Just Bee!, Neild Nick J.

Just Bee is revolutionary in its ability to teach mindfulness to people of all ages. In such a simple book with so few pages and words, there is a depth of insight and wisdom that helps elevate any reader. From a three-year-old who simply enjoys looking at animals and fire engines to the parent reading the book to their eight-year-old, all will benefit. Just Bee was written by Nick Neild, a mindfulness and emotional intelligence instructor who began meditating in 2011. It was illustrated by Christoph Neger who also has been practicing mindfulness since 2013. The author, illustrator and editor are all experienced practitioners and infused the book with all the love they could muster.

Just Bee is a great way to introduce young children to the basics of practicing mindfulness. On many pages it invites the reader to breathe in and breathe out so that reading the book becomes a meditation and the reader begins to meditate even on their first read It also helps increase emotional intelligence by showing that feelings are often the reaction to a perception and that if perceptions change, then the emotional landscape does too. Lastly, Just Bee explores one of the main misconceptions about the practice of mindfulness which is that perceiving a distraction is somehow a failure of meditation. In the book, a helpful wise bee shows the main character Charlie that distractions are simply things that happen in the present moment while trying to focus. Nothing more and nothing less. The book depicts these distractions as joyfully simple occurrences and that making ourselves angry in reaction to them is really optional. Instead the wise bee helps Charlie to shift her mindful awareness to each distraction one at a time so that she can release the space they occupy in her mind. Its wonderfully insightful, helpful, simple and profound.