Holy Noticing by Charles Stone

Holy Noticing by Charles Stone ISBN-13: 9780802418579 Paperback: 240 pages Publisher: Moody Publishers Released: March 5, 2019

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Social media, TV, work deadlines, and family stress steal our enjoyment and engagement in the moment. Do you want to feel more present and connected to those you love? Do you want to feel less distracted, less busy, and more whole? Holy Noticing will teach you how to become more aware of your thoughts, emotions, and environment, recognize Christ’s presence in the moment, and reduce your stress beveloping the ability to focus on God and people rather than tasks.

Many today think mindfulness is dangerous, unchristian, or associated with Eastern religions—and often it is! But Dr. Charles Stone reveals that the art of holy noticing—purposefully paying attention to God as he works in us, our relationships, and our world—is a spiritual discipline Christians have practiced for millennia. Holy Noticing explores the historically Christian and biblical roots of this lifestyle, as well as Dr. Stone’s BREATHe model, which teaches you to be more engaged with Christ in the everyday moments that too often slip right by us.


My Review:
Holy Noticing presents the benefits of being more present in the moment and seeing the needs around you (rather than rehashing the past or worrying about the future). The author's definition of Holy Noticing is "noticing, with a holy purpose, God and His handiwork, our relationships, and our inner world of thoughts and feelings."

The author talked about how Holy Noticing was practiced by early Christians and pointed out hints of it in the Bible. He then described a 20-minute daily practice that you can do while sitting relaxed, spending about 3 minutes thinking on the areas of: BODY - being aware of how your physical body feels, RELATIONSHIPS - assessing the health of your relationships, ENVIRONMENT - noticing your surroundings (sights, sounds, smells), EMOTIONS - acknowledging the emotions that you currently feel, THOUGHTS - noticing your current thoughts, and SPIRIT - assessing your relationship with God. Then you ENGAGE - paying attention to the people around you and God's promptings throughout the day.

Overall, the book was well done, though some of his examples weren't the best to illustrate his points. For example, he described a test that's used to show how you don't notice other things (distractions) when you're very focused on a task. But he drew the lesson from it that you don't notice the obvious when "distracted" by your task. Okay, true, but that's not quite the point of the test, so maybe something else would have illustrated his point better. I'd recommend this book to those who have been curious about secular "mindfulness" or even meditation practices but who want to stay within more historical Christian practices rather than practices influenced by other religions.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.