Author:  Thomas M Sterner
ISBN:  0-9776572-0-5
Publisher:  Mountain Sage Publishing

Like many of us, Thomas M Sterner was enrolled in music lessons when he was a child. He was not an amazing prodigy and he didn’t enjoy the lessons any more than the rest of us did. Fortunately Sterner’s love for music was strong enough that he eventually returned to his study of piano and became a successful musician.

Love of music, however, doesn’t account for his success as a piano technician, responsible for providing perfect instruments for performances by world-class musicians. Nor does love of music explain his success on the golf course.

The common denominator in these endeavors is practice, and the point made by Sterner in this book is that “Everything in life worth achieving requires practice …. [Practice is] a process which settles all areas in your life and promotes proper perspective on all of life’s difficulties.” As the author explains, everything we do is practice; why not embrace this and learn strategies and mindsets that allow us to practice effectively?

It will come as no surprise that Sterner urges us to break our addiction to multitasking and instant gratification. Mindfulness, attention to detail, and being in the moment are terms we’ve all heard and most of us can agree that a single point of attention greatly improves the chances of mastering any task. Sterner, who deliberately set out to determine the mechanics leading to mastery, provides some insight into how we can go about breaking the habit of distraction by changing and broadening our perspective.

In keeping with the idea of simplicity and focus, the author admits that there are “not many ideas in this book.” Happily it doesn’t take many ideas to uncover a workable truth, and anecdotes from Sterner’s own life seem to confirm that he has pinpointed a finely workable idea.

One of the most interesting sections of the book deals with his conscious decision to work as slowly as possible on a day when he felt fractured and rushed. Preparing pianos for performances is a job that, to most of us, seems unbearably tedious. Sterner’s determination to create even more tedium and delay is, he admits, counter-intuitive; yet by denying haste, he finds that he is able to accomplish his work better and  in even less time than usual.

Sterner’s voice is sincere, his advice grounded in believable and valuable experience. In The Practicing Mind, he shows us how to incorporate mindfulness in ways we all can emulate. He suggests exercises to aid in the process of practice, and demonstrates the joy of discipline. Thomas Sterner is a man who finds lessons in real life, an ordinary master of life, the amiable guru next door from whom we can borrow butter or wisdom, as we choose.

The above review was contributed by: Deborah Adams who is an award-winning novelist and poet. By day she grows organic vegetables and by night she dances with a Latin beat.