ust letting the telephone ring three times before answering it can change your life, said Jeanie Seward-Magee author of a new Bermuda-centred inspirational book. Her book, ?A Mindful Way? is now available at the Bermuda Bookstore and Sail On.

Mrs. Seward-Magee is well-known in Bermuda for a column she use to write for the called ?Mindful Living?.

??Mindful living? is a non-religious practice practised by people of all faiths,? said Mrs. Seward-Magee. ?Mindful living is being totally aware of what is happening right now.

?Some people dwell in the past, and other people fantasise about the future. ?A Mindful Way? assists people with living in this precious now.?

?A Mindful Way? is based on the teachings of Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh who wrote the forward for the book.

In 1967 Martin Luther King Jr. nominated Mr. Hanh for his efforts to bring peace to Vietnam during the Vietnam War. He now lives in exile in France and has written several books.

?The present moment is the most wonderful gift we have, and with the help of this book, you too can learn to enjoy and appreciate each and every moment you are given,? Mr. Hanh wrote in ?A Mindful Way?.

Mrs. Seward-Magee is Canadian, but has lived in Bermuda for several years. Previously she ran two employment agencies in Canada where she and her husband, John, raised a family of four. She became interested in mindful practices during a time of personal darkness.

?About 15 years ago, I had a period of great sadness,? she said.

?I had eight personal losses in a short period of time. I went into a clinical depression. I realised there had to be a better way of living my life.

?Before that I had been the perfect business person, the perfect mother, the perfect wife, the perfect friend, but I had forgotten how to look after myself.

?So many people are depressed about their pasts and can?t get on with life or they fantasise about what is in the future.

?Neither of those two exist so this book is about finding peace, joy and happiness in this present moment.?

She said ?A Mindful Way? will particularly appeal to women, because many women spend more time nurturing others than they do themselves.

?In life, women are always caring for other people, whether it is their mother or father, children or even their boss at work,? she said. ?It is sort of the nature of women to do that. Very often they forget about the person who is really the most important in their lives and that is themselves.?

The book is divided into eight weeks, and contains inspirational stories about Bermuda and Bermudians, self-awareness exercises and suggestions for daily practices to bring about more mindfulness.

Exercises include things like making a list of the top ten things you must enjoy and when you last did them; or find one situation in your life that you?d like to change and write down one small way in which you can change it. ?I use to run a mindfulness group here, but it petered out because I haven?t been on the island as much in the last year,? she said. ?One of the ladies in the class told me she, at first, thought I was crazy for suggesting you let the telephone ring three times before answering. It gives you a moment to collect yourself.

?She thought I was wacko, but she went back and started to try this. What happened was, she was then present (mentally) to answer the phone. When I first started the practice people would say, ?sorry, have I woken you up??. It was because I was solidly there for them. The woman in the group said just this little thing was totally life changing for her. Here was a woman in her early 50s.?

Mrs. Seward-Magee suggests that rather than look at things like a red light, or being on-hold, as obstacles, people look at them as opportunities to catch their breath. She recommends that people try to cut back on multi-tasking. ?If you are eating an orange, enjoy eating the orange. If you are taking a walk, enjoy taking a walk,? she said. ?That is the practice of ?mindful living?, put very simply.

?It is a practice and a hard practice, because our minds are like monkey minds. They like to go ?chitter-chatter, chitter-chatter?. By stopping and breathing and calming your minds, then you know everything you need to know.?

She said she is not recommending that people not plan for the future, but that they recognise that everything they do in the here and now affects the future. ?We can also heal the past in the present moment,? she said. ?A lot of people don?t realise that. For instance, if I get angry for some reason; it is really nothing to do with the other person, it is all to do with me.?

Mrs. Seward-Magee?s family currently live in Vancouver, Canada. Recently, the actress Goldie Hawn ? who also lives in Vancouver ? started a project there to introduce mindful practices into schools.

?The programme is called ?Mindfulness in Education? (ME). Goldie Hawn?s foundation has set up a project in Vancouver for the teachers to teach Mindfulness Education.?

This involves, in part, stopping the children during the school day and getting them to breathe deeply a couple of times.

?They have found that the discipline levels in schools has improved tremendously,? said Mrs. Seward-Magee. ?All of a sudden the children are not all over the place. Goldie Hawn is very interested in this.

?Mindfulness is based on the teachings of Buddha. He would say to his students, ?when you sit you sit; when you walk you walk; and when you eat, you eat?. It keeps a clear mind. It has become quite a popular thing in the last twenty years.?

Mrs. Seward-Magee said that for herself, mindfulness has helped to bring about a sense of peace, and greater-self awareness.

?For example, I am very aware now if I eat something,? she said. ?I think ?I shouldn?t have eaten that? because I can feel it in my body. If I am watching a television show with violence I immediately turn it off, because I find that I don?t get a good night?s sleep. I am aware of my emotions on a minute to minute basis. Living in the awareness brings you back to the present moment. Whereas most people are buzzing all over the place.?

She said pets are one thing that can help to bring mindfulness to people, because they help people to focus.

?Pets are wonderful therapy for older people,? she said. ?In many places they are bringing animals into long term care facilities. The purpose of mindfulness is to try to keep your mind on one thing, whether it be a sunset, the cat on your lap, listening to someone else, or speaking clearly ? your mind can?t be anywhere else.?

Mrs. Seward-Magee will be signing copies of her book at a special authors night at the Bermuda Bookstore on December 2. It will be also available at Sail On.

?It is actually a nice time of the year to introduce a book like this because people talk about peace on earth at Christmas,? she said. ?However, I feel peace in the world actually comes from within ourselves. If we realised this we would have a peaceful world. I don?t think we should look to governments to make changes, we have to look within ourselves. This is all about looking deeply at ourselves and understanding ourselves.? She self-published the first edition of A Mindful Way, but it has just been picked up by Parallax Press in California, which also publishes the works of Thich Nhat Hanh. Parallax is the publishing division of Unified Buddhist Church, Inc., dedicated to publishing books and tapes on Buddhism. It has also published books by Robert Aitken, Stephen Batchelor, Maha Ghosananda and others.

Profits from the book will go to mindfulness groups abroad.

?There is a main mindfulness group,? Mrs. Seward-Magee said. ?Thich Nhat Hanh has a community in France, and one in Vermont, and one in San Diego, and there is a new one in Mississippi. There are many, many small groups that are just pure centres. I have been to retreats with Thich Nhat Hanh many times.?

Mrs. Seward-Magee is currently working on a children?s book called ?Now, the Power of Wow and Ow? which she hopes will also be picked up by Parallax Press.

?It is a story from my own children?s childhood about mindful speech and listening,? she said. ?It is a cute little story. I had it illustrated.?

For more information about the book go to www.amindfulway.com .