Synopsis
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author, "a consummate storyteller with a rare gift for making the invisible visible" (Publishers Weekly), this beautifully written spiritual memoir explores the endless ways we can listen for life's deepest messages.
Mark Nepo moved and inspired millions of people with his #1 New York Times bestseller The Book of Awakening, a spiritual day book. Now, in this new exploration of the human journey, Nepo inquires into the endless ways life asks us to listen. Having experienced hearing loss, Nepo affirms that listening is one of the most mysterious, luminous, and challenging art forms: "Whatever difficulty you face, there are time-tried ways you can listen your way through. Because listening is the doorway to everything that matters." Weaving together memoir and meditation exercises, Nepo offers many ways to listen to life and live more fully. A moving exploration of self, our relationship to others, and the world around us, this remarkable guide unpacks the many ways we are called to redefine ourselves and to name what is meaningful as we face life's challenges.
Review
Mark Nepo is the author of twenty books, including Seven Thousand Ways to Listen, The Endless Practice, and the #1 New York Times bestseller, The Book of Awakening. His work has been translated into more than twenty languages. Mark traveled the country with Oprah Winfrey on her sold-out 2014 "The Life You Want" tour and has appeared several times with Oprah on her Super Soul Sunday program (OWN TV). He lives in southwest Michigan. Visit him online at MarkNepo.com and ThreeIntentions.com.Seven Thousand Ways to Listen BEYOND OUR AWARENESS
I WAS DRAWN TO write this book about listening without knowing that my hearing was breaking down. This holds a great lesson about a deeper kind of listening. For something deep was calling, drawing me to explore different ways of being. Life was offering me a chance to re-align myself with the world. When I say something deep was calling, I'm referring to that element that lives in our center, which overlaps with the essence of life itself. Like an inner sun, this common center has a spiritual gravity that pulls us to it. This unending pull to center may be our greatest teacher. It shows us a way forward by warming our hearts open, despite our fears.
The question under all of this is: how do we listen to and stay in conversation with all that is beyond our awareness? Many aspects of living continually bring us into this conversation: curiosity, pain, wonder, loss, beauty, truth, confusion, and fresh experience-to name a few. The way we think and feel and sense our way into all we don't know is the art of intuition. It is an art of discovery. To intuit means to look upon, to instruct from within, to understand or learn by instinct. And instinct refers to a learning we are born with. So intuition is the very personal way we listen to the Universe in order to discover and rediscover the learnings we are born with. As such, intuition is a deep form of listening that when trusted can return us to the common, irrepressible element at the center of all life and to the Oneness of things that surrounds us, both of which are at the heart of resilience.
I offer my own experience with hearing loss as an example of how we intuit ways of being before becoming fully aware of them. We are constantly drawn into our next phase of life, which is always beyond our current awareness. You might ask, how can we know what we don't know? Yet we don't know what we're about to say when our feelings and thoughts prompt us to speak. In this way, our heart and mind prompt us daily. Quietly, there's an art to reading and trusting the heart and mind. Together, they form an interior compass. Our mind maps out the directions, while our heart is the needle that intuits true north.
Though what is unknown is beyond us, what is familiar is in danger of being taken for granted. And we live in between, on the edge of what we know. This is the edge between today and tomorrow, between our foundation and our tenuous growth. How we relate to this edge is crucial, another life skill not addressed in school.
The Center Point of Listening
Like everyone who begins to lose their hearing, I lost the edges first. Voices on the phone sounded a bit underwater. When Susan would speak to me from our living room, I knew she said something but her sweet voice broke up like a bad radio. I quickly grew tired of asking her to repeat herself. Soon I realized that, as I was struggling to keep up outwardly, I was also being asked to spend more time inwardly. This untimely shutdown of outer noise was forcing me to listen to a newfound depth.
Likewise, every disturbance, whether resolved or not, is making space for an inner engagement. As a shovel digs up and displaces earth, in a way that must seem violent to the earth, an interior space is revealed for the digging. In just this way, when experience opens us, it often feels violent and the urge, quite naturally, is to refill that opening, to make it the way it was. But every experience excavates a depth, which reveals its wisdom once opened to air.
I struggled with not hearing and resisted getting tested for months. I'm not sure why. This is a good example of not listening. I think I wasn't ready to accept this next phase of aging. Of course, whether I accepted it or not, the change of life had already taken place. This understandable dissonance of not listening affects us all. We add to our suffering when life changes and we still behave as if it hasn't. Whether facing limitations of aging or shifts in relationship or the wilting of a dream, we are often given hints of the changes before they arrive. It's how the angels of time try to care for us, drawing us to the new resources that wait out of view.
We are always given signs and new forms of strength. It's up to us to learn how to use them. Mysteriously, those of us losing our sight are somehow compelled to a deeper seeing, as those of us losing our hearing are somehow compelled to a deeper listening, and those of us losing heart are somehow compelled to a deeper sense of feeling-if we can only keep the rest of us open. That's the challenge as we meet life's changes: not to let the injury or limitation of one thing injure or limit all things. Not to let the opening of a new depth be filled before it reveals its secrets and its gifts.
My hearing had been eroding for years like loose shale falling from a cliff, a little more with each passing season, though I didn't realize it until enough had fallen away. It was the chemo I had over twenty years ago that damaged my ears. Designed to kill fast-growing cells, the chemo attacked the cilia that transmit frequencies in the inner ear. No one thought of this back in 1989, but those of us who have survived can no longer hear birdsong. So the cursed-blessed chemo that helped save my life has taken something else. How do I damn it and thank it at the same time?
It was a sweet day in summer when I finally sat in the tiny audio booth with a black headset while the kind audiologist whispered words like "booth," "father," and "river" in my ear. But my damaged cilia only caught the rougher consonants. A few times I didn't even hear her speak.
In a month I went to pick up my open-ear hearing aid, made for my left ear, beige to blend with my skin. When she tucked it in my ear, as if putting a wet pebble there for safekeeping, it felt incredibly light. I wasn't sure it was in. Back at her desk, she turned it on and asked, "How is that?" And hearing her voice sweetly and fully made me cry. I had no idea how much I wasn't hearing.
Not listening is like this. We don't realize what we give up until we're asked by life to bring things back into accord. Then it's disarming and renewing to cry before strangers who simply ask, "How is that?"
Now I go to a caf� near our house where the young ones know my name and make my hot chocolate ahead of time if they see me in the parking lot. What's beautiful is that they know everyone's name and everyone's drink. This is the sweetest kind of listening. And you'd think, having lost a good deal of hearing, that noise wouldn't bother me. But in fact it bothers me more. I find it overwhelms me. Even when I turn my hearing aid off. So I ask the kind young ones to turn the music down and they do this now, without my asking, as they make my hot chocolate. This too is instructive.
I realize that my balance point between inner and outer has shifted more toward the inner. That is, the center point from which I can listen in both directions has changed and my habits must catch up. This shift speaks to a positioning of our listening in the world that each of us needs to assess and reassess over time. As discouraging as it is that we can drift from this center point at any time, it's uplifting that we can return to that center point as well-through the practice of stilling our minds and being patient enough to listen to what is there.
To honor what those around us need in order to hear is an ordinary majesty. The young ones in the caf� are my teachers in this. Not only do they do this for me, but it's their ethic regarding everyone. It's the relational environment they create-a place to gather where everyone can hear. Their simple caring has made me ask, do I honor what those around me need in order to hear? Do I help them find their center point of listening? I ask you the same.
To Instruct from Within
What does it mean to follow our intuition? What kind of listening are we asked to engage in order to sense what is calling and whether we should follow? Even now, as I try to speak of this, I am stalled if I try "to think of what to say next." What is out of view only opens into something knowable if I wait and try "to listen to what is there." If it takes a while, it's because some aspects of truth are shy like owls who don't like to be seen during the day. It seems that intuitive listening requires us to still our minds until the beauty of things older than our minds can find us.
Let me share a poem as a way to enter this more deeply:
THE APPOINTMENT
What if, on the first sunny day,
on your way to work, a colorful bird
sweeps in front of you down a
street you've never heard of.
You might pause and smile,
a sweet beginning to your day.
Or you might step into that street
and realize there are many ways to work.
You might sense the bird knows something
you don't and wander after.
You might hesitate when the bird
turns down an alley. For now
there is a tension: Is what the
bird knows worth being late?
You might go another block or two,
thinking you can have it both ways.
But soon you arrive at the edge
of all your plans.
The bird circles back for you
and you must decide which
appointment you were
born to keep.
At every turn in every day we are presented with angels in a thousand guises, each calling us to follow their song. There is no right or wrong way to go, and only your heart can find the appointments you are born to keep. It's hard to take this risk, but meeting each uncertainty with an open heart will lead us to an authentic tomorrow. In the poem, however far you go to follow the bird is beautifully enough. If you simply pause and continue with your day, you will be given something. If you wander after its song a block or two, you will be given something else. If you discover that following this bird leads you to another life, you will be given something else indeed. Each point in the journey is an end in itself. One is not better than the other. Only your heart knows what to follow and where to stop.
Dag Hammarskj�ld was the legendary secretary-general of the United Nations praised by President Kennedy as "the greatest statesman of our century." In his book of diary reflections, Markings, he wrote:
I don't know Who-or what-put the question. I don't know when it was put. I don't even remember answering. But at some moment I did answer Yes to Someone-or Something-and from that hour I was certain that existence is meaningful and that, therefore, my life, in self-surrender, had a goal.
This gentle man had discovered the appointment he was born to keep. This brief and powerful reflection confirms that he had to listen to something he couldn't see and trust the certainty of his inner knowing to find his way. It's implied that some period of intuitive listening took place before he discovered the strength of saying yes.
No one can teach us how to intuitively listen or trust, but the quiet courage to say yes rather than no is close to each of us. It involves holding our opinions and identity lightly so we can be touched by the future. It means loosening our fist-like hold on how we see the world, so that other views can reach us, expand us, deepen us, and rearrange us. Saying yes is the bravest way to keep leaning into life.
Silencing the Tiger
Because the mind is a hungry tiger that can never be satisfied, that which is timeless swims in and out of our hands, bringing us forward into places we wouldn't go. So listening to what we're not yet aware of involves silencing the tiger and keeping our hands open so we can feel when something timeless moves through us. This can be difficult, for sitting quietly with our hands open in the middle of the day is suspect in our age. We can be misperceived as lazy or incompetent or not quite tethered to reality. But silencing the tiger in our mind and staying open is what keeps us connected to a deeper reality. By this, I mean the depth beneath all circumstance in which we experience a sense of meaning that doesn't change, the way gravity doesn't change though what it impacts changes constantly. Like inhaling and exhaling, the ways we silence our noise and open our heart are forms of deep listening that must be engaged if we are to survive.
What this means to each of us is different. For the furniture maker, it might be listening to the urge to carve curves in the legs of that very special table, though the design doesn't call for it. Curves might be what will heal him, though he doesn't yet know it. For my wife, who struggled with our move to the Midwest, it was listening, in the midst of her unhappiness, to a whisper that coaxed her to try the potter's wheel. Once her hands were guiding wet clay around the spinning center, she discovered her creative gift.
For me, it was listening to a fundamental uneasiness at being misunderstood that led me to pull a book from publication. I've worked with countless editors through the years and the tiger in my mind was roaring, "What are you doing?! Make it work!!" But something timeless had moved through my hands and it left me with an uneasiness that some part of me had drifted from its truth. I couldn't know that listening to that uneasiness and following it would awaken my next phase of authenticity, in which I would shed my lifelong need to explain myself. Finally, I could simply be myself.
In truth, my hearing loss has only pointed up the physics of listening we all face. For no matter if you are blunt in hearing like me or can hear a fox step on a fallen branch a hundred yards away, no matter our starting point or the acuity or diligence we bring, there is always something we can't hear. This leaves us with a need to approach the beauty that is beyond us with hospitality, a need to accept that there is more to life than we can know. This acceptance is imperative in order to live in the wonder and appreciation that Abraham Heschel speaks of in the opening epigraph of this book:
[We] will not perish for want of information; but only for want of appreciation . . . What we lack is not a will to believe but a will to wonder . . . Reverence is one of [our] answers to the presence of mystery . . .
To limit existence to only what we know blinds us to the mystery of how we're all connected. This shrinking of the world has been the cause of violence after violence through the ages, as tribe after tribe and nation after nation has sought to preserve their limited view over all else. This is how important listening is. It is the beginning of peace.
I believe the humble approach to a greater life of listening begins with the acceptance that we hear more together. Accepting this, we are awakened to a committed interest in what each of us knows and wonders about. This committed interest in each other and the life around us is the basis of reverence.
Over time, I've found that the ability to listen for what we're not yet aware of has nothing to do with right or wrong, or good or bad, or neat or sloppy. In fact, judgments seem to make what is calling pull back, the way loud noises cause deer to retreat into the woods. This is why sitting in the midst of our own life with our swollen hands open will deepen our listening. Because a ...
Flourishing Enterprise
The notion of responsible business has infiltrated our markets, and "going green" is now a part of our mindset. But, sustainability as we know it is not enough. Flourishing—the aspiration that humans and life in general will thrive on the planet forever—should be a key goal for every business today. This is a bold concept, like sustainability was a decade ago. Just as sustainability has become a matter of course, so too will flourishing become a cornerstone of business tomorrow. How are companies to attain this big-picture goal? Drawing together decades of research along with in-depth interviews, Flourishing Enterprise argues that many strategic, organizational, and operational efforts to be sustainable reach the potential of flourishing when they incorporate one additional ingredient: reflective practices. Offering more than a dozen such practices, this book leads readers down a path to greater business success, personal well-being, and a healthier planet. Readers will find that adding reflective practices to existing business efforts does not require more work; it simply changes the way we do our work and, more importantly, the results we achieve. Cultivating emotional and spiritual health is the next frontier; this future-oriented guide develops these core competencies while stretching the ongoing conversation about profitable, sustainable business.
“Start Close In” by David Whyte from River Flow: New & Selected Poems 1984–2007, printed with permission from Many ... the permission of Atria Publishing Group and Mark Nepo from the Free Press edition of Seven Thousand Ways to Listen ..."
Peace Be with You, Rest in Peace
Hospital and hospice chaplains are expected to assist individuals and families face the reality of their mortality via a gentle, calming presence. To the greatest extent possible, chaplains help people die with an awareness of being loved, of loving and forgiving, and of gratitude for the life they have lived. But terminal agitation and spiritual distress are common components of the final stage of life. How do professional chaplains honor and attend to each individual's spiritual/religious needs to the best of their abilities in the days preceding death? This book explores that critical question.
Nepo , Mark . Seven Thousand Ways to Listen : Staying Close to What Is Sacred . New York : Atria , 2012 . Neumann , Ann . The Good Death : An Exploration of Dying in America . Boston : Beacon , 2016 . Nolan , Steve ."
Return to the Root
For more than a decade, bestselling author and international retreat leader Joyce Rupp has written a monthly newsletter offering personal reflections and inspiration from her heart to ours. In Return to the Root, Rupp expands on the best of those reflections to invite all of us who feel overwhelmed by busyness, cut off from the Divine, or adrift in the world to reach solid ground. Through her reflections, as well as new poems and prayers, she guides us to see the essential—what is at the root of our lives and what keeps us rooted—so that we can feel at peace no matter the events of the world around us. Rupp offers meditative, uplifting reflections—grown out of the seasons, the Church’s liturgical life, and the small moments that adorn our days—that escort us through the year. With each reflection, we shift beyond the immediate moment to see the timeless truths within, including choosing to hold on to hope, trusting how God speaks to us and how we experience the Divine, and recognizing that there is always something for which to be grateful. Whether we need to be reminded of important truths or to experience moments of tranquility in a life of nonstop distractions, Rupp’s Return to the Root offers us space to explore the beauty of the world and hold onto those things that sustain our beings and, as the apostle Paul wrote, keep us “rooted and grounded in love.”
Reflections on the Inner Life Joyce Rupp. Bibliography Kelley, Thomas. A Testament of Devotion. ... Give Us This Day (September 11, 2020), 117. Mueller , Wayne . How Then Shall We Live ? Four Simple Questions That Reveal the Beauty ..."
Hospice Palliative Home Care and Bereavement Support
This book provides an unique resource for registered nurses working in hospice palliative care at home and for the community, outside of acute care settings and also incorporates literature related to palliative care in acute health care settings, as part of the overall services and supports required. Very few resources exist which specifically address hospice palliative care in the home setting, despite the fact that most palliative care occurs outside acute care settings and is primarily supported by unpaid family caregivers. An overview of the concerns for individuals and families, as well as specific nursing interventions, from all ages would be an excellent support for nursing students and practicing registered nurses alike. The book structure begins with a description of the goals and objectives of hospice palliative care and the nursing role in providing excellent supportive care. Chapters include research findings and specifically research completed by the authors in the areas of pediatric palliative care, palliative care for those with dementia, and the needs of family caregivers in bereavement. Interventions developed by the editors are provided in this book, such as the “Finding Balance Intervention” for bereaved caregivers; the “Reclaiming Yourself” tool for bereaved spouses of partners with dementia; and The Keeping Hope Possible Toolkit for families of children with life threatening and life limiting illnesses. The development and application of these theory-based interventions are also highlighted. Videos and vignettes written by family caregivers about what was helpful for them, provide a patient-and family-centered approach./div The book will benefit nursing students, educators and practicing registered nurses by providing information, theory, and evidence from research.
Jenkinson , Stephen . Die wise: a manifesto for sanity and soul . Berkeley CA: North Atlantic Books; 2015. Kagan, Annie. The afterlife of Billy Fingers: how my bad-boy brother proved to me there's life after death: Hampton Roads Publishing ..."
Reduced to Joy
Mark Nepo is emerging as one of the truly significant writers and thinkers of today. Nepo has a singular way of distilling great truths down to their essence. Moreover, during his cancer journey, Nepo relied on the power of expression and the writing process to keep him tethered to life. In Reduced to Joy, Mark Nepo explores the places where pain and joy are stitched to resilience, uncovering them with deep wisdom, poetic passages and personal revelations. Nepo reminds us all of the secret and sacred places within, forgotten in the noise and chatter of our busy distracted 21st Century lives. Reduced to Joy is a lesson in stillness, in standing in the mystery and, above all, in the work of love.
Reduced to Joy is a lesson in stillness, in standing in the mystery and, above all, in the work of love."
Mothering with Courage
Mothering with Courage provides mothers a detailed guidebook for their journey as a mother, complete with the latest understanding and tips for healthy parenting and motherhood. Practical, educational, and inspirational, the book provides self-reflective questions and guided journaling exercises for mothers, specifically related to aspects of their lives and mothering.
72. Definition of intuition. Oxford Living Dictionaries. https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/intuition. 73. Nepo , Mark . Seven Thousand Ways to Listen : Staying Close to What Is Sacred ."
Soul Excavation: An Exploration and Discovery of Self Through Fear, Failure, and Quantum Physics
Soul Excavation: An Exploration and Discovery of Self Through Fear, Failure, and Quantum Physics is about one woman’s transformational journey of living from fear, anger, and pain to discovering and choosing to live as the Infinite Power, Creativity, and Love she is at her core. Lesia Kohut begins with her story of fear—a brave, candid exploration into how the turbulent relationship with her dad and confusing relationship with God early on in life lay the groundwork for three main limiting beliefs. These beliefs were the foundation for several decades of living in fear, anger, pain, and self-doubt, leading to attempted suicide, alcoholism, and believing there was something inherently wrong or broken with her. In the second story, she focuses on the failure, grief, and loss of identity felt during the painful, emotional, and financially crushing experience of closing down her “dream turned nightmare” organic, sustainably-minded, gluten-free bakery. By the leap of faith story, Lesia illustrates how her steadfast commitment to her Spiritual/Consciousness Studies inspired and empowered her to anchor herself in knowing that, no matter what personal, financial, and emotional challenges she and her family faced while moving across the country a few years ago, she was always at choice as to how to move forward in life—that she was the one creating her reality. In the next part of the book, Lesia explores the concept and impact of limiting beliefs, focusing on the three main beliefs from her life, “You’re not good enough,” “You’re not smart enough,” and “You don’t have what it takes.” She tells us how her Spiritual Studies, including the more recent plunge into Quantum Physics, helped her to become aware of her relationship with those long-standing beliefs, and to better understand and accept how and why they’d kept her feeling stuck for so long. This awareness and understanding led to the profound realization that she was actually not her beliefs, but that she was infinitely bigger and more powerful than the fear, anger, and pain she’d felt and the failures she’d experienced for most of her life. Lesia explains how this renewed sense of faith, and exciting understanding of reality from a quantum perspective has become the new foundation for how she now perceives and values her relationship with her dad and with God, how she looks back on circumstances around the closing of her beloved bakery, and how she moves forward in life today. By sharing her journey from fear and failure to infinite possibilities, Lesia shows us that just because life has been a certain way up until now, doesn’t mean it has to be that way going forward. The stories, nuggets, and aha’s in this book open the door for others to realize that we can all choose to live from love rather than fear, at any time; that we are all creators of our reality; and, that we are all infinitely more
Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear. ... The Science of Mind: A Philosophy, A Faith, A Way of Life. Def ed. ... Nepo , Mark . Seven Thousand Ways to Listen : Staying Close to What Is Sacred . 1st ed. New York: Atria Books, 2013."
Deepening Your Personal Relationships
Deepening Your Personal Relationships was written by three experts in the field. Their combined expertise will help you in Developing Emotional Intimacy and Good Communication, which will be beneficial in all types of relationships. The book explains how to achieve healthy and fulfilling interpersonal relationships by using effective communication, empathy, shared transformational development, and constructive conflict resolution. Deepening Your Personal Relationships provides original, meaningful, and transformational insights that are especially helpful in understanding how to overcome our subconscious resistance against emotional intimacy and good communication. Readers wanting to enhance their personal relationships, gain insight into transformational self-help, and achieve social transformation will find this book especially helpful. It will also be of keen interest to professional relationship counselors, such as marriage counselors, family counselors, and conflict mediators. The goal is to understand how good relationships can produce enhanced levels of spiritual development, psychological healing, self-understanding, creative functioning, inner peace and happiness, and ultimately, fulfillment in life.
Nepo , Mark . Seven Thousand Ways to Listen : Staying Close to What is Sacred . New York: Free Press, 2012. Ornish, Dean. Love & Survival: The Scientific Basis for the Healing Power of Intimacy. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1998."
How to Become a Miracle-Worker with Your Life
How to Become a Miracle-Worker with Your Life is about a powerful ancient technique to solve any kind of problem in a permanent way. This technique, called Ho’oponopono became well-known worldwide when it was used by a doctor to cure a ward of deranged dangerous prisoners without him having any type of personal contact with them. This tool is based on the principles of repentance, forgiveness, love and gratitude. This almighty technique has a very wide application; it can be used to resolve all types of difficulties in different areas, such as relationships, health conditions, financial challenges and career problems. The simplicity and effortlessness regarding the use of this problem-solving tool makes it suitable to be used by anybody on any occasion. The effects of the use of this technique are long-lasting, for this technique focuses on the causes of problems instead of their consequences. This book provides the reader with a stepwise process to apply this powerful technique, with countless practical exercises. With the frequent use of this technique the reader will gradually become healthier, wealthier and more fulfilled regarding career, business, relationships, and other relevant areas.
Hay House: UK Nepo , Mark (2012) Seven Thousand Ways to Listen : Staying Close to What is Sacred . Simon & Schuster: New York Nightingale, Earl (2012) The Strangest Secret of Succeeding in the World Today."
A Year on the Journey
Within these pages, you will find personal, practical guidance for creating a Joy-filled and effective relationship with God. A Year On The Journey offers a unique approach to teaching spiritual principles, spiced up with stories, allegory and metaphor, deductive reasoning, humor, and real-life experiences. In 366 daily ‘lessons’ in New Thought spirituality, a rewarding and fulfilling way of living are found. Readers are guided to consider compelling possibilities — how to create a truly useful God consciousness, or to build upon the ones we already know. The principles presented are logical and yet profound, challenging us to find, and live, our highest Good. Author Deanna Allcorn Smith weaves exhilarating and thought-provoking prose, lighting a way for a greater experience of life. Her deep commitment to her spiritual path shines through her words, paving a delightful path of God’s Love, Power, and Peace.
Used with permission by the author. www.karenabowen.com December 16 selection includes excerpts from LETTERS FROM AN ASTROPHYSICIST by Neil deGrasse Tyson . Copyright © 2019 by Neil deGrasse Tyson . Used with permission of W. W. Norton ..."
The Color of Together
"We lose our vocabulary for gratitude when fear becomes our common vernacular. We lose the words that matter most, and, as a result, we lose part of our humanity." –From The Color of Together Milton Brasher-Cunningham has written a book that speaks to one of the greatest challenges facing us today: How do we live together when so much seems bent on driving us apart? "The chance we have to find strains of grace and hope and love—even gratitude," Milton writes, "comes in solidarity and the sharing of our stories, not in the measuring of them one against the other." When his father died, Milton learned that grief was a primary color of life. That truth is as old as the human story but was new to him. The Color of Together explores the metaphor more fully, looking at the primary colors of life, which he names as grief, grace, and gratitude, and then expanding the palette to describe some of the other hues that make us human. "Where grace matters most is in the daily details, the quotidian encounters where we have a chance to step into the contagion that ripples through the grief of our lives, where w
Nepo , Mark , Seven Thousand Ways to Listen : Staying Close to What Is Sacred , New York: Atria Books, 2007. Peck, Scott M., The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth, New York: Simon ..."
The Tao of Islam
The Tao of Islam is a rich and diverse anthology of Islamic teachings on the nature of the relationships between God and the world, the world and the human being, and the human being and God. Focusing on gender symbolism, Sachiko Murata shows that Muslim authors frequently analyze the divine reality and its connections with the cosmic and human domains with a view toward a complementarity or polarity of principles that is analogous to the Chinese idea of yin/yang. Murata believes that the unity of Islamic thought is found, not so much in the ideas discussed, as in the types of relationships that are set up among realities. She pays particular attention to the views of various figures commonly known as "Sufis" and "philosophers," since they approach these topics with a flexibility and subtlety not found in other schools of thought. She translates several hundred pages, most for the first time, from more than thirty important Muslims including the Ikhwan al-Safa', Avicenna, and Ibn al-'Arabi. Sachiko Murata is Professor of Religious Studies at the State University of New York, Stony Brook.
A king has ministers and servants, and so also does the spirit. I quote from the briefer version of the analogy found in Kimiya-yi sa 'adat. Remember that Ghazali uses the term heart to refer to the inward dimension of the human being, ..."
The Mindful School Leader
Big results come from small steps. Written with school leaders in mind, this inspirational yet practical handbook teaches you how to add mindfulness into your day, bit by bit, whether you are sitting in your office or walking down the hall. With mindfulness, you will get better at managing meetings, responding creatively to complex situations, and achieving resilience—you will become a more effective leader and a more positive force for your staff and students. Features include: Real-life profiles of mindful school leaders Practice exercises to try right away Guidance so you know if you are “doing it right” Hard-to-find resources, including mindfulness apps
Mark Nepo , Seven Thousand Ways to Listen : Staying Close to What Is Sacred (New York: Free Press, 2012), 147. 3. www.cnvc.org 4. Gregory Kramer, a longtime meditation teacher, has developed a specific focus on mindful speaking and ..."
Boundless Compassion
"Living compassionately is rarely convenient and often downright challenging," writes Joyce Rupp, bestselling and award-winning author and retreat leader. The definitive Christian guide to compassion, Boundless Compassion is the culmination of Rupp's research and work as codirector of the Servite Center of Compassionate Presence. Through this six-week personal transformation process for developing and deepening compassion, Rupp nudges, encourages, and inspires you to grow in the kind of love that motivated Jesus’ life and mission for his disciples. With master teacher Joyce Rupp, you will learn to develop compassion as never before. You will discover compassion from science, medicine, theology, spirituality, sociology, and psychology. You will be encouraged to explore personal and professional expressions of compassion, and to re-energize your ability to offer loving kindness to those around you. Rupp has felt the call to walk with others in their suffering since she was a young member of the Servants of Mary, whose charism is compassion. She eventually cofounded the Boundless Compassion program with Sr. Margaret Stratman, O.S.M. Based on the format and theme of Rupp’s bestselling books like Open the Door and her popular workshops conducted by the Center of Compassionate Presence, Boundless Compassion has the power to transform your life, giving you wisdom, confidence, understanding, and inspiration to be a more caring presence. It will help you build on relational skills, learn self-care, gain wisdom for incorporating loss and suffering into your active life, and find ways to show compassion at work. By the book's end, you will feel prepared to live with a renewed commitment to a compassionate presence for yourself and those who are in the midst of pain, struggle, and transition.
Henri Nouwen, The Way of the Heart, cited in Henri Nouwen, A Spirituality of Caregiving, edited by John S. Mogabgab ... Mark Nepo , Seven Thousand Ways to Listen : Staying Close to What Is Sacred (New York: Free Press, 2012), 114. 27."
Going Beyond the Pose
Author Kathleen Nitting takes you off the mat with a contemporary understanding of yoga, offering practical ways to integrate this ancient philosophy into daily life. By delving deeper into the wisdom and science of yoga, Going beyond the Pose illustrates how these teachings are as relevant today as they were thousands of years ago. Nitting outlines the four paths of yogalove, action, knowledge, and meditationpracticed by great sages of the past, along with contemporary yogis, in search of true joy and success. Guiding you through the paths are insights and inspiration from some of todays spiritual leaders; glimpses of those who have left this physical realm; poignant personal stories that exemplify the meaning of being in yoga; and a brave level of authenticity from Nitting as she shares her own yogic path. Going beyond the Pose shows how you, too, can access and experience the benefits of yoga in the Living Yoga exercises peppered throughout the book. It offers an eloquent translation of Nittings journey of using yoga as a compass to orient her own life toward happiness and her passion to share this truth.
I couldn't control their level of consciousness, no matter how well intended I might have been. ... ( Mark Nepo , Seven Thousand Ways to Listen : Staying Close to What Is Sacred ) When we remain attached to our ideas of how we expect or ..."
The Practice of Finding
Seeking is in vogue these days. Many of us are continually, even obsessively striving and seeking—for something or other. But are we ever satisfied? What is enough? Holly Whitcomb presents the spiritual practice of finding as the antidote to chronic seeking and as the doorway to a grateful awareness of having received enough. She reflects on wisdom distilled by the “finders”—poets, playwrights, psychologists, and theologians—and derived from her own experience. When we engage in finding, we recognize with humility and wonder that the universe contains possibilities beyond our power to imagine. The Practice of Finding is an inspiring guide to that journey of discovery.
Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of a Course in Miracles (New York: Harper Perennial, 1993), 191. 2. ... Quoted in Sharon Salzberg , Real Love: The Art of Mindful Connection (New ..."
Let Miracles Happen
This book is a toolbox to help you create your own heaven on earth. It is designed to provide you with tools for your personal, emotional and spiritual evolution.
... Do the Work: Overcome Resistance and Get Out of Your Own Way Mark Nepo , Seven Thousand Ways to Listen : Staying Close to What Is Sacred Anthony William, Medical Medium: Secrets Behind Chronic and Mystery Illness and How to Finally ..."
You Can't Fix Them--Because They're Not Broken
Have you gone from feeling like you were finally following your true calling as a helper and healer to dragging yourself out of bed? Where did all the excitement, wonder, and gratitude go? You’re exhausted physically and emotionally from juggling challenging clients and the mundane side of helping work. You might even have daydreamed about quitting. Or perhaps you’re new to helping and not sure how to navigate client relationships, run your practice, and somehow still have a life. Whether you’re an acupuncturist, massage therapist, yoga teacher, Reiki healer, coach, astrologer, or counselor, this book is your companion. Discover simple, effective techniques to: · Soothe burnout and relieve compassion fatigue · Enhance your own resilience · Break free from impostor syndrome · Feel empowered to maintain healthier boundaries · Customize your career to meet your needs · Plus, find out what you don’t know about change—this information can take you from frustrated to fulfilled Dr. Jo Eckler is a licensed clinical psychologist and registered yoga teacher trained in energy work, sound healing, and as a death & mourning doula. You’ll benefit from their 20 years of professional experience as a helper working directly with clients, supervising trainees, leading workshops, and consulting. It’s time to go beyond self-care clichés and get the practical tools you need to share your gifts with others while keeping yourself nourished in the process. Start crafting a more sustainable future today.
... Start Living by Russ Harris The Needs of The Dying: A Guide for Bringing Hope, Comfort, and Love to Life's Final ... Burk and Laura van Dernoot Lipsky Seven Thousand Ways to Listen : Staying Close to What is Sacred by Mark Nepo Why ..."
The Exquisite Risk
Explaining how to live each moment to its fullest, a poet and spiritual teacher encourages readers to listen to what truly matters--one's own heart, loved ones, the wonders of nature--and to embrace all that life has to offer in order to embark on a lifelong journey of self-discovery and spiritual fulfillment. Reprint. 10,000 first printing.
Explaining how to live each moment to its fullest, a poet and spiritual teacher encourages readers to listen to what truly matters--one's own heart, loved ones, the wonders of nature--and to embrace all that life has to offer in order to ..."
Teaching with Heart
Each and every day teachers show up in their classrooms with a relentless sense of optimism. Despite the complicated challenges of schools, they come to and remain in the profession inspired by a conviction that through education they can move individuals and society to a more promising future. In Teaching with Heart: Poetry that Speaks to the Courage to Teach a diverse group of ninety teachers describe the complex of emotions and experiences of the teaching life – joy, outrage, heartbreak, hope, commitment and dedication. Each heartfelt commentary is paired with a cherished poem selected by the teacher. The contributors represent a broad array of educators: K-12 teachers, principals, superintendents, college professors, as well as many non-traditional teachers. They range from first year teachers to mid-career veterans to those who have retired after decades in the classroom. They come from inner-city, suburban, charter and private schools. The teachers identified an eclectic collection of poems and poets from Emily Dickinson, to Richard Wright, to Mary Oliver to the rapper Tupac Shakur. It is a book by teachers and for all who teach. The book also includes a poignant Foreword by Parker J. Palmer (The Courage to Teach), a stirring Introduction by Taylor Mali (What Teachers Make), and a moving Afterword by Sarah Brown Wessling (Teaching Channel). Where Teaching with Fire honored and celebrated the work of teachers; Teaching with Heart salutes the tenacious and relentless optimism of teachers and their belief that despite the many challenges and obstacles of the teaching life, much is possible.
“Halley's Comet” from The Collected Poems by Stanley Kunitz. Copyright © 1995 by Stanley ... “Famous” from Words Under the Words : Selected Poems by Naomi Shihab Nye . ... Reprinted with permission of Far Corner Books , Portland, Oregon."
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