The millions of people who smoke know that the ritual of smoke breaks is relaxing and comforting-almost as addictive as the nicotine itself. Those who make the decision to quit this unhealthy and expensive habit do not only have their nicotine addiction to contend with, but also lose the relaxing breaks that may help them keep perspective throughout the day. Due to this twofold loss, many people fail to maintain a smoke-free lifestyle, or go years without smoking only to pick up a cigarette when a particularly stressful situation leaves them desperate for a way to cope. In The Smoke-Free Smoke Break, Pavel Somov and Marla Somova present a gradual plan for quitting smoking once and for all by keeping the smoke breaks, but replacing the tobacco with mindfulness exercises and positive reinforcement techniques that work as well or better than cigarettes for calming and soothing readers in stressful times. First, readers practice mindful smoking to increase their present-moment awareness while using cigarettes. Then readers work on cutting down nicotine use, incorporating nicotine patches and other quitting devices, if they choose. Finally, readers quit nicotine entirely, while keeping the mindfulness exercises and breaks as part of their daily routine. The authors have used this program successfully with many smokers and have found that the key component of this program-teaching smokers methods for coping withdrawal before they quit-is essential to the success of the smoke-free smoke break method.

Treating perfectionism is difficult in part because perfectionists tend to take even the process of overcoming perfectionism extremely seriously, criticizing themselves for perceived mistakes in the therapeutic process and judging themselves harshly if they feel their progress has been too slow. Because mindfulness does not ask that perfectionists stop anxious thoughts and feelings, only that they recognize them for what they are, mindfulness-based therapies are ideal for treating perfectionism and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Present Perfect, the first book to offer this revolutionary new way of overcoming perfectionism, presents practical strategies to help readers make peace with their aversion to uncertainty.

Each five-minute exercise in this book helps readers practice a new skill drawn from Buddhist psychology for recognizing their ability to change their behavior, tolerating uncertainty, enhancing performance by reducing anxious and perfectionistic feelings, and refraining from judging themselves and others harshly. Readers may work through this book in order or simply open the book to any page and find a skills-building exercise to practice that day. This free-form approach to treating perfectionism helps readers avoid falling back on rigid patterns and self-blaming tendencies, allowing them to fully accept the moment as they learn to fully accept themselves.