Holy Noticing: The Bible, Your Brain, and the Mindful Space Between Moments

About the Author DR. CHARLES STONE (M.Div., Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, D.Min., Trinity Evangelical Divinity Seminary) has served for 37 years in ministry, 24 of those years as a senior pastor. He currently pastors West Park Church in London, Ontario, Canada, a multicultural congregation with over 1,000 attendees. He founded StoneWell Ministries to serve pastors and churches through coaching and consulting. Many of his articles have been featured in magazines such as Outreach, Leadership Journal, REV, New Man, and In Touch and his blog posts have appeared on sites such as Pastors.com, SermonCentral.com, ChurchCentral.com, and Churchleaders.com. Charles and his wife Sherryl have been married for 36 years and have three adult children. Does your life ever feel like one series of rushed moments after another?Do you want to feel more present and connected to those you love? Do you want to be able to listen without thinking the whole time of what you?re going to say next? Do you want to feel less distracted, less busy, and more whole? Most of us spend our distracted lives longing to get to the next, better moment and fail to notice the present one. We lack space between one task and the next, one thought and the next, one email and the next. Social media, TV, work deadlines, and family stress steal our enjoyment and engagement in the moment. Holy Noticing will teach you how to: become more aware of your thoughts, emotions, and environmentrecognize Christ?s presence in the momentreduce your stress by developing the ability to focus on God and people rather than tasks Many today think mindfulness is dangerous, unchristian, or associated with Eastern religions-and often it is! But Dr. Charles Stone reveals that the art of holy noticing-purposefully paying attention to God as he works in us, our relationships, and our world-is a spiritual discipline Christians have practiced for millennia. Holy Noticing explores the historically Christian and biblical roots of this lifestyle, as well as Dr. Stone?s BREATHe model, which teaches you to be more engaged with Christ in the everyday moments that too often slip right by us. Discover the lost spiritual discipline of holy noticing today and learn to engage the world like Christ. From the Back Cover Have you ever arrived somewhere and realized, "I don?t remember how I got here"?That happens when you drive mind-less-ly. Your body was in the car, but your mind was somewhere else entirely. And, in fact, we live most of our lives this way? on some form of autopilot. We push to get to a next better moment and fail to notice the present one. But imagine if ?you rushed less??you felt less anxious in your day-to-day life??you could read the Bible and pray without your mind constantly wandering??you were more present for your kids, your spouse, your friends, yourself, God?That?s what holy noticing is all about. It?s a spiritual discipline that?s been practiced in some form or another by Christians since the first century, and it can fit right into your daily quiet times. Learn what the Bible, church history, and neuroscience have to say about a mindful lifestyle, and discover practical, manageable tools for practicing it in your own life. Flip the page to see more benefits of holy noticing.Studies show that a spiritual discipline like holy noticing practiced a few minutes a day has lots of potential benefits, including:greater ability to regulate our internal mental and emotional responsesenhanced attention to the body language of othersmore restful sleepimproved physical healthless reactivitygreater presence and engagement with others in their pain and their joyimproved relationships more controlled thought lifegreater comfort in your own skinstrengthened spiritual life increased compassion and empathyless distracted Bible readinggrowth in character and wisdom improved memory less anxietyincreased sensitivity to sin and injusticegreater apprec