Mindfulness is like a best friend. It throws its arm around you and asks what is going on, I mean what is REALLY going on? and then, how can we face this together, and then this and the next moment, etc. Looking on together with mindfulness with great curiosity at each experience, awake.
There are so many excellent authors to read, I hope you are all opening up to them. For four years all I read on the topic of mindfulness was Pema Chodron. In 2007 when I started reading collections of “Best Buddhist Writing” by McLeod, I realized there are tons of great authors on the topic.
Over vacance I started a few books including The Mindfulness Revolution, edited by Barry Boyce (also a collection of works) and In the Shadow of the Buddha, and Just One Thing. I just finished Waking by Matthew Sandford (I couldn’t put it down) and am still in the middle of a few I am getting a lot out of: Eight Mindfulness Steps to Happiness (I love Gunaratana’s books); Everyday Zen; Letting Everything Become Your Teacher; Work, Sex, and Money (Choygam Trungpa); Mindfulness, Bliss, and Beyond; Awake at Work.
Other most helpful authors (in no particular order): Thich Nhat Hahn, Choygam Trungpa, McLeod (Wake Up to Your Life), Soygal Rinpoche, Tarthang Tulku, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, Dzigar Kongtrul, Sharon Salzberg, Larry Rosenberg, Joseph Goldstein, Francesca Fremantle, Sakyong Mipham, Arnaud Maitland, Stephen Levine (Gradual Awakening), Barry Boyce. I tried many others that just weren’t quite kicking it for me at the time. For me, the authors I keep coming back to are Pema, Trungpa, and Gunaratana. Favorite speakers: Pema, Ed Brown, and Jack Kornfield.
Hope this helps someone who may have been like me, only reading one author for a while and ready to open the door a little wider. There are so many helpful writings, I hope you will try some new ones. Each teacher teaches something more.
My Mindfulness Blog 