3 X 5's: Index Card Wisdom from Best of Books

LAUGH! Madan Kataria (2018). Laughter Yoga:                                                Daily Practices for Health and Happiness. Kataria is a medical doctor that began laughter yoga in the park with a handful of people...over time, yoga of laughter has grown into a worldwide organization with live in-person and on-line zoom groups that meet daily/weekly Karatria presents a strong case (with research evidence) for the mental, physiological, and emotional benefits of laughter, and laughtger is free...to receive the full benefits takes 15-20 minutes a day. The key attitudinal shift is expanding our conventional idea of laughter as spontaneous natural laughyer resulting from a humorous stimulus in our everyday life to intentionally choosing to laugh for no particular reason, faking the laughter until it turns into genuine laughter ...several activi...

LOST MOTHER Susanne O'Leary (2023). The Lost Mother of Ireland. 6th book in the Sandy Cove series set on the Atlantic coast of the village of Kerry in Ireland...story of Laura the nurse who inherits one of the star light cottages in sandy cove from an older patient who she used to take care of...she moves in and fall in love with the village and the baker Gino who lives on the hill overlooking the wild rose bay...the side story is about a painting that Laura inherited from the same patient that died and the mystery of finding the rightful owner which involves the "lost mother of Ireland" some quotes: never mind all that. These are just things (p. 232) we have a saying in our home, "people over things"--no thing is more important than any person have fun girls, and if you can't be good...well, you know. We'll be careful...(75) friend of my Uncle Ves, Larry Bowen, used to say goodbye with the words, "Be good, and if you can't, be careful" onl...

MAGIC Dean Radin (2025). Science of Magic:                                          How the Mind Weaves the Fabric of Reality Radin has a PhD in psychology and over 300 papers (including original research in peer reviewed journals) and 5 other books. This book provides ample evidence for the reality of magic which include psi (psychic) phenomenon...the effects are "weak" but statistically significant in controlled laboratory settings which over the last 50 years have improved considerably to account for most known methodological issues using double blind studies with valid and reliable measures and often very creative designs...thus, magic is real and can be used for posivite purposes in everyday life. part 4 of the book is the pragmatic part on "doing magic" but only 32 of 275 pages...there are references to other books and websites for those that want to learn m...

LOST LETTERS Susanne O'Leary (2022). The Lost  Letters of Ireland. This is the 5th book in O'Leary's starlight cottage series set in the coast of modern day Ireland. Edwina, a socialite from Dubline, buys and refurbishes the starlight cottages, with the financial help of her mother Pamela, also a socialite...she gets to know and eventually marry Shane, the local doctor...the lost letters refer to a letter in a bottle that Edwina found on the beach near the cottages from Pearse who is longing for a girl that returned to the states...part, but not all, of their story is revealed. lesson: failure of a big project (the original plans for modern renovations of starlight cottages due to the construction company going bankrupt) turns out to be a blessing, as the new renovations are more modest, more in keeping with the style of the local village, more in line with their budget, and Edwina and Shane are able to buy and live in one of the cottages. practice: how might you downsize y...

GRAVITY HABITS Joan Vernikos (2011). Sitting Kills, Moving Heals Vernikos has a PhD in pharmacology and worked at NASA as a research scientist and director of multiple programs for over 30 years...her research focuses on astronaut health Research shows a suprising similarity in the negative effects of lack of gravity for astronauts and those earthlings who have seditary lifestyles, especially those that sit a majority of their day (e.g., office and white collar work at computers, students sitting in classrooms) and those confined to beds (e.g., those in hospitals or those homebound that are confined to a bed) including: DECREASED bone density, muscle mass, growth hormone, heart output, balance, immune response, and sleep... all of the negative effects can be reversed with GRAVITY HABITS throughout the day, especially postural shifts (e.g., as simple as moving from sitting to standing many times a day..."Every time you stand up, the body initiates a shift in fluides, volume, and ho...

CREATIVE MEDITATION Jack Schwarz (1978). Voluntary Controls:                                             Exercises for Creative Meditation. Schwarz has no formal educational degrees...he developed some of the techniques in a Nazi concentration camp before founding the Aletheia Foundation in 1958 which as of this writing in 2026 has a website (aletheiaheart.com)...Schwarz is self-taught with no teacher, guru, or formal religions/spiritual affiliation...he realized at age 9 that he could put his hands on people and heal them...he was tested by scientists like Elmer Green on his abilities such as being filmed inserting a knitting needle through his bicep with no bleeding or significant changes in heart rate or brain waves...this is what he calls "voluntary control" Learnings: the most important idea is to trust yourself, your inner voice, your intution...ta...