks of any therapy reviewed in this book. Those responsible made every effort possible to thoroughly research the accuracy of the information and assume no responsibility for errors, inaccuracies, or omissions.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Ryan, Tim, 1973
A mindful nation : how a simple practice can help us reduce stress, improve performance, and recapture the American spirit / Tim Ryan.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-4019-3929-8 (hardback)
1. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapyUnited States. 2.
Self-relianceUnited States. I. Title.
RC489.M55R93 2012
616.89'1425dc23

2011044970

Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4019-3929-8
Digital ISBN: 978-1-4019-3931-1

CONTENTS

To John and Ann Guerra Rizzi
and Rochelle Ryan

This book is a remarkable and unusual gift to the world. It is remarkable in that it is written by a sitting politician who is advocating that we look deeply within ourselves to rediscover what is most trustworthy and most beautiful about us as a peopleindividually and collectivelyand as a nation. It is unusual in that Congressman Ryan is pointing out a capability we all already have, and showing us something that is not only possible but also potentially life-transforming, and that is basically free.

At the same time, he is also asking something of us, and certainly of himself as well, namely that we experiment with paying attention in a new way, and more deliberately. He is suggesting that how we pay attention, and not just what we pay attention to, can lead to significant changes in the quality of our lives, as well as to profound healing and transformation in our country. In an era in which the greater good often seems sidelined and diminished, and many feel a literal and metaphorical impoverishment and sense of disengagement, disempowerment, bewilderment, and profound loss regarding the state of our country, Congressman Ryans message is simple, timely, inspired, and inspiring. It is also immanently practical. And it can be implemented immediately, by all of us, to one degree or another, and grow over time.

My work in mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) began with a vision inspired in part by an important, even daring government document: the Surgeon Generals 1979 report, Healthy People. It called upon individual citizens to assume a greater degree of responsibility for their own and their familys health. It stated that no amount of money could address the negative consequences bound to emerge from unhealthy ways of living and not dealing effectively with life stresses. While at that time stress was not considered a risk factor for mortality and disease, 30 years later there is incontrovertible evidence that stress, if not dealt with effectively, can take years off our lives. There is also now evidence that meditative practices may be a very effective means of refining our response to stress and also counteracting its damaging effects.

That same year, I set up a stress reduction clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center based entirely on training medical patients in a meditative practice known as mindfulness. It was an experiment in developing a model for a more participatory medicine and health care by taking an educational and public health approachone which would recognize the powerful interior biological, psychological, and social resources of each individual medical patient and teach them how to mobilize those resources to enhance their own health and well-being. At the time, many people with chronic conditions were falling through the cracks of the health-care system. Today, those cracks have become chasms, and in spite of the health-care systems great technological advances, for the average American it falls far short of promoting genuine health and putting the patient at the center of health and healing.

It turns out that the most important resources people have for participating in their own health care are not found in technology. They are rather found in their natural capacity to pay attention and to cultivate awareness, and in a willingness to bring a modicum of kindheartedness and compassion to themselves and others. Systematically cultivating these capacities and making practical use of them in our everyday lives is what mindfulness is all about.

In A Mindful Nation, Congressman Ryan walks us through the simplicity and the relevance of such innate human capabilities, and shows why and how they can bring about positive changes in our society. He describes the people, the communities, and the research behind extremely promising initiatives unfolding in our country on many different levels, in many different circumstances extending far beyond our current problems with health care.