An amazing workbook on helping people find ways to practice loving themselves, but also reflecting on how they can learn to empathize with others. The assignments are geared to open up the mind, release attachments and be in the present moment. I highly recommend this book to anyone who would like to practice being compassionate with themselves, and transmit that onto others.

The Mindfulness Workbook for Self-Love by Joel Black, LCSW, helps readers to use mindfulness to be more self-compassionate and promote greater well-being. The first part of the book looks at what mindfulness and self-love are and how they relate to one another, while the second part focuses on how to practice them. The book is influenced by what was helpful for the author in his own addiction recovery.

The “how” part of the book is organized around the principles of mindfulness identified by Wherever You Go, There You Are author Jon Kabat-Zinn: beginner’s mind, non-judging, acceptance, patience, trust, non-striving, and letting go.

This book is very much a fill-things-in workbook rather than a book that involves a lot of reading time. The text is concise and easy to read, and the focus is really on self-reflection as you work through the exercises. Meditation makes an appearance but isn’t the focus, and “you are not required to become a monk who sits on the side of a mountain meditating for four hours straight.”

Some of the exercises have a CBT influence, like reframing self-critical thoughts and shoulds, but the approach is more self-compassion-oriented than CBT change-your-thoughts-this-way-oriented. A lot of the book is about helping you look at things in a new, kinder way. You’re not going to come out on the other side thinking you’re the best thing since sliced bread; the book is much more grounded in reality than that, but hopefully, it will help you to feel better able to accept yourself and not latch onto self-judgments so tightly.

The book is short; the epub version I had was only 107 pages. The paperback version is longer because of illustrations, and looking at the preview on Amazon, it’s awfully pretty. I think it can be a helpful tool for reflection in a journey towards greater self-acceptance.



I received a reviewer copy from the publisher through Netgalley.

This is a great resource for anyone working on their self-love and self-esteem. It would be useful to use in combination with therapy. There are writing prompts at the end of each chapter, to refresh skills learned. I liked the straight-forward and understandable explanations of mindfulness, and how to apply it to your own life. This is a guidebook I see myself returning to often.