Mindful Beads: 20 inspiring ideas for stringing and personalizing your own mala and prayer beads, plus their meanings Paperback – March 13, 2018

The mindfulness of string beads. More than just jewelry!

I loved this so much, I ordered 2 more for some friends as gifts. Great ideas. Love it!

Loved all the bead making how-tos and the descriptions of many cultural traditions. I work as an art therapist and this book is a helpful tool for my practice.

Exactly as described, and in excellent condition. Thanks.

Mindful beads. “The idea is to make them matter within your life, to help you find the Divine in the day-to-day.” This book wonderfully demonstrates this. “The beads—exploring their meanings and creating my own”—this section title accurately foretells the practical tips, beautiful quotes, and interesting information you will experience, along with the author sharing her own creations while she urges you to branch out and devise your own projects. My favorite was her Buddhist mala. I don’t wear jewelry and was never interested in beads. However, having read this book, I now have a whole new world opened up to me. In fact, I was motivated so much that I found myself creating my own personal virtual beads. I selected rocks from my collection and gave them new meaning, imagining them strung together on a bracelet that would symbolize the parts of the personal “mantra” I wrote for myself over the years. My choices are revealed and explained within parentheses:I (we) seek a better world. And we can get to that better world if we come to a more persistent awareness of the unmistakable oneness and use it to guide us to live the right way on this beautiful but dangerous and fragile planet:by striving continually and wholeheartedly to be physically, mentally, and morally as strong as possible (I selected granite. I live in New Hampshire, the “granite state,” and this seemed a great choice to represent the striving to be strong.),by developing unique individual abilities and interests to the fullest (For this I chose a rock that is pink and black. My wife and I painted our house pink with black trim and to me this symbolizes art, individuality, being all you can be.),by being mindful to exercise self-restraint so our actions cause no harm (To best represent this, I picked amber with an embedded fly because it reminds me that everything that happens has consequences. And although we cannot control everything, such as the poor fly getting trapped and sealed in the sap, anything we can should be done to avoid causing harm),by finding inner peace and happiness even amidst the world's atrocities that we work to end (a Himalayan salt lamp deep inside my house in the basement glows orange and and imparts a sense of calm and positivity.),by promoting comprehensive education and open communication for everyone so all of us can contribute to humanity’s collective knowledge and wisdom (I selected a meteorite because our learning must include every bit of knowledge that we have accumulated from the beginning of the world to the present. A meteorite is among the most primeval of rocks.),by supporting human and animal rights so there is no more exploitation and oppression and everyone feels loved and significant (A sample of coal would highlight this. Growing up in northeastern Pennsylvania, I was surrounded by coal. It was often found engraved with fossils of plants or animals, a record of lives we have shared this universe with, each deserving of the utmost respect. In addition, coal reminds me of the miners who were often exploited and taken advantage of.),and by pitching in in any other way that we can (I have a precambrian stromatolite, which reminds me of living creatures working together to survive. This rock structure was formed by ancient blue-green algae—one of the first living beings on Earth—forming colonies and depositing layers of byproducts to create these physical structures) to build this better world, where everything living and nonliving is inundated with an immense level of respect and kindness never seen before for all animals, plants, things, and people.

I've never done beading before but this book inspires me to try it since the beads are connected to a special memory. The instructions are so easy to follow and Alice Peck provides lots of ideas for beads (seashells, even scrabble tiles) with which to make your special strands. These beads are great for birthday gifts and other special occasions if you want to create a very personal gift for someone.

Very lovely book

No dents or rips on arrival