She came to realize that everyone is born with an open heart, but that we quickly learn to put conditions on our happiness—comparing ourselves to others, casting judgment, doubting ourselves, allowing fear or entitlement or self-righteousness to take hold—and slowly our hearts begin to close. We isolate ourselves, feeling alone, disconnected, and unheard; and in doing so we immobilize our spirit, stifle our authentic expression, and cut off our joy.As she went on, Agapi, like so many of us, came under the soul-constricting influences of the larger world. In her struggle to find her place and her voice, trying to balance the acting career she dreamed of with the spiritual life she longed for, she discovered a path that was uniquely hers. Unbinding the Heart shows how she found her way home to herself.In 32 personal, heartfelt stories full of insight and humor, Agapi takes us from her mother’s bountiful kitchen, where the seeds of fearless living were planted, to the London classical stage, to an epiphany on a New York City bus—and inspires readers with the confidence to let go of the beliefs that bind them and come to a deeper understanding of life and love.

     Rumi’s popularity has gone beyond national and ethnic borders. He is considered to be one of the greatest classical poets, by the speakers of Persian language in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan. His poetry is still read worldwide today and has been translated into a wide variety of languages including Turkish, Persian, Russian, Asian, English and Spanish languages. Likely due to the pure universal natural themes in his poetry, Rumi’s works are simplistic and beautiful at the same time. A collection of 101 quotes of wisdom from Rumi on life, love and happiness. "Anyone who genuinely and consistently with both hands looks for something, will find it. " "Now is the time to unite the soul and the world. Now is the time to see the sunlight dancing as one with the shadows." "Gamble everything for love, if you’re a true human being. If not, leave this gathering." “Let the lover be disgraceful, crazy, absentminded. Someone sober will worry about things going badly. Let the lover be.” "Why should I be unhappy? Every parcel of my being is in full bloom." ............... Download this book now to experience essential wisdom from the timeless Rumi.

    and how to start choosing happiness again!Are you happy? It may be the wrong question. Most of us think we are relatively happy, while at the same time knowing that we could be happier—maybe even a lot happier. Ordinary people and the finest philosophers have been exploring the question of happiness for thousands of years, and theories abound. But this is not a book of theory. Resisting Happiness is a deeply personal, disarmingly transparent look at why we sabotage our own happiness and what to do about it.Are you overwhelmed? Do you procrastinate? Do you sometimes feel like you are your own worst enemy? Are you ignoring your dreams? Have you lost the courage to truly be yourself? Do you feel that your life lacks meaning and purpose? Do you find yourself avoiding the real issues in your life and focusing on the superficial?We all experience these feelings and doubts from time to time. But do you know what to do when you experience them? In this fascinating book, Matthew Kelly, uses his signature combination of the profound and the practical, to help us understand why we feel these things and how to rise above them.Breaking through resistance, Kelly tells us, is essential to becoming the-best-version-of-ourselves and living with passion and purpose.What is resistance? It's that sluggish feeling of not wanting to do something that you know is good for you. It's the inclination to do something that you unabashedly know is not good for you. It's the desire and tendency to delay something you should be doing right now.It is resistance that stands between you and happiness. In these pages you will learn not only what it is, but how to recognize and conquer it in your own life.

    Yet she's never offered an introductory course on audio--until now.On How to Meditate with Pema Chödrön, the American-born Tibetan Buddhist nun and bestselling author presents her first complete spoken-word course for those new to meditation.Through traditional insights and her personal guidance, offered in 12 sitting sessions, Pema Chödrön will help you honestly meet and compassionately relate with your mind as you explore:The basics of mindfulness awareness practice, from proper posture to learning to settle to breathing and relaxation- Gentleness, patience, and humor--three ingredients for a well-balanced practice- Shamatha (or calm abiding), the art of stabilizing the mind to remain present with whatever arises- Thoughts and emotions as "sheer delight"--instead of obstacles--in meditation"From my own experience and from listening to many people over the years, I've tried to offer here what I feel are the essential points of meditation," explains Pema Chödrön. Now this beloved voice shares with you her accessible approach--simple and down-to-earth while informed by the highest traditions of Tibetan Buddhism--on How to Meditate with Pema Chödrön.Running time: 5 hours, 45 minutes on 5 audio CDs

    But few receive instruction or guidance in how to make prayer genuinely meaningful. In Prayer, renowned pastor Timothy Keller delves into the many facets of this everyday act.With his trademark insights and energy, Keller offers biblical guidance as well as specific prayers for certain situations, such as dealing with grief, loss, love, and forgiveness. He discusses ways to make prayers more personal and powerful, and how to establish a practice of prayer that works for each reader.Dr. Keller’s previous books have sold more than one million copies. His Redeemer Presbyterian Church is not only a major presence in his home base of New York, it has also helped to launch more than two hundred fifty other churches in forty-eight cities around the world. His teachings have already helped millions, the majority of whom pray regularly. And with Prayer, he’ll show them how to find a deeper connection with God.

    For Coyote, the twin forces Dylan identifies as Texas Medicine and Railroad Gin – represent the competing forces of the transcendental, inclusive, and ecstatic world of love with the competitive, status-seeking world of wealth and power. The Rainman’s Third Cure is the tale of a young man caught between these apparently antipodal options and the journey that leads him from the privileged halls of power to Greenwich Village jazz bars, to jail, to the White House, lessons from a man who literally held the power of life and death over others, to government service and international success on stage and screen.Expanding his frame beyond the wild ride through the 1960’s counterculture that occupied so much of his lauded debut memoir, Sleeping Where I Fall, Coyote provides readers intimate portraits of mentors that shaped him—a violent, intimidating father, a be-bop Bass player who teaches him that life can be improvised, a Mafia consiglieri, who demonstrates to him that men can be bought and manipulated, an ex game-warden who initates him into the laws of nature, a gay dancer in Martha Graham’s company who introduces him to Mexico and marijuanas, beat poet Gary Snyder, who introduces him to Zen practice, and finally famed fashion designer Nino Cerruti who made the high-stakes world of haute monde Europe available to him.What begins as a peripatetic flirtation with Zen deepens into a life-long avocation, ordination as a priest, and finally the road to Transmission---acknowledgement from his teacher that he is ready to be an independent teacher. Through Zen, Coyote discovers a third option that offers an alternative to both the worlds of Love and Power’s correlatives of status seeking and material wealth. Zen was his portal, but what he discovers on the inside is actually available to all humans. In this energetic, reflective and intelligent memoir, The Rainman’s Third Cure is the way out of the box. The way that works.

    Based largely on actual dialogues between Francis Lucille, a spiritual teacher of non-duality, and some of his disciples, the music of freedom that it conveys resonates between the words, and gives the reader an inkling of the peace and happiness that are experienced in the presence of an authentic master. Francis Lucille was for over twenty years a close friend and disciple of Jean Klein, a well recognized French teacher of non-duality. They both belong to a lineage of Advaita Vedanta teachers stemming from India. (Advaita Vedanta is the main nondualist Hindu spiritual tradition). Jean Klein's guru, Pandit Veeraraghavachar, was a Professor at the Sanskrit College in Bengalore. Their teachings, despite some superficial similarities, are quite different from those of most contemporary western neo Advaita teachers.They emphasize for instance the importance of the direct transmission from guru to disciple, through presence, beyond words, and they recognize that the same universal truth was expressed by various saints, philosophers and teachers throughout history and across the world. That which matters here is not the form of the teaching, direct or gradual for instance, as much as the authenticity of the teacher, the vibrancy of his realization, the outpouring of his love, the freedom of his humour, the brilliancy of his intelligence, the splendor of his poetry, the spontaneous sharing of his peace. Nonduality is the common ground of Buddhism (especially Zen and Dzogchen), Advaita, Sufism, Taoism, the Kabbalah, the Gnosis and the teachings of Jesus in the Thomas Gospel, the teachings of Parmenides, Plotinus, Gaudapada, Abinavagupta, Meister Eckhart, Ramana Maharshi, Atmananda Krishna Menon, Ananda Mai and many others.

    The problem with these libraries is that they contain books that are generally written by professionals for their peers. Where the Hell Is God? combines the best of the professional's insights with the author's own experience and insights to speculate on how believers can make sense of their Christian faith when experiencing tragedy and suffering. Starting with a very personal story of the author's sister being left a quadriplegic from a car accident twenty years ago, Where the Hell Is God? gently leads the reader through some "take-home" messages that are sane, sound, and practical. Among these messages are: God does not directly send pain, suffering, and disease. God does not punish us; God does not send accidents to teach us things, though we can learn from them; and God does not will earthquakes, floods, droughts, or other natural disasters. This concise, accessible, and experience-based book will help people who are suffering as well as those who minister to them and their families.

    Keep a daily record of life's little blessings with this keepsake gratitude guided journal filled with a year's worth of insightful prompts, inspiring quotes, and ample room for reflecting on all the things that make life great.Fans of Calm the Chaos Journal, The Five Minute Journal: A Happier You in 5 Minutes a Day and Find Calm in The Chaos: A Writing Prompt Journal with Positive Prompts to Calm the Mindwill love this journal.• An inspirational gift for anyone who likes to journal• A thoughtful self growth journal for anyone looking to bring mores perspective and find more happiness in their lives• This hardcover journal is great for all ages and people in every stage of life.

    It's the last thing he feels like doing. What he wants to do instead is tell his friend everything he never said, to explain Zen and what he does for a living and why he spends his time "Sitting. Sitting. Sitting. Meditating my life away as it all passes by. Lighting candles and incense. Bowing to nothing." So, as he continues his teaching tour through Europe, he writes to his friend all the things he wishes he had said. Simply and humorously, he reflects on why Zen provided him a lifeline in a difficult world. He explores grief, attachment, and the afterlife. He writes to Marky, "I'm not all that interested in Buddhism. I'm much more interested in what is true," and then proceeds to poke and prod at that truth. The result for readers is a singular and winning meditation on Zen -- and a unique tribute to both a life lost and the one Warner has found.

    Create reality!       E-Squared could best be described as a lab manual with simple experiments to prove once and for all that reality is malleable, that consciousness trumps matter, and that you shape your life with your mind. Rather than take it on faith, you are invited to conduct nine 48-hour experiments to prove there really is a positive, loving, totally hip force in the universe. Yes, you read that right. It says prove.       The experiments, each of which can be conducted with absolutely no money and very little time expenditure, demonstrate that spiritual principles are as dependable as gravity, as consistent as Newton’s laws of motion. For years, you’ve been hoping and praying that spiritual principles are true. Now, you can know.       E-Squared proves the following: 1.       There is an invisible energy force or field of infinite possibilities. 2.       You impact the field and draw from it according to your beliefs and expectations. 3.       You, too, are a field of energy. 4.       Whatever you focus on expands.   5.       Your connection to the field provides accurate and unlimited guidance.6.       Your thoughts and consciousness impact matter. 7.       Your thoughts and consciousness provide the scaffolding for your physical body.8.       You are connected to everything and everyone else in the universe. 9.       The universe is limitless, abundant, and strangely accommodating.

    Through vigorous draftsmanship, charismatic voices, irreverent sight gags, crass humor, and stellar character acting, animation's most talented and disturbed artists created an entity for the Nickelodeon cable network that pulled the art form out of a 25-year rut. The world has never been quite the same since - and we're eternally grateful!Now you too can join the rollercoaster ride that is the fascinating, insane real-life story of art, money, and ego that gave birth to Ren Hoek and Stimpson J. Cat. History Eraser Buttons need not apply. No stone has been unturned, no magic nose goblins unpicked, in this extensively detailed history of the show that defined a generation and changed an entire medium.It's everything you wanted to know about Ren & Stimpy - but were afraid to ask!

    These teachings of Sage Vasistha imparted to Lord Rama, contain the true understanding about the creation of the world. The Supreme Yoga, with Romanised text, is a translation into English of this complete work and is accompanied by brief expositions by Swami Venkatesananda. This book brings this store house of wisdom to our world and makes the philosophy comprehensible to scholars and common people alike.The Yoga Vasistha has been a favourite book of spiritual seekers in India these several centuries. Its special appeal lies in its thoroughly rational approach. and in its presentation of Vedanta as a philosophy which dares, like the The Bhagavad Gita, to bridge the gulf between the secular and the sacred action and contemplation. in human life. through a comprehensive and lofty spirituality. The reader will come across passages such as the verse entry for 31 st January. highlighting the importance of reason:"The remark of even a child is to be accepted, if it is in accordance with reason: but the remark of even Brahma Himself; the creator of the world, is to be rejected like a piece of straw, if it does not accord with reason."It is this philosophy of a comprehensive spirituality. rational and practical. that man in the modern age needs to rescue himself from his stagnation of worldliness and put him on the high road of creative living and fulfilment.The text abounds in repetitions which are, however, not repetitious. If you do not like (or need) repetition, then readjust this one verse: "This world appearance is a confusion: even as the blueness of the sky is an optical illusion. I think it is better not to let the mind dwell on it, but to ignore it. "(I - 3/2) "This verse occurs several times in the scripture and it sems to be the very essence of the teaching. If that is not quite clear to you now, read the scripture. The numerous ways in which this truth IS revealed will help open your mind.An oft recurring expression in this scripture is 'kakataliya' - a crow alights on the coconut palm tree and at that very moment a ripe coconut falls. The two unrelated events thus seem to be related in time and space, though there is no causal relationship.Such is life. Such is 'creation'. But the mind caught up in its' own trap of logic questions why, invents a 'why' and a 'wherefore' to satisfy itself, conveniently ignoring the inconvenient questions that still haunt an intelligent mind.

    10, 1913 - Feb. 10, 1914 (CW 148)From his clairvoyant reading of the akashic record--the cosmic memory of all events, actions, and thoughts--Steiner was able to discuss aspects of the life of Jesus Christ that are not recorded in the four Gospels of the conventional Christian Bible. The results of such research has been called "The Fifth Gospel."After an intense inner struggle to verify the exact nature of these events, and having checked the results of his research, Steiner described many detailed episodes from the akashic record. For example, he speaks of Jesus' life in the community of the Essenes, the temptation of Christ in the wilderness, and a significant, previously unreported conversation between Jesus and Mary.Steiner states that divulging such spiritual research is intensely difficult, but that "although people show little inclination to be told such facts as these, it was absolutely essential that knowledge of such facts should be brought to Earth evolution at the present time."German title of the German source edition: Aus der Akasha-Forschung. Das f�nfte Evangelium.