Book picks similar to
The Truth of This Life: Zen Teachings on Loving the World as It Is by Katherine Thanas
spirituality
buddhism
ezo
orient
Let It Out: A Journey Through Journaling
Katie Dalebout - 2016
Maybe your career isn’t what you thought it would be . . . or your relationships aren’t what you had hoped. Perhaps you have a grand vision for your life but not the smallest clue on the steps to get there. Whether you’ve read the entire self-help section of the bookstore in vain or feel completely stuck on where to begin, you wish you had someone to hold your hand and guide you.You do. And it’s only a blank page away.In
Let It Out,
millennial blogger, speaker, and podcast host Katie Dalebout shares the transformative practice that will rocket your life to the next level—journaling. Discovering in her darkest hours that a journal is the greatest tool in finding your purpose, healing yourself, and creating the life you most desire, Katie has assembled the remarkable tools and insights that will elevate your life and get you “unstuck”—for good.And don’t worry—you don’t need to be a writer! Journaling is simply a method of coaching yourself through your “stuff” and letting it out on the page, unclogging your mind from years of destructive thoughts. In doing so, you step into a position of unsurpassed clarity.Packed with journaling exercises, prompts, and techniques that can be done anywhere and in any order, this interactive guidebook offers you a new way to navigate your daily life, cope with stress, and create exciting, permanent change. Divided into seven sections covering everything from clearing clutter to finding presence to cultivating abundance to moving beyond fear, this book will be your new best friend and coach anytime you seek clarity or crave solace.Simply grab a pen, open your journal, and prepare to let it out.
Dhamapada: The Essential Teachings of the Buddha
F. Max Müller - 2016
This foundation scripture teaches the supreme doctrine of nirvana and the way to the highest possible happiness for mankind. Oxford professor Dr. Max Muller, a great scholar and Orientalist, did the translation.
The Path: What Chinese Philosophers Can Teach Us About the Good Life
Michael Puett - 2016
This is why Professor Michael Puett says to his students, “The encounter with these ideas will change your life.” As one of them told his collaborator, author Christine Gross-Loh, “You can open yourself up to possibilities you never imagined were even possible.”These astonishing teachings emerged two thousand years ago through the work of a succession of Chinese scholars exploring how humans can improve themselves and their society. And what are these counterintuitive ideas? Good relationships come not from being sincere and authentic, but from the rituals we perform within them. Influence comes not from wielding power but from holding back. Excellence comes from what we choose to do, not our natural abilities. A good life emerges not from planning it out, but through training ourselves to respond well to small moments. Transformation comes not from looking within for a true self, but from creating conditions that produce new possibilities.In other words, The Path upends everything we are told about how to lead a good life. Above all, unlike most books on the subject, its most radical idea is that there is no path to follow in the first place—just a journey we create anew at every moment by seeing and doing things differently.Sometimes voices from the past can offer possibilities for thinking afresh about the future.A note from the publisher: To read relevant passages from the original works of Chinese philosophy, see our free ebook Confucius, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi: Selected Passages, available on Kindle, Nook, and the iBook Store and at Books.SimonandSchuster.com.
How to Be Here: A Guide to Creating a Life Worth Living
Rob Bell - 2016
Whether it’s writing the next great American novel, starting a business, or joining a band, Rob Bell wants to help us make those dreams become reality. Our path is ours and ours alone to pursue, he reminds us, and in doing so, we derive great joy because we are living our passions.How to Be Here lays out concrete steps we can use to define and follow our dreams, interweaving engaging stories, lessons from biblical figures, insights gleaned from Rob’s personal experience, and practical advice. Rob gives you the support and insight you need to silence your critics, move from idea to action, take the first step, find joy in the work, persevere through hard times, and surrender to the outcome.Like Stephen Pressfield’s classic The War of Art, How to Be Here will inspire readers to seek the lives they were created to lead.
Guided Meditation: Six Essential Practices to Cultivate Love, Awareness, and Wisdom
Jack Kornfield - 2007
The most potential you can have on your contemplative path is a trusted teacher like Jack Kornfield, who stands out as one of the most helpful and encouraging Western instructors for newcomers to the art of meditation.With Guided Meditation, this renowned Buddhist teacher brings you six practices that will open the door to the serenity and joy of meditation, and serve as your foundation for years to come.Offering you precise guidance through every step of these transformational practices, Kornfield introduces you to:Basic sitting practice—The essential starting point for nurturing nonjudgmental spaciousness• The heart-opening techniques of lovingkindness and forgiveness meditation to help you discover liberation from suffering• A visualization exercise for overcoming difficulties by making direct contact with the voice of your highest wisdom• The gratitude and joy meditation, which nourishes an innocent rejoicing in life itself• Mind Like Sky—a practice to enter "original mind," the pure space of awareness that is consciousness itselfSince the time of the Buddha, meditation taught under the guidance of an expert has proven to be the easiest and most effective way to begin. Whether you are just starting out with meditation or have decided to reconnect with the ground of your practice, Jack Kornfield's Guided Meditation provides concise and gentle training of the heart and mind to enjoy the fruits of this centuries-old art.Course objectives:Apply the six guided meditation practices to cultivate love, awareness, and wisdom• Practice each of the six guided meditation practices as a way to cultivate stillness and "knowing"• Explore mindfulness practices related to awareness of the breath, loving kindness, forgiveness, visualization, gratitude, and the spaciousness of consciousness
The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking
Oliver Burkeman - 2012
What they have in common is a hunch about human psychology: that it's our constant effort to eliminate the negative that causes us to feel so anxious, insecure, and unhappy. And that there is an alternative "negative path" to happiness and success that involves embracing the things we spend our lives trying to avoid. It is a subversive, galvanizing message, which turns out to have a long and distinguished philosophical lineage ranging from ancient Roman Stoic philosophers to Buddhists. Oliver Burkeman talks to life coaches paid to make their clients' lives a living hell, and to maverick security experts such as Bruce Schneier, who contends that the changes we've made to airport and aircraft security since the 9/11 attacks have actually made us less safe. And then there are the "backwards" business gurus, who suggest not having any goals at all and not planning for a company's future. Burkeman's new book is a witty, fascinating, and counterintuitive read that turns decades of self-help advice on its head and forces us to rethink completely our attitudes toward failure, uncertainty, and death.
Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times
Katherine May - 2020
These periods of dislocation can be lonely and unexpected. For May, her husband fell ill, her son stopped attending school, and her own medical issues led her to leave a demanding job. Wintering explores how she not only endured this painful time, but embraced the singular opportunities it offered.A moving personal narrative shot through with lessons from literature, mythology, and the natural world, May’s story offers instruction on the transformative power of rest and retreat. Illumination emerges from many sources: solstice celebrations and dormice hibernation, C.S. Lewis and Sylvia Plath, swimming in icy waters and sailing arctic seas.Ultimately Wintering invites us to change how we relate to our own fallow times. May models an active acceptance of sadness and finds nourishment in deep retreat, joy in the hushed beauty of winter, and encouragement in understanding life as cyclical, not linear. A secular mystic, May forms a guiding philosophy for transforming the hardships that arise before the ushering in of a new season.
A Guide to the Present Moment
Noah Elkrief - 2012
Your Unwanted Emotions Are Created By Thoughts, Not By FactsIf your romantic partner isn't cheating, but you think that they are, how do you feel? Hurt. If your romantic partner is cheating, but you think that they love you, how do you feel? Great. If your child isn't injured, but you think that they got hurt, how do you feel? Sad. If your child is injured, but you think they are safe at a friend's house, how do you feel? Fine. If you aren't going to get fired next week, but you think that you'll be fired, how do you feel? Fearful. If you are going to get fired next week, but you think that your job is safe, how do you feel? Great.When the facts are "good", but you think they are "bad", you suffer. When the facts are "bad", but you think they are "good", you are happy. This demonstrates that the facts don't create your happiness or suffering. It is only your thoughts that create your emotions.A Powerful 5-Step Process That Can Immediately Bring You More PeaceDo you want to stop living with stress, unworthiness, social anxiety, insecurity, anger, or sadness? It certainly seems as though these emotions are inevitable, and directly created by our circumstances, our situations, and the people in our lives. However, it is possible to discover that all your unwanted emotions are actually created by the thoughts in your mind. More importantly, each of these emotions can vanish in an instant if you just stop believing the thoughts that create them.When You Don't Believe Words, Those Words Don't Create EmotionsIf a random person tells you, "The world is going to end tomorrow", and you believe them, how would you feel? You would likely experience fear. But if you didn't believe them at all, then how would their comment make you feel? You almost certainly wouldn't be emotionally affected. This demonstrates that when you believe someone's words to be true, those words create emotions. But if you don't believe someone's words, those same words don't have the power to create emotions.The same is true of the words (thoughts) in your mind. If you believe a negative thought about yourself or your life, that thought will create an unwanted emotion. However, if you don't believe that thought, it quite simply won't create the unwanted emotion.This Book Will Show You How To Disbelieve The Thoughts That Create Your Unwanted EmotionsAs soon as you stop believing a thought that is creating one of your unwanted emotions, that emotion will instantly dissolve. As you disbelieve more and more of the thoughts that create your suffering, you will be happier in more and more situations, the more you will be living in the moment, and the more peace, freedom, love, laughter, wholeness, enthusiasm, and gratitude you will experience in your life.This Book Will Help You To:- Experience peace in situations that used to be filled with anxiety and stress - Lose the sense of lack in your life, and live with a sense of a wholeness and completeness- Put an end to your feelings of unworthiness and insecurity- Enjoy less arguments, resentment, and disappointment in your relationships with others- Experience the freedom to act how you feel without worrying about others' opinions- Live in the moment or live the power of now - Experience the fulfillment you have been searching for
Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart: A Buddhist Perspective on Wholeness
Mark Epstein - 1998
We are taught that the ideal is a strong, individuated self, constructed and reinforced over a lifetime. But Buddhist psychiatrist Mark Epstein has found a different way. Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart shows us that happiness doesn't come from any kind of acquisitiveness, be it material or psychological. Happiness comes from letting go. Weaving together the accumulated wisdom of his two worlds--Buddhism and Western psychotherapy--Epstein shows how "the happiness that we seek depends on our ability to balance the ego's need to do with our inherent capacity to be." He encourages us to relax the ever-vigilant mind in order to experience the freedom that comes only from relinquishing control. Drawing on events in his own life and stories from his patients, Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart teaches us that only by letting go can we start on the path to a more peaceful and spiritually satisfying life.About The Author: Mark Epstein, M.D., is a psychiatrist in private practice and the author of Thoughts Without a Thinker . He is a contributing editor to Tricycle: The Buddhist Review and clinical assistant professor of psychology at New York University. He lives in New York City.
The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down: Guidance on the Path to Mindfulness from a Spiritual Leader
Haemin Sunim - 2012
In this best-selling mindfulness guide - it has sold more than three million copies in Korea, where it was a number-one best-seller for 41 weeks and received multiple best book of the year awards - Haemin Sunim (which means "spontaneous wisdom"), a renowned Buddhist meditation teacher born in Korea and educated in the United States, illuminates a path to inner peace and balance amid the overwhelming demands of everyday life.By offering guideposts to well-being and happiness in eight areas - including relationships, love, and spirituality - Haemin Sunim emphasizes the importance of forging a deeper connection with others and being compassionate and forgiving toward ourselves.
Superbrain Yoga
Choa Kok Sui - 2005
SuperBrain Yoga is a scientifically validated method to help super-energize the brain and enhance its sharpness and clarity. This simple and easy to do technique develops and increases intellectual capacity and sharpens memory & concentration. Included in this book are preliminary scientific studies on the SuperBrain Yoga Exercise showing dramatic improvements in children diagnosed with Autism, ADD, and ADD/ADHD. SuperBrain Yoga can be a part of an effective routine to help people with Dyslexia, Autism, ADHD, Learning Difficulties, Alzheimers and Poor Memory and Retention.
Awake in the World: Teachings from Yoga and Buddhism for Living an Engaged Life
Michael Stone - 2011
Stone explains that the practices of yoga and meditation are not about escaping reality but about living fully in the here and now, opening to our experience, and gaining access to stillness within the flow of life. The essence of yoga and Buddhist practice is opening the heart—our own and the heart of the world. With that awareness, Stone encourages us to get involved in our communities, to speak out when we see wrongdoing, and to find ways of helping others.
Nothing Left Over: A Plain and Simple Life
Toinette Lippe - 2002
Her memoir speaks to living with full-tilt generosity and joy while not clinging to material clutter, resentments, and unfulfilled passions. "In truth, it is not the number of and diversity of our possessions that is the problem but our attachment to them.... The freedom we are all seeking is the freedom from the fear of losing what we believe we own." We've heard these sentiments before, but somehow coming from Lippe, who has her share of foibles, the words feel palatable and the wisdom feels earned. Like the gentle, intelligent voice in Gift from the Sea, Lippe contemplates the stories of her life as she passes on humble advice and observations. Whether she is writing of her existential crisis at 17 years old, her arrival in New York City as a 25-year-old virgin, the amazing conception of her son, or insider stories at Random House, Lippe offers a spiritual framework. In other words, she is an excellent storyteller--able to make meaning from her life so that readers can glean the rewards of her thorough contemplation. --Gail Hudson
The Essence of Buddhism
E. Haldeman-Julius - 2008
It offers a vast variety of insightful selections from various literature and provides a lifetime of ideas and images to contemplate and evolve with you.
Buddhism: Beginner's Guide to Understanding & Practicing Buddhism to Become Stress and Anxiety Free
Michael Williams - 2016
The secret behind its steady rise is due in part to the plethora of benefits Buddhism reaps upon those who practice it and apply its teachings to their lives. Through mindfulness and meditation, Buddhism injects peace and clarity into the minds and lives of those who dedicate themselves to it. Those wonderful benefits can be a part of your life as well through the careful study of its various tenets. In Buddhism, this thoughtful and carefully detailed guidebook acts as a beginner’s guide to those who may be interested in learning more about this ancient and wise practice. Placing emphasis on meditation, yoga, and understanding the core concepts of Buddhism allows the reader to apply its teachings to make their lives fuller and healthier. If you are curious about Buddhism and want to find the answers you seek, then look no further than this qualitative guidebook. Full of information on the various aspects of Buddhism, meditation, yoga, and more, Buddhism stands apart as a concise and practical guide to infusing your life with its many teachings. Here’s what to expect in the Beginner's guide: What Buddhism is and what its teachings are The core concepts of Buddhism: karma, suffering, nirvana, and reincarnation The practice and benefits of yoga The four noble truths Practices, treasures, and poisons of Buddhism How to practice the five precepts of Buddhism How to practice mindfulness in order to reduce stress and anxiety And much, much more! The choice is now yours. Open yourself to the benefits of a life free of stress and anxiety through the understanding and practice of Buddhism. A clear and peaceful mind awaits you along your spiritual journey through its tenets and teachings. Begin your journey towards a better life and grab your copy of Buddhism: Beginner’s Guide today!