They show common ethics that transcend the narrow confines of sectarianism."ATLANTA JOURNAL & CONSTITUTIONBeneath the seeming differences of all the world's great religions, lies a pool of universal truth. ONENESS collects these beliefs together for the first time, in the actual words of each religion's scriptures. These universal principles act as a guide to inner development, and allow each individual to achieve spiritual richness.From the Trade Paperback edition.

    To make matters worse, we often don't even realize when we are doing this, as these old mental tapes play in repeating loops without our awareness.In Talk to Yourself Like a Buddhist, certified mindfulness and meditation instructor Cynthia Kane introduces the Middle Path of Self-Communication, which consists of five mindful practices--Listen, Explore, Question, Release, and Balance--all of which are grounded in Buddhist principles.This book will show you how to:Identify your negative self-talk and explore the underlying self-judgments that produce itRelease the judgments that are poisoning your self-communicationPractice a system of balanced internal communication based on truth and compassionWhen we speak to ourselves negatively, we set a tone for our day and our interactions with others in the world. Talk to Yourself Like a Buddhist can teach you how to turn off the enemy in your mind--and create a new relationship with yourself and the world around you--simply by noticing, investigating, and changing the words you use to speak to yourself.

    Since aging, in and of itself, does not lead to spiritual maturity, The Grace in Aging suggests and explores causes and conditions that we can create in our lives, just as we are living them, to allow awakening to unfold—transforming the predictable sufferings of aging into profound opportunities for growth in clarity, love, compassion, and peace.Kathleen Dowling Singh streamlines vast and complex teachings into skillful means and wise views. Straightforward language and piercing questions bring Singh’s teachings into the sharp focus of our own lives; the contemplative nature of each chapter allows for an uncommon depth of inquiry. Examples from our lives and from the chatter in our own minds touch the reader personally, offering the chance to absorb the implications deeply and do the work of freeing his or her own mind. Ecumenical in spirit, tone, and language, Singh offers wisdom from teachers from a variety of spiritual backgrounds: Chogyam Trungpa, the Apostles, Annie Dillard, and more. Lessening our attachments, decreasing our aversions, unbinding what binds us, we bear witness to the possibility of awakening for all beings.The Grace in Aging offers guidelines for older individuals of any wisdom tradition who wish to awaken before they die; no need for caves or seven-year retreats. This is spiritual practice for the lives we live.

    He shows you how to let go of the anxiety-producing areas of life in order to find the lasting peace that comes from trusting God. During the season of Lent, Catholics and other Christians frequently give up something they enjoy as a measure of penance or self-discipline—and often fall back into old habits at the first “Alleluia!” In Give Up Worry for Lent!, Zimak offers fellow worriers practical, scripture-centered advice on how to relinquish the need to control the uncontrollable—not just for Lent but for good—and how to find peace in Christ. From Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, Zimak guides you to ponder a scripture passage and to apply it to your own life by following four simple steps: read reflect respond pray As you continue to meditate on scripture and practice the simple action steps at the end of each reflection, you will find it easier to replace old worries with new messages of hope and to change your life forever.

    It also has much to teach us about the wilderness within and the divine presence that is manifest in nature. In this, his last work, beloved author Gerald May offers a memoir and spiritual guide that reveals the great lessons available to us when we retreat from our busy lives to the serenity of the natural wilderness.The Wisdom of Wilderness expresses the healing and wholeness May received through spending time in the wild -- whether hiking, camping, canoeing, fishing, or, often, just sitting. Also, May saw that wilderness can be found anywhere -- a garden, a park, perhaps in one's own room, or even in other people. Wherever we find it, it calls to what is natural in each of our hearts, reassuring us that we are part of a bigger creation and teaching us how to make peace with the outer world and with our inner selves.For May, nature was not something to rise above. The belief that we must dominate and tame all that is wild around and within us is the most fundamental estrangement of Western civilization, long inflicting wounds upon the planet and upon ourselves. But before we can effectively heal the earth, we must somehow recover our own natural wholeness, our own wildness and kinship with nature. We cannot do this healing for ourselves, but only through "the grace of Something or Someone beyond" -- and in May's case, he found this grace in Nature itself.This moving, beautifully written book is Gerald May at his best. It includes a foreword by author Parker J. Palmer, which illuminates the importance of May's life and writing and explains how this last book fits into the body of his work.

    Now Sylvia Boorstein, nationally bestselling author of It’s Easier Than You Think, has taken the 2500-year-old practice of developing the qualities of a compassionate heart—the core of the Buddha’s own practice—and made it accessible to all. Pay Attention for Goodness’ Sake is the first book ever to guide Western readers on the path of the Buddha’s Ten Paramitas, the Perfections of the Heart. Boorstein combines traditional Buddhist teachings and parables with stories from her own life, as well as easy-to-follow meditations, to show how the practice of Mindfulness—paying attention in everyday life—can lead to these perfections that all of us strive for, including Generosity, Morality, Wisdom, Energy, Patience, Determination, and Equanimity.When we take on this practice, Boorstein notes, “our vision becomes transformed. We see, with increasing clarity, the confusion in our own minds and the suffering in our own hearts. . . . And we also see the extraordinariness of life, how amazing it is that life exists.” Boorstein’s lively and practical lessons about everyday generosity, morality, making and mending mistakes, the bliss of blamelessness, and other human concerns and frailties, help to clarify our distractions and connect us with our own goodness, “the part of ourselves that wishes it had done differently.” For Buddhist and non-Buddhist alike, Pay Attention for Goodness’ Sake is a cheerful, inspiring book that offers the possibility of a transformed life.

    Before Mark Epstein became a medical student at Harvard and began training as a psychiatrist, he immersed himself in Buddhism through experiences with such influential Buddhist teachers as Ram Dass, Joseph Goldstein, and Jack Kornfield. The positive outlook of Buddhism and the meditative principle of living in the moment came to influence his study and practice of psychotherapy profoundly. "Going on Being "is Epstein's memoir of his early years as a student of Buddhism and of how Buddhism shaped his approach to therapy, as well as a practical guide to how a Buddhist understanding of psychological problems makes change for the better possible. "Going on Being "is an intimate chronicle of the evolution of spirit and psyche, and a highly inviting guide for anyone seeking a new path and a new outlook on life.

    How do I even keep going?" When the dreams for our life die, our vision of who we hoped to become often dies too. That's when The Voice of Giving Up appears.Visual artist and spiritual director Scott Erickson has had long midnight conversations with The Voice of Giving Up, and he knows how anxiety and depression make The Voice especially loud. But he's discovered that our darkest moments are sometimes doorways to a deeper, more joy-filled journey of recovering who we are, why we're here, and why the future bursts with possibilities if we are willing to say yes to life's brightest gifts.In Say Yes, Scott helps you learn how to reawaken your deepest desires, disempower your greatest fears, and identify the destructive narratives holding you back. Combined with Scott's beautiful, thought-provoking illustrations, this is a profound exploration of beginning again after:Disappointment at how life is turning outSuspecting we are not prepared or smart enoughLosing hope that change is possible and that pain can have a purposeTake the first step to gain the gentle yet powerful tools you need, and say yes to what lies ahead today.

    James Allen's best-selling classic, As a Man Thinketh, combined with four other James Allen titles: The Path to Prosperity, The Mastery of Destiny, The Way of Peace, and Entering the Kingdom.

    The eight steps on the path are: right understanding, thought, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration. Smith explains exactly what the Buddha had in mind, using translations of his own words and then elucidating them for us. Throughout the book are wonderful quotes from a broad range of Buddhist teachers, giving a taste of the very best each of them has to offer. The Beginner’s Guide to Walking the Buddha’s Eightfold Path is a prescription for happiness, not just for overcoming suffering, which is how many people think of Buddhism. Here is a book for Buddhists of every tradition.

    That was the moment... I understood. Really understood. Crisis, change, all the myriad upheavals that blister the spirit and leave us groping– they aren't voices simply of pain but also of creativity. And if we would only listen, we might hear such times beckoning us to a season of waiting, to the place of fertile emptiness.Blending her own experiences with an intimate grasp of contemplative spirituality, Sue Monk Kidd relates the passionate and moving tale of her spiritual crisis at midlife, when life seemed to have lost meaning and how her longing for hasty escape from the pain yielded to a discipline of "active waiting." Comparing her experience to the formative processes inside a chrysalis on a wintry tree branch, Kidd reflects on the fact that the soul is often symbolized as a butterfly. The simple cocoon, a living parable of waiting, becomes an icon of hope for the transformation that the author sought. Kidd charts her re–ascent from the depths and offers a new understanding of the passage away from the self, which is based upon others' expectations, to the true self of God's unfolding intention. Her wise, inspiring book helps those in doubt and crisis recognize the opportunity to "dismantle old masks and patterns and unfold a deeper, more authentic self."

    A chapter from the Karmapa points out the toxicity and uselessness of anger, from a basic, interpersonal level to the wider society at large. In “I Take Up the Way of Letting Go of Anger,” Zen teacher Diane Eshin Rizzetto helps us look at how we relate to an emotion like anger and, rather than suppress it, she marks a clear pathway we can follow to awaken in its presence and not let it incite us to negative thoughts and actions. Jack Kornfield talks about how to succeed in bringing mindfulness and loving-kindness into arenas like politics and war zones. And a short selection from the chapter on patience in the Mahayana classic The Way of the Bodhisattva highlights that the real enemy is anger itself, not something or someone external.

    Written as a narrative, Tree Spirited Woman takes you through one woman's intimate transformation from the death of her maternal grandmother to the establishment of a new and guiding friendship with a wise and mystical woman. With Tree Spirited Woman as her guide, she learns to ?let go and trust? in love, personal relationships, and, ultimately, death. Tree Spirited Woman will provide each reader with an abundant opportunity to grow alongside the book's main character. Simple philosophies for living flow through each of the chapters. This is a book that can be read and reread, with deeper understanding and personal awakening culled from each visit to its pages.

     What makes a good life? Is it money? An important job? Leisure time? Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi believes our obsessive focus on such measures has led us astray. Work fills our days with anxiety and pressure, so that during our free time, we tend to live in boredom, watching TV or absorbed by our phones.What are we missing? To answer this question, Csikszentmihalyi studied thousands of people, and he found the key. People are happiest when they challenge themselves with tasks that demand a high degree of skill and commitment, and which are undertaken for their own sake. Instead of watching television, play the piano. Take a routine chore and figure out how to do it better, faster, more efficiently. In short, learn the hidden power of complete engagement, a psychological state the author calls flow. Though they appear simple, the lessons in Finding Flow are life-changing.

    Wealth? Fitness? Career success? How can we possibly place these above true and lasting well-being? Drawing from works of fiction and poetry, Western philosophy, Buddhist beliefs, scientific research, and personal experience, Ricard weaves an inspirational and forward-looking account of how we can begin to rethink our realities in a fast-moving modern world. With its revelatory lessons and exercises, Happiness is an eloquent and stimulating guide to a happier life.