• Think and grow rich
• Awaken the giant within
• The magic of thinking big
• How to make friends and influence people

to name but a few.

If you're like me, you've read them all, and you still wonder how to find the missing ingredient to success.

In the past year, I have read books in search of that ingredient. It finally dawned on me that most of the best recent books on positive psychology, success and happiness all have one thing in common: mindfulness.

Even the psychologists are looking at it seriously. A friend of mine who is a psychologist told me he went to a convention and the main theme was mindfulness. It is no longer associated with Buddhism and Oriental methods.

I find mindfulness to be very powerful to face fears and other emotions difficult to overcome. What I like is that, unlike positive thinking or the Law of Attraction, which state we can and should feel good all the time, mindfulness is about living the present moment by accepting and acknowledging the feelings and thoughts that come up while you are in full awareness of it. It allows you to see every thought as things that come and go, and living the feelings instead of avoiding them.

You then get a sense of freedom like never before. You no longer need to rely on defense mechanisms like addictions or false beliefs.

Mindfulness allows you to live life fully.

In upcoming articles, I will give more details about how to develop and use mindfulness, to add it in your self-improvement arsenal.