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

CONTEMPLATIVE JOURNEY Anthony Padovano (1995). A Retreat with Thomas Merton:                                              Becoming Who We Are Padovano is a Catholic priest that studied, researched, wrote, and gave retreats on the life of Thomas Merton. This short book is one in a series of books by various authors that encourage lay people to "go on retreat." The retreat is very flexible in form...i chose to do one day a week for 7 days in a row on summer vacation, reading and reflecting in the afternoons in July of 2022. One message that struck me: we only need to BE WHO WE TRULY ARE, to honor our calling in this life, to grow into the unique person we are meant to be...and to do this we look inward and connect with our divine source through contemplation that opens the door to discovering and becoming our authentic self. Merton's journey is one of childhood tragedies (e.g...

TRANSFORMATION Stephan A. Schwartz (2015). The 8 Laws of Change: How to be an                                                   Agent of Personal and Social                                                                 Transformation. Lasting positive personal and social transformation begins with one person holding a  compassionate and life-affirming intention and acting on it...the individual, group, and community of people that arises from this one individual's intent must, according to Schwartz's research, follow 8 laws to effect positive and lasting personal and social transformation: 1) share common intention (positive, compassionate, and life-affirming) 2) have goals but not cherishe...

  AURAS Susan Shumsky (2014). The Power of Auras: Tap into your Energy                                             Field for Clarity, Peace of Mind, and Well-                                             being. Shumsky spent 20 years in an ashram, then 20 more years of self-study.  The aura  consists of multiple energy bodies made of (in yogic terms) sheaths that include color, light, frequencies, and characteristics that we can experience, measure, evaluate, cleanse, and strengthen...thus we exist simultaneously in multiple dimensions or layers of our auric fields.  For our physical aura we can imagine being filled with light and extending this light past our bodies...breathing in we can visualize this energy and consciously direct it ANYW...