Jennifer A. Payne

Look Up!: Musings on the Nature of Mindfulness Jennifer A. Payne

LOOK UP! Musings on the Nature of Mindfulness is an antidote to the frenetic pace of this world. It is a clarion call to get up and get out-to look up from our work, our distractions, our routines-and find our way back to the simple pleasure of being in Nature. This is a journal of one woman's reconnection with Nature, told through heartfelt essays and poems by writer Jennifer Payne, and illustrated by close to 100 stunning, full-color photographs of the woods and shoreline of Connecticut. LOOK UP! narrates Payne's personal journey from an overriding commitment to her career and running her own business, to the rediscovery of the joys she knew as a child playing outdoors and a new connection with the world around her. Follow along on this journey, season by season, through journaled reflections about life, breath, mindfulness, balance, spirit. Woven in between, you'll meet kindred spirits like Henry Beston, Emily Dickinson, Henry David Thoreau, and Walt Whitman-each one expressing his or her own connection with Nature. From ancient texts including the Bible and the Dhammapada to contemporary teachers like the Dalai Lama and Jon Kabat-Zinn, from the writings of Shakespeare to current-day authors, naturalists, artists and bloggers-you will come to understand the vast and wonderful lessons to be learned in the natural world. "When I finally learned to look up," writes Payne, "I found my way back to that spirit who loved to play outside, who was curious about her surroundings, whose imagination knew no boundaries. When I finally learned to look up, I found much more-peace, solace, joy, connection. I hope you find the same within these pages and in your own corner of this magical world in which we are blessed to live." Dale Carlson, ALA-Notable Book author and owner of Bick Publishing House writes: "An intelligent, sensitive quest into the soul of one woman mirrors the searching hearts of us all. LOOK UP! is a beautiful book of solitude and inquiry into the glory of our lives." Award-winning poet and author of Life Is Full of Sweet Spots, Mary O'Connor writes: "As eloquent as it is enlivening, Look Up! evokes more than an understanding of the vast and wonderful lessons to be gleaned in the natural world. Filled with grounded yet soaring flights of reflection and yearning for balance, it is a walk in the woods of life-a tonic for both mind and soul." - - - - - Payne is the owner of Word by Jen, a graphic design and creative services company operating in Branford, Connecticut since 1993. She is the founder of Three Chairs Publishing, and Vice President, Director of Production and Marketing for Bick Publishing House (Branford, CT). She is a member of the Independent Book Publishers Association. Her writing has been published by The Aurorean, Six Sentences, the Story Circle Network, and WOW! Women on Writing. LOOK UP! is her first published book. You can see more of Jen's writing at www.randomactsofwriting.net.