Return From Heaven: Beloved Relatives Reincarnated Within Your Family


Carol Bowman - 2001
    Based on in-depth research and direct observation of very young children, she shows in this groundbreaking book how common it is for beloved relatives to reincarnate into the same family. Typical families share how their children -- some as young as two and still in diapers -- speak spontaneously of intimate details from the lives of a family member they never knew. These true stories shed new light on age-old questions of family relationships: Do we choose our parents? What relationships survive death? What happens to the soul after a miscarriage or abortion? Bowman offers hope for anyone who has lost a beloved relative and longs to be reunited again.

The Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going Nowhere


Pico Iyer - 2014
    There’s never been a greater need to slow down, tune out and give ourselves permission to be still. In The Art of Stillness—a TED Books release—Iyer investigate the lives of people who have made a life seeking stillness: from Matthieu Ricard, a Frenchman with a PhD in molecular biology who left a promising scientific career to become a Tibetan monk, to revered singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen, who traded the pleasures of the senses for several years of living the near-silent life of meditation as a Zen monk. Iyer also draws on his own experiences as a travel writer to explore why advances in technology are making us more likely to retreat. He reflects that this is perhaps the reason why many people—even those with no religious commitment—seem to be turning to yoga, or meditation, or seeking silent retreats. These aren't New Age fads so much as ways to rediscover the wisdom of an earlier age. Growing trends like observing an “Internet Sabbath”—turning off online connections from Friday night to Monday morning—highlight how increasingly desperate many of us are to unplug and bring stillness into our lives. The Art of Stillness paints a picture of why so many—from Marcel Proust to Mahatma Gandhi to Emily Dickinson—have found richness in stillness. Ultimately, Iyer shows that, in this age of constant movement and connectedness, perhaps staying in one place is a more exciting prospect, and a greater necessity than ever before. In 2013, Pico Iyer gave a blockbuster TED Talk. This lyrical and inspiring book expands on a new idea, offering a way forward for all those feeling affected by the frenetic pace of our modern world.

What the Bleep Do We Know!?: Discovering the Endless Possibilities for Altering Your Everyday Reality


William Arntz - 2005
    Some things are both waves and particles. . .at the same time. Electrons simply disappear . . . all the time. If the universe is this wild and unpredictable, so full of possibility, why are your thoughts about your own life so limited? Hundreds of years ago, science and religion split apart; they became antagonists in the great game of explanation and discovery. But science and religion are two sides of the same coin. They both help explain the universe, our place in the great plan and the meaning of our lives. In fact, they can only begin to do that adequately when they work together.What the Bleep Do We Know?!TM is a book of amazing science. With the help of more than a dozen research and theoretical scientists, it takes you through the looking glass of quantum physics into a universe that is more bizarre and alive than ever imagined. Then it takes you beyond, into the outer-inner edges of our scientific knowledge of consciousness, perception, body chemistry and brain structure. What is a thought made of? What is reality made of? And most importantly, how does a thought change the nature of reality?This science leads not just to the material world, but deep into the realm of spirituality. If observation affects the outcome, we aren't merely part of the universe, but participants in it. If thoughts are more than random neural firings, than consciousness is more than an anatomical accident. A higher power exists, but is it truly out there? Where is the dividing line between out there and in here?This is not a book of definitive answers. This is a book of mind stretching questions. It is a book that shows you not the path, but the endless possibilities. Do you think you have to go to the same job every day, do the same errands, think the same thoughts, feel the same way? Well, think again.

Stitches: A Handbook on Meaning, Hope, and Repair


Anne Lamott - 2013
    In this book Lamott explores how we find meaning and peace in these loud and frantic times; where we start again after personal and public devastation; how we recapture wholeness after loss; and how we locate our true identities in this frazzled age. We begin, Lamott says, by collecting the ripped shreds of our emotional and spiritual fabric and sewing them back together, one stitch at a time. It’s in these stitches that the quilt of life begins, and embedded in them are strength, warmth, humor, and humanity.

The Universe Doesn't Give a Flying Fuck About You


Johnny B. Truant - 2012
    If you have a "next big thing" in mind you want to do because you know it will be awesome (starting the business, making the big move, launching the nonprofit, writing the book) but are afraid of doing what it would take to make that thing happen, then you should read this.The universe is very big. You are very small. In fact, you're so small and so insignificant in the big picture that you don't even register to the eye of the cosmos. The universe was here before you were born and will be here long after you're gone, and your life is but a blip on its vast, vast radar. If your life is to matter, it's not going to matter to the universe. It's up to you make your life matter in the only way you can: by doing things that make a difference to you, to those around you, and to those whose lives you touch. Time is short. You have exactly NOW to do whatever it is you're here to do, or to let the inexorable passage of hours and days and years kill your potential like fruit left to die on a vine. The universe doesn’t hate you, but it doesn’t love you, either. You’re just an atom in its infinite workings. The universe doesn’t care if you live, die, suffer, or thrive. Whatever your life here will mean is up to you. Stop worrying so much about what others think and start being who you're supposed to be. It's time to do some epic shit.

Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends on It


Kamal Ravikant - 2012
    Afterwards, people came up individually and told me how much what I'd shared meant to them. This book is based on the truth I spoke about.It's something I learned from within myself, something I believed saved me. And more than that, the way I set about to do it. This is a collection of thoughts on what I learned, what worked, what didn't. Where I succeed and importantly, where I fail daily.The truth is to love yourself with the same intensity you would use to pull yourself up if you were hanging off a cliff with your fingers. As if your life depended upon it. Once you get going, it's not hard to do. Just takes commitment and I'll share how I did it. It's been transformative for me. I know it will be transformative for you as well.

Women, Food and God: An Unexpected Path to Almost Everything


Geneen Roth - 2009
    Now, two decades later, here is her masterwork: WOMEN FOOD AND GOD. The way you eat is inseparable from your core beliefs about being alive. No matter how sophisticated or wise or enlightened you believe you are, how you eat tells all. The world is on your plate. When you begin to understand what prompts you to use food as a way to numb or distract yourself, the process takes you deeper into realms of spirit and to the bright center of your own life. Rather than getting rid of or instantly changing your conflicted relationship with food, Women Food and God is about welcoming what is already here, and contacting the part of yourself that is already whole—divinity itself.

The Last Frontier: Exploring the Afterlife and Transforming Our Fear of Death


Julia Assante - 2012
    It unleashes our authentic selves, radically resets our values, and deepens our sense of life purpose. From it we discover that the real nature of the universe is the very essence of benevolence. In this comprehensive work, Julia Assante probes what happens when we die, approaching with scholarly precision historical and religious accounts, near-death experiences, and after-death communication. She then presents convincing evidence of discarnate existence and communication with the dead and offers practical ways to make contact with departed loved ones to heal and overcome guilt, fear, and grief.* Winner of a 2013 Nautilus Gold Award in the category of grieving / death & dying

In the Meantime: Finding Yourself and the Love You Want


Iyanla Vanzant - 1998
    You know exactly what you want in life, but what you want is nowhere in sight. Perhaps your vision is unclear, your purpose still undefined. On top of it all, your relationships, particularly your romantic relationships, are failing. If these scenarios feel familiar way down in the deepest part of your gut—then you, my dear, are smack dab in the middle of the meantime. Every living being wants to experience the light of love. The problem is that our windows are dirty! The windows of our hearts and minds are streaked with past pains and hurts, past memories and disappointments. In this book, Iyanla Vanzant teaches us how to do our mental housekeeping so that we can clean the windows, floors, walls, closets, and corners of our minds. If we do a good job, our spirits will shine bringing in the light of true love and happiness.

After Life


John Edward - 2003
    John answers your most often-asked questions about how the mediumship process works on the “other side,” while taking you on the inside of his own personal life as a husband and new father. He shares what he’s learned through his own recent, personal losses and demonstrates that you’re never too late to forgive—and never too far away to love.               In After Life, as he does on his highly rated hit show, Crossing Over with John Edward, John will also connect you with celebrities both here and on the other side—because, as John happily notes, there are no red-velvet ropes or VIP sections over there!

The Gratitude Diaries: How a Year Looking on the Bright Side Can Transform Your Life


Janice Kaplan - 2015
    Her pioneering reseach was praised in People and Vanity Fair and hailed on TV shows including Today, The O’Reilly Factor, and CBS’s The Talk. On New Year’s Eve, journalist and former Parade Editor-in-Chief Janice Kaplan makes a promise to be grateful and look on the bright side of whatever happens. She realizes that how she feels over the next months will have less to do with the events that occur than her own attitude and perspective. Getting advice at every turn from psychologists, academics, doctors, and philosophers, she brings readers on a smart and witty journey to discover the value of appreciating what you have. Relying on both amusing personal experiences and extensive research, Kaplan explores how gratitude can transform every aspect of life including marriage and friendship, money and ambition, and health and fitness. She learns how appreciating your spouse changes the neurons of your brain and why saying thanks helps CEOs succeed. Through extensive interviews with experts and lively conversations with real people including celebrities like Matt Damon, Daniel Craig, and Jerry Seinfeld, Kaplan discovers the role of gratitude in everything from our sense of fulfillment to our children’s happiness.   With warmth, humor, and appealing insight, Janice’s journey will empower readers to think positively and start living their own best year ever.

The Book of Forgiving: The Fourfold Path for Healing Ourselves and Our World


Desmond Tutu - 2013
    If you asked anyone what they thought was going to happen to South Africa after apartheid, almost universally it was predicted that the country would be devastated by a comprehensive bloodbath. Yet, instead of revenge and retribution, this new nation chose to tread the difficult path of confession, forgiveness, and reconciliation.Each of us has a deep need to forgive and to be forgiven. After much reflection on the process of forgiveness, Tutu has seen that there are four important steps to healing: Admitting the wrong and acknowledging the harm; Telling one's story and witnessing the anguish; Asking for forgiveness and granting forgiveness; and renewing or releasing the relationship. Forgiveness is hard work. Sometimes it even feels like an impossible task. But it is only through walking this fourfold path that Tutu says we can free ourselves of the endless and unyielding cycle of pain and retribution. The Book of Forgiving is both a touchstone and a tool, offering Tutu's wise advice and showing the way to experience forgiveness. Ultimately, forgiving is the only means we have to heal ourselves and our aching world.

Diary of a Medical Intuitive: One Woman's Eye-Opening Journey from No-Nonsense E.R. Nurse to Open-Hearted Healer and Visionary


Christel Nani - 2004
    Twenty-five case studies with patients suffering from heart disease, breast cancer, prostate cancer, multiple sclerosis, adult onset diabetes, and other illnesses document the emotional and physiological causes behind patients' symptoms. The interaction of a person's energy system with health and illness is discussed in detail, as are the revelations that medical intuition offers about life, death, healing, and the existence of God. Instructive strategies for increased health and well-being offer ways to increase resistance to disease and reverse the progress of illness.

Ordinary Magic: Everyday Life as Spiritual Path


John Welwood - 1992
    This inspiring book reveals how the simple practice of mindfulness can be a magical and transformative part of anyone's daily life. Thirty-five wide-ranging essays written by well-known spiritual teachers, therapists, and creative artists show how learning to focus awareness can bring a new richness to ordinary activities; how mindfulness can heighten creative pursuits such as painting, journal writing, or playing music; how contemplative awareness enhances both physical and psychological well-being; and how meditation can contribute to better relationships with family, community, and the world at large.Sunshine and green leaves / Thich Nhat Hanh --Everyday life as practice / Karlfried Graf von Dürckheim --Earth and space / Chögyam Trungpa --This very moment / Charlotte Joko Beck --Not preferring samsara or nirvana / Pema Chödrön --Seeing without the observer / J. Krishnamurti --Are you here? / A.H. Almaas --The way of seeing / Frederick Franck --Writing fearlessly / Natalie Goldberg --Meditation and poetics / Allen Ginsberg --Just being at the piano / Mildred Chase --Coming home to the body / Denise Taylor --Zen archery / Eugen Herrigel --The art of sword / Takuan Soho --Driving meditation / Kevin Berger and Todd Berger --The work of craft / Carla Needleman --Working for a living / Jean Martine --The healing power of unconditional presence / John Welwood --Touch and go / Karen Kissel Wegela --The listening mind / Ram Dass and Paul Gorman --On being unable to breathe / Stephen Butterfield --Conscious eating / Marc David --Being with anger / Stephen Levine --Being peace / Thich Nhat Hanh --Personal disarmament / Deena Metzger --The greening of the self / Joanna Macy --The path of service / Jack Kornfield --Mindful social action / Ken Jones --The power of peace / Chagdud Tulku --Nowness and enlightened society / Chögyam Trungpa --Intimate relationship as a practice and a path / John Welwood --Contemplation and intimacy / Monica Furlong --Family life and spiritual practice / Fran Tribe --Working with dying people / Stephen Levine --Facing death / Dainin Katagiri

Pronoia is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World is Conspiring to Shower You With Blessings


Rob Brezsny - 1999
    This witty, inspiring how-to shows how any reader can become a wildly disciplined, fiercely tender . . . lustfully compassionate Master of Rowdy Bliss.