Mindfulness in Texas Nature

Talking About Mindfulness on The Texas Green Report

/ Michael Smith / Leave a comment

Last month I was on the Memnosyne Institute’s Texas Green Report talking with Marshall Hinsley about Mindfulness in Texas Nature, the book I wrote with Meghan Cassidy’s photographs. I hope you’ll click on the Texas Green Report link and listen to the podcast episode.

Meghan and I traveled all over the state, experiencing places like Pedernales Falls or the Chisos Mountains. The book describes what the experience was like from a mindfulness perspective and offers lots of photos of places and wildlife.

As I mentioned in the podcast (quoting from the book’s introduction), it is about ways to be fully present when visiting those places, freed from the distractions and restlessness that can let the sights, sounds, smells, and other sensations slip past us before we really notice.

Additionally, I discussed the book with Christine Brown (of Texas A&M University Press) on her PBS show, “The Bookmark.” The show aired in August but you can watch it by clicking the link above.

The podcast and the TV interview each gave me an opportunity to answer questions about why such a book was needed and what Meghan and I hoped to accomplish with it. But really the only way to get to know it is by reading it while immersed in Meghan’s wonderful photos.

Meghan’s photo of moonrise over a ridge near Terlingua in the Big Bend region

Trinity River Book Festival

/ Michael Smith / Leave a comment

My recent book, with photos by Meghan Cassidy, has been the focus of some recent events, including the upcoming Trinity River Book Festival. The book describes the benefits of spending time in nature, in particular when practicing mindfulness in the woods, prairies, wetlands, and so on. The second half of the book is about Meghan’s and my travels to various places in Texas, what it was like to experience those places mindfully, and a little of the natural history of the places and some of their wildlife.

I will be at Trinity River Book Festival this Saturday, September 14, from about 11am to 1pm. There will be a panel at 12:00 noon featuring me, Amy Martin (author of Wild DFW) and T.D. Motley (author of The Art of Farming), and moderated by Dana Austin.

The panel is titled “Discovering the Hidden Wonders of Texas Wildlife,” and I think the way that works is that Amy will talk about places around the metroplex where you can see hidden wildlife and I will talk about being there mindfully so that you might really notice the wildlife and experience it more fully. Motley’s book is a novel, “a hopeful tale about stewardship of the land, the animals, and of each other,” according to Texas A&M University Press.

The panel length is short, but I’ll be around and The Dock Bookshop, the official bookseller for the event, will have some copies you can buy. I’ll be glad to sign it, if you like. Come say “hi”!

The Festival is held in Trinity Park, 2301 West Seventh Street, Fort Worth.