A Mindful Nation

How a Simple Practice Can Help Us Reduce Stress, Improve Performance, and Recapture the American Spirit

By: Congressman Tim Ryan

Narrated by: Congressman Tim Ryan

Length: 5 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

In one of the most optimistic audio books to come out of Washington during these trying times, Congressman Tim Ryan presents us with an inspiring and hopeful view of our country’s future - and a roadmap for how to get there. Across America, people are feeling squeezed, exhausted, and running faster and faster while falling farther behind. The economy continues to struggle, wars rage on, and every week brings news of another environmental disaster. Everything seems broken and people feel helpless to make a difference. Despite this bleak outlook, there are strands of quiet hope and confidence. People are beginning to take action in a new way: they are slowing down, paying attention, and gaining an awareness of the inner resources at their disposal.

This new way is based on the timeless and universal practice of mindfulness, the natural capabilities of our brains and minds, and the core American values of self-reliance, stick-to-it-iveness, and getting the job done. And it’s manifesting in every sector of our society - it’s helping sick people work with their pain, school children improve their learning, veterans heal from trauma, and CEOs become more inclusive and effective leaders. All these benefits - and more - are supported by scientific research on mindfulness that is regularly reported by the mainstream media, such as ABC World News with Diane Sawyer.

In A Mindful Nation, Congressman Tim Ryan - an all-American guy from the heartland who is also a thoughtful, committed leader - takes this story about the benefits of mindfulness to the next level. He connects the dots between what’s happening with mindfulness in the classrooms, hospitals, boardrooms, research labs, and army bases across the country by sharing his interactions with experts in education, defense, health care, criminal justice, and the environment. A Mindful Nation paints a picture of emerging solutions that both benefit the reader and address the societal difficulties we are facing. Ryan’s folksy, warm, and encouraging voice uplifts us and shows that there is something we can do right here and right now to help ourselves and our country.

Both inspiring and pragmatic, A Mindful Nation shows how the benefits of mindfulness apply to the current challenges that affect each of us in our own lives and in our communities, and thus have implications for our society as a whole. With a hard-nosed understanding of politics, government budgets, and what it takes to get something done, Ryan connects a practical approach - lead with the science, show the savings and show how this can help us educate our children to be competitive in the world arena - with a hopeful vision for how mindfulness can reinvigorate our core American values and transform and revitalize our communities.

©2012 Hay House (P)2012 Hay House

Excellent book!

I work in healthcare and it is incredibly evident that people are clueless on how to help themselves with regards to leading a healthy life. Even after experiencing a medical emergency such as a stroke or a heart attack, or kidney failure from diabetes, they maintain the same unhealthy lifestyle, frequently living in a recliner and taking more and more medications that in turn, further stress their already sick bodies. I cannot begin to guess how many homes I have been in where the simple carbs (junk food) proudly displayed on the kitchen counter of a diabetic would rival the selection of a well stocked convenience store. This is what our Western medicine model promotes and supports. I have said for many years now, education must begin in schools with children. Parents are not able to teach their children concepts they themselves do not understand or were probably never exposed to. Unhealthy lifestyles and an inability to regulate emotions are very real problems in society today. It is criminal to be one of the richest countries in the world and yet we feed our young nutritionally deficient food because it is cheaper than good, fresh, nutritious, healthy foods. Shame on those in charge of making policy that supports this model and affects us all. Like Tim says, society cannot continue to support this dysfunctional medical model, the price tag is already prohibitive.

A Mindful Nation

Iwas suprised by the content of the book considering what my limited knowledge of Pau! Ryan was! I found the content and focus of book very tefreshing in this hectic world of internrt speed of and information. It eas a very helpful way to mananage the furious pace of life. in the 21sr century.

Thank you Congressman Ryan!

Tim Ryan (not Paul Ryan) has a unique approach that he brings to government. In a friendly, easy to understand way, Congressman Ryan demonstrates how mindfulness is making positive change to all aspects of our nation. He also shares how we each can incorporate mindfulness into our own lives on a daily basis and make systemic change in our families, communities, as well as the country as a whole.

Tim Ryan for President!

Phenomenal read. I didn't know this guy's name before reading this. Now I adore him.

This Book, Applied, Can Heal A Nation

Confused about what to do in today’s current national unrest? The research and simple tools outlined by Congressman Tim Ryan in this book are practical free healing for America right now! What is revealed in these pages is as ancient as the human mind. Sometimes doing the simplest thing is the hardest thing for humanities compulsion towards complexity. But what lives herein is an invitation to court the simple for the results of togetherness and well-being for all. E Pluribus Unum.

What follows are just a few quotes from this book that I found particularly inspiring and are indicative of the content as a whole:

“A mindful nation is one that reckognizes that compassion can be the foundation of re-capturing the american spirit “—Tim Ryan


“Our society suffers, i think, from an over emphasis on the intellect and an aversion to matters of the heart, as if they were somehow un-American”—Tim Ryan

Karen Armstrong, the great religious scholar, says that what unites all religious faiths is compassion.

Charles Darwin, the man often misquoted to justify the brutality of capitolism said, “Those communities which included the greatest number of the most sympathetic, that is empathetic members, would flourish.”

We Need More Leaders Like This

Very encouraging to see that we have some leaders in government that are looking for innovative solutions to issues which have great impact on our nation. If you are a practitioner of Mindfulness or have interest in the subject I think you will find this book to be an interesting real world application of the benefits of this practice.

A Way to Improve our Community

An excellent reading of a book depicting a way to improve our nation from within.