When Things Fall Apart is an insightful and very readable book. It is composed of 22 short meditations about how to be intimate with whatever arises, especially when whatever arises is difficult. As she says, our practice “nails us. It…
Here is a reflection or meditation that you might want to try. It sounds like the last one I posted but is very, very different in its impact. Try repeating it seven times a day or whatever works, then see…
“What I am is enough.” “What I have is enough.” “What I do is enough.”
“May I see each difficult condition as a precious teacher, and an opportunity for transformation.” “Instead of seeing all the problems you experience—whether caused by living beings or by situations and circumstances—as problems, you need to develop the habit of…
During the question-and-answer period, someone asked, ‘Why do we meditate?’, Suzuki answered with a laugh, ‘So you can enjoy your old age.’ I’m about halfway through a book called Aging as a Spiritual Practice and really enjoying it. Written by…
Real Happiness At Work by Sharon Salzberg *Date specific for the the author, visiting Guelph on June 7, 2014 After first reading Salzberg’s Lovingkindnesss, I thought it was okay – another decent spiritual book. However, after working with the ideas…
The Tools: Transform Your Problems into Courage, Confidence and Creativity by Phil Stutz About a month ago, I saw and episode of The Charlie Rose Show on PBS. His guests were a couple of psycho-therapists who had written a book called…
The Fruitful Darkness by Joan Halifax I don’t know about you, but I’ve crossed over from fearing the worst to believing in it. From the sixties onward there has been lots of speculation that our industrial free market system was…
Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness “We can travel a long way and do many different things, but our deepest happiness is not born from accumulating new experiences. It is born from letting go of what is unnecessary, and knowing…
I am happy to be collaborating with Joyce Pharoah and her staff at the Homewood library, a premiere Canadian mental health facility in Guelph, Ontario. I am creating short, carefully selected lists of books from the psychology and self help…
Mortality by Christopher Hitchens “Morning of the biopsy, wake and say whatever happens this is the last day of my old life. No pretense of youth or youthfulness anymore. From now on an arduous awareness.” Mortality is the last book…
The Four Desires By Rod Stryker There is an ancient set of ideas from Hindu India that I find very compelling. They are called The Four Aims of Human Life: Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha. Dharma in this case, means…