Skip to Main Content

The Next Ten Minutes

51 Absurdly Simple Ways to Seize the Moment

About The Book

The Next Ten Minutes provides practical and entertaining ways to rethink the everyday and experience the transformative power of the present moment—turning mundane activities into meditative opportunities for self-awareness and personal growth.

The desire to discover meaning in our lives is a powerful motivator for many people. Some turn to psychotherapy and counseling for help, some turn to spiritual teachings, and many turn to both. The Next Ten Minutes is the guide to help us discover the seeds of transformation and meaning in even the most ordinary routines.

The Next Ten Minutes consists of a collection of exercises originally created for use in Dr. Peterson’s successful counseling practice. Rather than taking readers out of the everyday, Dr. Peterson invites them to move more deeply into the familiar tasks of ordinary life, such as turning simple breathing, eating, physical love, or throwing out the trash into meditative exercises that can transform your day. Based on both Buddhist philosophy and proven psychology techniques, these succinct and accessible meditations also offer simple and effective methods for therapeutic counseling and personal growth. The power to seize the day is but a few simple steps away.

About The Author

Photograph by Lucy Capehart

Andrew Peterson is a licensed therapist and writer with a Doctor of Education in Counseling and an MFA in Creative Writing. He maintains a counseling practice in Missoula Montana and has taught graduate level classes in psychotherapy. He is a published author of numerous articles and reviews and has an established credibility in his field. In addition to his clinical and academic work, Dr. Peterson is a composer with several short film scores and the musical soundtrack to the Simon and Schuster audio book Her Last Death to his credit.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Atria Books/Beyond Words (October 4, 2014)
  • Length: 320 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781582702773

Browse Related Books

Raves and Reviews

“A spoonful of humor—and a few simple exercises—help the wisdom go down, and Andrew Peterson uses an expert hand and gentle humor to remind us that every moment offers the potential for transformation.”
—Meredith Maran, author of My Lie

The Next Ten Minutes is a substantial yet simple antidote to our usual pulsating and mind-numbing twenty-first century lives.”
—John Sommers-Flanagan, author of Becoming an Ethical Helping Professional

"Only an exceptional psychotherapist like Dr. Andrew Peterson who is grounded deeply in his personal and professional experience could guide us confidently and safely through a deceptively simple 10 minute portal into a profoundly new state of consciousness!"
—Kate Cremer-Vogel MS, LCPC, coauthor of What Every Adoptive Parent Needs to Know

“Andrew Peterson, a self-admittedly restless mind himself with a penchant for long runs, has just the trip itinerary: a wealth of wildly-exotic, mind-blowing, scene-changing, awareness-building, and habit-modifying 10 minute long walkabouts. Richly creative, compassionately narrated, and brilliantly processed, each unique experiential exercise is a spoke on a wheel designed to bring you back to a grounding sense of self.”
—Pavel G. Somov, PhD, psychologist, author of Eating the Moment, Present Perfect, and The Lotus Effect

“I’m a big fan of the ten minute focus (hey, we’re all busy!) and Andrew Peterson has mastered it. In this clear, engaging, inspiring book he shows us just how much we can learn, accomplish, and understand in our ordinary lives, in just ten minutes. I feel more zen just opening it.”
—Patti Digh, author of Life is a Verb and Four-Word Self-Help

“Like yoga for your mind, Andrew Peterson’s simple but profound thought experiments may just change your life. I’ll be practicing these mental calisthenics for a long time to come.”
—Jessica Berger Gross, author of enLIGHTened: How I Lost 40 Pounds with a Yoga Mat, Fresh Pineapples, and a Beagle Pointer

Resources and Downloads

High Resolution Images