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This Truth Never Fails
by David RynickThis Truth Never Fails is a playful yet well-grounded narrative of a year in the life of an unusual Zen master. Far from the silent and detached stereotype of Zen teachers, Rynick writes with disarming humor, offering both the struggles and the joys of ordinary life as opportunities for insight. Anyone looking for inspiration to bring a simple spiritual awareness into their daily lives, and also those interested in finding ways to more deeply integrate faith (in any tradition) with practice will find this book reassuring and encouraging. This book appeals to the broad "mindfulness" and "general spirituality" audiences that transcend any one formal tradition. Leaning toward Anne Lamott's humor, universal spirituality, and Mary Oliver's love of the natural world, Rynick's writing bypasses Zen theory and doctrine. Simple, clear prose illustrates, vividly, an insightful and tender appreciation of ordinary life as the Way itself. Includes a brief "study guide for further inquiry" offering opportunities for personal reflection and exploration on themes touched on in the book.
This Wasn't Supposed to Happen to Me: 10 Make-or-Break Choices When Life Steals Your Dreams and Rocks Your World
by Bev Smallwood“By far, the most practical, comprehensive, and spiritual book I have ever read on the process of healing from traumatic events.” —Beth Nimmo, mother of Columbine victim Rachel Joy ScottLearn the ten critical choices necessary for wholeness and recovery after life’s tragedies and disappointments. Blending scientifically-validated psychological truths with spiritual principles, Dr. Beverly Smallwood enables readers to overcome the unexpected and unthinkable. Giving readers a roadmap of ten major choices, she offers hope that no matter what has happened, going forward, we all have the power to choose.Through the power of choice readers will be able to move from:Denial to RealityVictimhood to ResponsibilityWhy to HowDoubt to FaithBitterness to ForgivenessGuilt to Self-ForgivenessDepression to GriefAvoidance to CourageIsolation to ConnectionPowerlessness to Purpose“Dr. Smallwood makes it clear in her book that the questions we should be raising in times of adversity are not Why’s but How’s. She tackles false teachings on faith which lead to the needed steps that should be taken for correct lifestyle choices. This is an excellent resource to keep renewing our minds.” —Dr. Charles Stanley, Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church of Atlanta; Founder and President, In Touch Ministries
This Way Up: Old Friends, New Love, and a Map for the Road Ahead
by Cathrin BradburyA funny, closely observed, and briskly honest guide the pleasures and perils of living life fully as a woman on the road to the far side of mid-life.At the age of sixty-eight, with children well-launched and husband long-exed and recently retired from a demanding career, Cathrin Bradbury realized she needed a map—several in fact, some physical, some of the mind and heart—to guide her through the coming milestones and all of the inevitable "comes with age" stuff.This book is her report from the road; a joyful, polished, often hilarious, sometimes heart-wrenching exploration of the questions and (some) answers that arise when you hit the three-quarter mark of a busy life. How do you stop shaming yourself about an aging body? (Hint: listen to the kids!) What are you willing to give up to pursue the creative passion you long ago put aside—and what might you gain in return? How do you become someone who allows the day to unfold after decades of list-making and agenda-managing?And what might happen if one day, after nearly fifty years, you suddenly get a text from your first true love? Drawing on her own life and conversations with siblings, younger family members, friends, as well as authorities in social science, philosophy, and literature, Cathrin Bradbury carries us with her as she explores this territory that we all hope to reach, taking on new ideas and adventures with insight, soaring optimism, and a bracing dose of humor.
This Way Up: Seven Tools for Unleashing Your Creative Self and Transforming Your Life
by Patti ClarkInternational Excellence Body, Mind, Spirit Book Awards Winner: Self-help Women spend so much of life nurturing and giving to others that when they find themselves alone—because of an empty nest, the end of a marriage, or the death of a partner—they often struggle with feeling purposeless. This Way Up: Seven Tools for Unleashing Your Creative Self and Transforming Your Life provides a step-by-step way out of this sense of loss and into a life filled with enthusiasm, creativity, and joy. This story of healing centers on the essential wisdom of introspection and on the importance of following one’s dreams. Join the protagonist, Katya, a widow whose two sons have recently left home, as she learns seven tools for uncovering her best self: visualization, heart-centered goal setting, positive focus, meditation on love; meditation on forgiveness, gratitude, and taking action on inspiration. Katya’s experience highlights these insights in an easily digestible, highly relatable format that readers can systematically apply to their own circumstances as they work through This Way Up’s twelve weeks’ worth of day-by-day journaling exercises, thought-provoking questions, and reader support. For any woman who yearns to lead a fuller life but doesn’t know how to begin, this book is an ideal starting point.
This Way to Change: A Gentle Guide to Personal Transformation and Collective Liberation—Poems, Prose, Practices
by Jezz ChungAn inspirational roadmap to changing yourself—and the world—through self-healing, transformation, and decolonization from artist, poet, and changemaker Jezz Chung.Artist, poet, and performer Jezz Chung (they/them) focuses on cultural change through personal transformation. In This Way to Change, Jezz shares contemporary poetry, accessible prose, and healing practices from different therapeutic modalities to explore subjects like healing your inner child, nourishing friendships, decolonizing your thinking, deconstructing binaries, and intentional community-making. The interactive healing practices in this book include writing and reflection prompts, somatic exercises, guided meditations, and more to help readers tap into their powers of self-healing on their journey through change.INSPIRING EXPERT AUTHOR: Jezz Chung has built a career as a thought leader and changemaker through their intersectional approach to equity, creativity, and well-being. Celebrated as a champion for diversity and inclusion and featured in such outlets as Adweek, Paper Mag, i-D, Teen Vogue, and The Folklore, they have a vibrant and ever-growing following on Instagram. They are an internationally recognized public speaker sought after not only for their commitment to change but for their practice of honesty and vulnerability.TRANSFORMATIONAL SELF-HELP BOOK: For readers hungry for self-help that inspires and doesn’t feel like homework, this deeply engaging guide will spark inspiration as well as introspection. The author is uniquely positioned to address several underrepresented themes and issues, like the strictures of the gender binary, AAPI experience, LGBTQ+ experience, and neurodivergence, making this a breakthrough volume in the self-help genre.GIFT BOOK FOR A WIDE AUDIENCE: Beautifully packaged and filled with inspiration, This Way to Change makes a powerful resource and empowering gift for readers of contemporary poetry, anyone interested in social justice, underground artists, and futurism, and those eager to explore new avenues of self-exploration and personal growth.Perfect for:Anyone interested in social justice, racial and disability issues, LGBTQIA+ and other marginalized identity issuesThose seeking guidance in alternative wellness, self-guided healing, intentional community building, and collective careAAPI readers interested in Jezz Chung’s Korean American perspective on identity, decolonization, and intergenerational traumaReaders of Self-Love Poetry, Heart Talk, and such bestselling authors as Alexandra Elle and Yung Pueblo
This Wheel of Rocks: An Unexpected Spiritual Journey
by Sister Marya GrathwohlThe memoir of a Catholic nun&’s spiritual journey that explores the deep connections between faith and the natural world Growing up in the Midwest, Judy Grathwohl never felt she belonged. &“I belong out west,&” she remembers telling her father. After joining the Sisters of St. Francis in the early 1960s and becoming Sister Marya, she came to realize that she craved a life beyond the traditional path of a Catholic nun. &“Something other than dedicating my life to God was summoning me, some other life purpose,&” she writes. It took several years and several detours, but when Sister Marya eventually was assigned by her order to the Northwest, she felt an immediate connection to the place and to its Native people, the Crow and Northern Cheyenne. Little by little, she was invited to become part of their communities, to share their customs and rituals, and eventually was adopted into one of their families. She came to understand that the blending of Catholic teachings and Native traditions helped build within her a deeper respect for the Earth—this wheel of rocks—that she could not have built on her own. In this intimate, revelatory memoir, Sister Marya recounts her own spiritual journey, her settling in Montana, how she—a Catholic nun from Ohio—came to be embraced by the Crow and Northern Cheyenne, and how their traditions prompted in her an expanding devotion to the land, its resources, and its connections to faith and God. Honest and eye-opening, funny and heartfelt, This Wheel of Rocks shows how living a spiritual life committed to preserving nature and community can be both fulfilling and productive.
This Works: How to Use Mindfulness to Calm the Hell Down and Just Be Happy
by Paddy BrosnanFormer investment advisor turned committed Buddhist shares a simple introduction to the deep wisdom and transformative practice of mindfulness.Everyone is talking about mindfulness, but how does it actually work and how can it help you?Mindfulness is a simple yet radical practice that can completely transform your life. Paddy Brosnan worked for many years as an investment advisor but felt trapped in a cycle of anxiety and anger. When he began practising mindfulness every day, he found that his relationships became more profound, his interactions with others more honest and his daily frustrations and anxieties simply vanished. In other words, mindfulness helped him calm down, and he became truly happy.This Works is the collection of tools and exercises that Paddy teaches in his workshops and events, and includes examples of everyday mindfulness from his own family life. It shows you that literally anyone can learn to meditate, and you don't have to become a Buddhist monk to be truly zen. Through simple daily exercises, you'll learn that mindfulness is not something you do, but something you are.Or, put simply, mindfulness can help you be truly happy.
This Year I Will...
by M. J. RyanAre you really ready to change? Take this quiz and find out. Every New Year’s Day, my list of resolutions is: Ambitious. I aim for everything from losing weight to saving more money for my retirement. Realistic. I just try to bump my good behavior up a notch--be a better friend, give more money to charity---without giving myself any strict deadlines or goals. Precise. I decide exactly how many men I will ask for a date, or how many new jobs I will apply for. Whenever I decide to change somethin...
This Year I Will...
by M. J. RyanLearn the secret to making changes that stickEvery so often people get inspired (again!) to lose weight, get organized, start saving, or stop worrying -but a few months later they give up, frustrated. It doesn't have to be that way. In This Year I Wil . . .l, bestselling author M.J. Ryan offers breakthrough wisdom and coaching to help readers make this time the time that change becomes permanent. Why do people find it so hard to change? The secret is that everyone has their own formula for making changes that stick, but most people don't know what theirs is. They think there is one way to lose five pounds, and another way to stay on top of their e-mail, but they don't realize that for all changes, there is one system that works best for each individual. This Year I Will . . . helps you lock on to your unique formula for planning, implementing, and seeing a life change through, so you can use it again and again to tackle anything else you'd like to do. For anyone who has broken a New Year's resolution, fallen off a diet, or given up on fulfilling a dream, the ingenious strategies, inspiring stories, and sheer motivational energy of This Year I Will . . . help you make a promise to yourself that you can actually keep.Answers to the jacket quiz: c, c, false, b. Take the whole quiz and learn your score at M.J. Ryan's Web site, www.mj-ryan.com.Are you really ready to change? Take this quiz and find out. Every New Year's Day, my list of resolutions is: Ambitious. I aim for everything from losing weight to saving more money for my retirement. Realistic. I just try to bump my good behavior up a notch--be a better friend, give more money to charity---without giving myself any strict deadlines or goals.Precise. I decide exactly how many men I will ask for a date, or how many new jobs I will apply for. Whenever I decide to change something, it's usually because:My doctor has put the fear of God into me.I read a magazine article about why making this change is important.I start daydreaming about how great life will be after I make the change. True or False: When you want to make a big change in your life, timing is crucial. Failure is:Impossible.Inevitable. Not in my vocabulary.(The answers are on the inside back flap.)
This Year You Write Your Novel
by Walter MosleyNo more excuses. "Let the lawn get shaggy and the paint peel from the walls," bestselling novelist Walter Mosley advises. Anyone can write a novel now, and in this essential book of tips, practical advice, and wisdom, Walter Mosley promises that the writer-in-waiting can finish it in one year. Intended as both inspiration and instruction, the book provides the tools to turn out a first draft painlessly and then revise it into something finer. Mosley tells how to: *Create a daily writing regimen to fit any writer's needs--and how to stick to it. *Determine the narrative voice that's right for every writer's style. *Get past those first challenging sentences and into the heart of a story.
This is Beauty. This is Fashion. This is Life.: The expert guide for people short on time
by This Is Mothership'Hands down the most useful guide to pull yourself out of a style rut & master the beauty basics, full of things I wish I'd known' Ashley James'Real-life advice from busy women for busy women' Harriet Walker, Fashion Editor, The Times'They won't just transform your wardrobe or your beauty regime, Sam and Gemma's book is full of time saving tips, hacks and tricks; it's the modern woman's guide to life' Deborah Joseph, Editor in Chief, Glamour'A really useful guide to streamline life, your wardrobe and to help you master the beauty basics' Sarah Jossel, Beauty Editor, Sunday Times StyleBalancing a busy social life, maintaining healthy friendships, managing the motherload, focusing on family, running a home and working on your career goals leaves little time for anything else. Finding the headspace to look and feel great while you are trying to do it all can be completely overwhelming. Beauty journalist Samantha Silver, and fashion stylist Gemma Rose Breger, founders of This is Mothership, have the perfectly honed hacks to make it feel effortless.This is Beauty. This is Fashion. This is Life. will help you to simplify your daily routines, and empower you to become the best version of yourself. Whether you're looking to revitalise your skincare, master pro make-up techniques, detox your wardrobe, learn how to style your body type, refresh your home or reclaim your 'me time', This is Mothership can show you how.Featuring step-by-step beauty routines, hero products, capsule wardrobe planning, simple styling tips, lifestyle hacks and down-to-earth, relatable advice, Sam and Gemma will provide you with the expert guidance and tools to feel confident, look stylish, and find yourself again.This is the only lifestyle guide you need.
This is Beauty. This is Fashion. This is Life.: The expert guide for people short on time
by This Is Mothership'Hands down the most useful guide to pull yourself out of a style rut & master the beauty basics, full of things I wish I'd known' Ashley James'Real-life advice from busy women for busy women' Harriet Walker, Fashion Editor, The Times'They won't just transform your wardrobe or your beauty regime, Sam and Gemma's book is full of time saving tips, hacks and tricks; it's the modern woman's guide to life' Deborah Joseph, Editor in Chief, Glamour'A really useful guide to streamline life, your wardrobe and to help you master the beauty basics' Sarah Jossel, Beauty Editor, Sunday Times StyleBalancing a busy social life, maintaining healthy friendships, managing the motherload, focusing on family, running a home and working on your career goals leaves little time for anything else. Finding the headspace to look and feel great while you are trying to do it all can be completely overwhelming. Beauty journalist Samantha Silver, and fashion stylist Gemma Rose Breger, founders of This is Mothership, have the perfectly honed hacks to make it feel effortless.This is Beauty. This is Fashion. This is Life. will help you to simplify your daily routines, and empower you to become the best version of yourself. Whether you're looking to revitalise your skincare, master pro make-up techniques, detox your wardrobe, learn how to style your body type, refresh your home or reclaim your 'me time', This is Mothership can show you how.Featuring step-by-step beauty routines, hero products, capsule wardrobe planning, simple styling tips, lifestyle hacks and down-to-earth, relatable advice, Sam and Gemma will provide you with the expert guidance and tools to feel confident, look stylish, and find yourself again.This is the only lifestyle guide you need.
This is Cancer: Everything You Need to Know, from the Waiting Room to the Bedroom
by Laura Holmes HaddadCancer is indiscriminate. It cares little for class, creed or color. Its patients are literally everywhere. When Laura Holmes Haddad was diagnosed, she discovered shelf upon shelf of overly-earnest, somber, gray survival books, and knew there had to be a better way. This Is Cancer is the thoughtful, informative fabulous-looking result for those who prefer their pathos with equal parts humor and reality and a touch of flair. A "what to expect when you’re expecting” book for the diagnosis you don’t want but are stuck with, This Is Cancer is the book that patients keep in their "heading to the hospital bag,” because it’s the only one that tells them what’s going on and keeps them company.Including such useful snippets as: There is no limit to what you will put yourself through when told it might save your life. Stay away from the Internet. And don’t let anyone tell you "what they looked up” about your diagnosis. You’ll be surrounded by people but you’ll feel lonely, and alone, sometimes. Lexapro is Tylenol for the soul. If you don’t like your doctor(s), find new ones. You will feel somewhat at the mercy of them, like they hold the key to your mortality, but in fact more than one doctor can potentially save you and some are nice and some are mean.Whether you or your loved ones want a primer full of useful information in an easy to reference format or a friendly and comforting read, the honest, grave, and mordantly funny stories and tips from young survivors will bring you the real intel and advice that you need most during this tremendously difficult time.
This is How You Grow After Trauma: Strategies for Resilience, Confidence, Healing & Hope
by Olivia RemesDuring the storm, pick up this book. Whatever the trauma or disappointment, learn how to shift your mindset from concerned to in control; restless to relaxed; stressed to soothed.From leading mental health expert Dr. Olivia Remes, this essential companion for navigating life's challenges offers everyday techniques and exercises to overcome setbacks and even achieve positive change.Whether you're dealing with job uncertainty, ill health, relationship problems, financial or mental health struggles, or the loss of a loved one, this highly practical and compassionate book will help you find meaning amidst the chaos and reset your life.Distilling cutting-edge science and psychology, and backing it up with examples of everyday people who have overcome the odds by harnessing their inner strength, This is How You Grow After Trauma offers a clear 5-step path toward healing from trauma and setbacks.This is your trusted, pocket-sized guide for how to turn hardship into healing and become your truest, calmest self.
This is Me!: A Self-Discovery Journal for Girls
by Summersdale PublishersA fun and empowering interactive journal for girls aged 9–12It’s time to discover and celebrate what makes you uniquely YOU!Welcome to the time in your life when lots of big, exciting stuff happens! This companion is here to guide you along the way. It’s full of fabulous fill-in activities, quizzes to do with friends, tips for sleepover parties, and advice on how to create your dream bedroom sanctuary. Helping you plan and prepare for big days, like starting a new school or taking an exam, and offering some great ideas when you need a happiness boost, this book covers the essentials and so much more!This Is Me is for you and you alone, so dive in and get started. Pick up a pen and make this journal as awesome and colourful as you are! Write a letter to your future self – what would you say?Make a family tree and learn more about your living relatives – what questions would you ask?How well do you and your best friend really know each other? Take the quiz to find out!
This is Me!: A Self-Discovery Journal for Girls
by Summersdale PublishersA fun and empowering interactive journal for girls aged 9–12It’s time to discover and celebrate what makes you uniquely YOU!Welcome to the time in your life when lots of big, exciting stuff happens! This companion is here to guide you along the way. It’s full of fabulous fill-in activities, quizzes to do with friends, tips for sleepover parties, and advice on how to create your dream bedroom sanctuary. Helping you plan and prepare for big days, like starting a new school or taking an exam, and offering some great ideas when you need a happiness boost, this book covers the essentials and so much more!This Is Me is for you and you alone, so dive in and get started. Pick up a pen and make this journal as awesome and colourful as you are! Write a letter to your future self – what would you say?Make a family tree and learn more about your living relatives – what questions would you ask?How well do you and your best friend really know each other? Take the quiz to find out!
This is Me, Bipolar-Free: Heal Your Mental Illness & Create Your Authentic Life
by Kate LaBrosseThis Is Me, Bipolar-Free offers readers relief from their mental illness and helps them no longer be controlled by it. Traditional therapy and medications can only take a person as far as they can, and fear of the next relapse still lays wake in that individual. People look for a beacon of hope to help fully heal them from their disorder. Within This Is Me, Bi-Polar Free, readers learn that true healing is truly possible, finding joy is a part of the healing process, how to use food and supplements to heal the bring one’s body back into balance, and so much more. Kate LaBrosse guides readers through a journey of transformation and healing to help them back to their own. Furthermore, This Is Me, Bipolar-Free is a course to help one fully heal their disorder and find the true power within.
This is Now
by Ciara GeraghtyAn ordinary day. An ordinary bank. An ordinary street in an ordinary town. Nothing ever happens, until, one day, a shocking robbery turns life upside down for five people. Honest and wise, poignant and warm, this is completely absorbing storytelling for fans of Marian Keyes and Jojo Moyes.Afterwards . . .The first thing Martha thinks about is having a drink. There are six reasons why she shouldn't; she wrote them down over a year ago. Two of the reasons are the same. A name. Of someone she didn't think she'd ever see again.Roman, a fourteen-year-old Polish immigrant, is on the run. From the police. From Jimmy and his gang. He understands now, what it means to be caught between a rock and a hard place.Tobias, old and alone, lies in a hospital bed in Dublin where the memories in Dresden are insistent visitors.And for Cillian, a police detective, the past is like a current, pulling him back, reminding him of all he'd had. All he'd lost.Each of the four is running from the moments that brought them here. To a place where the past cannot be undone and the future cannot be known.A place called now.
This is Your Brain on Anxiety: What Happens and What Helps (Five Minute Therapy #2)
by Faith HarperAnxiety .... it's the worst. Choking, stifling, smothering, tingling, panicking, brain cutting out, bad decisions... You're a human being, so you know exactly what's being said here. Dr. Faith lays it all out in her five-minute therapy series: what anxiety IS (did you know that people wrote about it more in the 1800s than now?), what it's good for (that's right, it's actually a necessary response that helps to keep us alive in bad situations), how to know when it's gone overboard, and practical tips on how to deal with anxiety when it gets bad. This book is a lifesaver for panic attacks, breaking out of flight-or-fight-or-freeze responses, and for chronic anxiety. It's also good for folks who aren't burdened by anxiety daily but want to cope better with those tough life situations that affect us all. Read this and breathe!
This is Your Brain on Depression: Creating Your Path to Getting Better (Five Minute Therapy #4)
by Faith HarperPeople who have never been depressed have no idea what it's like. And people who have know all too well how tough depression can be to live with. Dr. Faith explains the brain science behind depression (complete with Zuul references) and talks you through the different options out there for getting better. Because yes there are things you can do to feel good again (including drugs but avoiding spiraling successions of drug cocktails). If you need solid expert advice from someone who can also make you laugh your ass off, this book's for you!
This is Your Life, Not a Dress Rehearsal
by Jim DonovanThis book contains simple, practical ideas and techniques that anyone can use. By following this step by step success system, you can go from wherever you are in your life at this moment, to creating a life that is truly the life of your dreams. It does not matter where you are right now. You may be doing okay but know you can be more. Or perhaps you're struggling just to keep your head above water or, like most people, you're somewhere in between. Wherever you are right now, this book will help you devise a plan for lifelong success. You can turn your life around beginning today. I know how you feel. I have seen hardship. I also know that you can change your circumstances. I have done it and I have watched as thousands of others have done it too. The author of this book donated a digital copy to Bookshare.org. Join us in thanking Jim Donovan for providing his accessible digital book to this community.
This is the Year I Put My Financial Life in Order
by John SchwartzA New York Times correspondent shares his financial successes and mishaps, offering an everyman's guide to straightening out your money once and for all. Money management is one of our most practical survival skills—and also one we've convinced ourselves we're either born with or not. In reality, financial planning can be learned, like anything else. Part financial memoir and part research-based guide to attaining lifelong security, This Is the Year I Put My Financial Life in Order is the book that everyone who has never wanted to read a preachy financial guide has been waiting for.John Schwartz and his wife, Jeanne, are pre-retirement workers of an economic class well above the poverty line, but well below the one percent. Sharing his own alternately harrowing and hilarious stories—from his brush with financial ruin and bankruptcy in his thirties to his short-lived budgeted diet of cafeteria french fries and gravy—John will walk you through his own journey to financial literacy, which he admittedly started a bit late. He covers everything from investments to retirement and insurance to wills (at fifty-eight, he didn't have one!), medical directives and more. Whether you're a college grad wanting to start out on the right foot or you're approaching retirement age and still wondering what a 401(K) is, This Is the Year I Put My Financial Life in Order will help you become your own best financial adviser.
Thoreau and the Art of Life: Reflections on Nature and the Mystery of Existence
by Henry David Thoreau Illustrator Roderick Maciver EditorThoreau and the Art of Life collects eloquent passages from the writings of the seminal author and philosopher. Drawn mainly from his journals, the short excerpts provide fascinating insight into his thought processes by presenting his raw, unedited feelings about the things that meant the most to him. The book reflects Thoreau's deep beliefs and ideas about nature, relationships, creativity, spirituality, ageing, simplicity, and wisdom. By eloquently expressing his thoughts about life and what gives it value, he leads the reader to a closer examination of life. Thoreau's work asks us to live our own truths with joy and discipline and to recognize that we live in a universe of extraordinary beauty, mystery, and wonder. An avid reader of Thoreau, editor and illustrator Roderick MacIver organized the passages by themes. The book includes a chronology and brief biography. Thoreau's words of wisdom combined with MacIver's vivid illustrations of the American landscape will resonate with nature enthusiasts and a broad range of readers interested in art, environmentalism, literature, and philosophy.
Thoreau's Axe: Distraction and Discipline in American Culture
by Caleb SmithHow nineteenth-century “disciplines of attention” anticipated the contemporary concern with mindfulness and being “spiritual but not religious”Today, we’re driven to distraction, our attention overwhelmed by the many demands upon it—most of which emanate from our beeping and blinking digital devices. This may seem like a decidedly twenty-first-century problem, but, as Caleb Smith shows in this elegantly written, meditative work, distraction was also a serious concern in American culture two centuries ago. In Thoreau’s Axe, Smith explores the strange, beautiful archives of the nineteenth-century attention revival—from a Protestant minister’s warning against frivolous thoughts to Thoreau’s reflections on wakefulness at Walden Pond. Smith examines how Americans came to embrace attention, mindfulness, and other ways of being “spiritual but not religious,” and how older Christian ideas about temptation and spiritual devotion endure in our modern ideas about distraction and attention.Smith explains that nineteenth-century worries over attention developed in response to what were seen as the damaging mental effects of new technologies and economic systems. A “wandering mind,” once diagnosed, was in need of therapy or rehabilitation. Modeling his text after nineteenth-century books of devotion, Smith offers close readings of twenty-eight short passages about attention. Considering social reformers who designed moral training for the masses, religious leaders who organized Christian revivals, and spiritual seekers like Thoreau who experimented with regimens of simplified living and transcendental mysticism, Smith shows how disciplines of attention became the spiritual exercises of a distracted age.
Thought Patterns for a Successful Career (PX2 Higher Education)
by Inc. The Editors at the Pacific InstituteThis book is designed to build your understanding, with a structured process, of how your mind works, and how you can control the way you think to achieve success -- in any part of your life that you desire.