A Lamp in the Darkness: Illuminating the Path Through Difficult Times


Jack Kornfield - 2010
    "Awakening to this wisdom can help us fin dour way through pain and suffering with grace and tenderness." For anyone seeking answer during a trying time, he offers "A Lamp in the Darkness," a book-and-CD program filled with spiritual and psychological insights, hope-giving stories, and guided meditations for skillfully navigating life's inevitable storms.The practices in this book are not positive thinking, quick fixes, or simplistic self-help strategies. They are powerful tools for doing "the work of the soul" to access our inner knowing and to embrace the fullness of our life experience. With regularly practice these teachings and meditations enable you to transform your difficulties into a guiding light for the journey ahead. Join Jack Kornfeld as your trusted guide as you explore:. Shared Compassion-a guided practice for planting the seeds of compassion and opening the heart to all that life brings . The Earth Is My Witness-a meditation to establish firm footing in the midst of darkness, centered by a steady witnessing presence . The Practice of Forgiveness-what Jack calls "the only medicine that can release us from the past and allow us to truly begin anew." . The Temple of Healing-a guided visualization to meet our own inner healer . Equanimity and Peace-a meditation for maintaining balance and acceptance regardless of the situationJust as it is certain that each life will include suffering, explains Kornfield, it is also true that in every moment there is the possibility of transcending your difficulties to discover the heart's eternal freedom. With A Lamp in the Darkness, he offers you a beacon for yourself and others until joy returns again.Table of ContentsForeward by Jon Kabat-ZinnIntroduction: An Invitation to Awaken1. The Wisdom of Our Difficulties2. The Earth is My Witness3. Shared Compassion4. Awakening the Buddha of Wisdom in Difficulties5. The Practice of Forgiveness6. The Temple of Healing7. The Zen of an Aching Heart8. Equanimity and Peace9. Your Highest Intention10. The Four Foundations of Mindfulness and the Healing JourneyAfterword: The Return of JoyExcerptIf you're reading these words, you've probably hit hard times. Perhaps you've lost a loved one, or maybe you've lost your job, or received a difficult diagnosis, or someone close to you has. Maybe you're divorcing or you're in bankruptcy or you've been injured, or your life is falling apart in any number of ways. Maybe daily life itself has become too much for you.or not enough. But even in the best of times there's plenty to worry about: seemingly endless wars and violence, racism, our accelerating environmental destruction. In difficult times, personally or collectively, we often begin to wonder not only how we can get through this difficult patch; we begin to question existence itself.

Interbeing: Fourteen Guidelines for Engaged Buddhism


Thich Nhat Hanh - 1987
    The book also includes a brief history, ceremonies, and the revised charter of the Order of Interbeing.

The Reality Creation Technique


Frederick Dodson - 2010
    Beyond the shallow waters of new-age, "law of attraction" and conventional motivational psychology there is a deep well from which you derive unbending determination and strength. That source is within you and can be awakened to achieve anything. The Reality Creation Technique is the most speedily effective method to help you make your dreams come true.

Personality Development


Vivekananda - 2003
    

Take Charge of Your Life: How to Get What You Need with Choice-Theory Psychology


William Glasser - 2011
    William Glasser details the choice theory-a science of human behaviors and principles for regaining and maintaining internal control-and the role it can play in helping you regain your personal freedom and choice. "Take Charge of Your Life, " a revision of his 1984 book, "Control Theory, " includes choice-theory applications. He explains choice theory using personal examples and illustrative stories that allow you to learn how to improve your relationships and take charge of your actions. Topics include marital and relationship problems, parenthood, alcoholism, diseases, and psychosomatic disorders. For each situation discussed, Glasser ties behavior to the pictures of what people want in their heads. He explains how the pictures got there and how people can choose new behaviors to get what they really want. In "Take Charge of Your Life, " Glasser offers a real model of empowerment. He shows how you can become a part of the equation that adds happiness and connection to the world in which you live now and to the world of future generations.

The Heart of the Shaman: Stories and Practices of the Luminous Warrior


Alberto Villoldo - 2018
    Villoldo shares some of their time-honored teachings that emphasize the sacred dream: an ephemeral, yet powerful vision that has the potential to guide us to our purpose and show us our place in the universe.The practices in this book will help you forge a sacred dream for yourself. They will help you craft a destiny infused with courage, and driven by vision. You’ll be invited to follow the footsteps of the luminous warrior and learn how to break out of the three nightmares surrounding love, death, and safety that have held you captive, and transform them into the experience of timeless freedom, known as the Primordial Light. This creative power exercised by shamans will lead you to create beauty and healing, and dream a new world into being.When you transform these dreams and accept that life is ever changing, that your mortality is a given and that no one except you can free you from fear —the chaos in your life turns to order, and beauty prevails.“Wake up from the slumber you are living in, and dream with your eyes open so that all the possibilities of the future are available to you.”

Joy: The Happiness That Comes from Within


Osho - 2004
    Joy is the spiritual dimension of happiness, in which one begins to understand one's intrinsic value and place in the universe. Accepting joy is a decision to "go with the flow," to be grateful to be alive and for all the challenges and opportunities in life, rather than setting conditions or demands for happiness.The Insight for a New Way of Living series aims to shine light on beliefs and attitudes that prevent individuals from being their true selves. The text is an artful mix of compassion and humor, and readers are encouraged to confront what they would most like to avoid, which in turns provides the key to true insight and power.Joy is a wondrous investigation into the source and importance of joyfulness in our lives.

Happiness Is an Inside Job: Practicing for a Joyful Life


Sylvia Boorstein - 2007
    The result is her best work to date, offering warm, wise, and helpful ways we can experience happiness even when the odds are against us.As Boorstein has discovered in more than three decades of practice as a professional psychotherapist, the secret to happiness lies in actively cultivating our capacity to connect with kindness: with ourselves; with friends, family, colleagues; with those we may not know well; and even with those we may not like. She draws from the heart of Buddhist teachings to show how Wise Effort, Wise Mindfulness, and Wise Concentration can lead us away from anger, anxiety, and confusion, and into calmness, clarity, and the joy of living in the present. These qualities strengthen our ability to meet encounters of every kind with balance and intelligence, providing us with a grounded sense of true contentment.Happiness Is an Inside Job resonates with the knowledge of a psychotherapist, the compassion of a spiritual teacher, and the wisdom of a grandmother. Boorstein’s vivid stories capture our minds and our hearts, and the simple exercises she suggests can be done while you read.This beautiful book is comforting and reminds us that life is a shared journey, that our hearts truly do want to console and love our fellow sojourners, and that living happily is indeed the best way to live.

Letting Go of the Person You Used to Be: Lessons on Change, Loss, and Spiritual Transformation


Surya Das - 2003
    For many people, recent years have been characterized by profound change, whether it relates to financial upheaval, political shifts, or even massive losses of life to disease and violence. Even on the personal level each person must confront the curves life throws his or her way. Buddhism has a great deal to say about change and impermanence and how to meaningfully deal with it. Change--whether on a large or small scale--provides our most important opportunity for learning about ourselves and the nature of reality. From this essential insight Lama Surya Das has crafted a fulfilling and important path to understanding and healing ourselves and finding peace. Full of personal stories, anecdotes, practical exercises, guided meditations and reflections, and pithy original aphorisms, Letting Go of the Person You Used to Be addresses life's most universal difficulties in a way that is accessible to all. By using memorable concepts such as The Virtues of Adversity, The Pearl Principle ("No inner irritation, no pearl"), and Gaining through Loss, Surya reminds readers that hiding from change and loss is futile. Learning to consciously accept and embrace change leads to a better understanding of ourselves and our own innate divine light. About The Author: About The Author: A voice of clarity in difficult times, Surya Das offers timeless wisdom in a timely message of hope helpful for us today and tomorrow. An authorized lama in the Dzogchen lineage of Tibet, SURYA DAS is a sought-after spiritual teacher and meditation master, poet, and spokesperson for the emerging American Buddhism. Founder of the Dzogchen Center, he is also the author of several pop

Kriya Yoga by Swami Yogananda (1930)


Paramahansa Yogananda - 2013
    This is an exact reproduction of his 1930 work (now Public Domain), formatted for Kindle devices. It contains detailed descriptions and instructions in the following techniques: (1) Kriya Proper - The basic Kriya Pranayama technique (2) Maha Mudra - Preparatory technique for Kriya Proper (3) Jyoti Mudra - Technique to see the Spiritual Eye

Awakening Loving-Kindness


Pema Chödrön - 1996
    The message for the retreat participants—and for the reader as well—is to be with oneself without embarrassment or harshness. This is instruction on how to love oneself and one's world. This Shambhala Pocket Classic is an abridged version of The Wisdom of No Escape.

Along the Path to Enlightenment: 365 Daily Reflections from David R. Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D.


David R. Hawkins - 2011
    Hawkins M.D., Ph.D., on the nature of consciousness, spirit, and ego are known worldwide by students seeking to realize spiritual Truth.        As a mystic, Dr. Hawkins has infused the truths found in the precepts of Western religion with the core of Eastern philosophy, bridging the familiar, physical world to the nonlinear, spiritual domain.        This collection of passages, carefully selected from Dr. Hawkins’s extensive writings, offers readers a new contemplation for each day. Any one of these passages, fully understood, can elevate one’s level of consciousness.

Love is Stronger than Death: The Mystical Union of Two Souls


Cynthia Bourgeault - 2014
    —Brother David Stendl-Rast"Libraries offering titles on mysticism, inner transformation, or dealing with grief will find this a unique and welcome addition."—Library JournalThis powerful book, written by an Episcopal priest, tells of her intense relationship with Brother Raphael Robin, a seventy-year-old Trappist monk and hermit. Both believed that a relationship can continue beyond this life, and here Cynthia Bourgeault describes her search for that connection before and after Robin's death. Bourgeault's previous books include The Wisdom Jesus and Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening.

Even the Sun Will Die: An Interview with Eckhart Tolle


Eckhart Tolle - 2002
    As the day's events unfolded, in real time, he responded with a calm and clear voice, helping to make sense out of the fear and chaos that will forever define this date. Even the Sun Will Die documents this historic meeting with Eckhart Tolle and the comforting wisdom he revealed that day.We live in a time, he says, when we define ourselves through our enemies; and science and technology are in the service of human madness. Yet even in the face of disaster, a miracle happens when we say yes to living in this moment and no other. This great opening, he teaches, can serve as nothing less than the beginning of a revolution in human consciousness with the potential to transform our world and everyone in it. Also for the first time on audio, Eckhart Tolle comments on his own awakening, and what he sees as the next step in human evolution.From insights into the way out of suffering, to evidence that a new consciousness is already rising, Even the Sun Will Die confirms Eckhart Tolle's place among the most important and accessible spiritual teachers of our time.

The Reinvention of Work: A New Vision of Livelihood for Our Time


Matthew Fox - 1994
    As Thomas Aquinas said, "To live well is to work well," and in this bold call for the revitalization of daily work, Fox shares his vision of a world where our personal and professional lives are celebrated in harmony--a world where the self is not sacrificed for a job but is sanctified by authentic "soul work."