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

SINFUL Mary Balogh (2004). Slightly Sinful. This is the 5th book in Balogh's "Slightly" series of romance novels set in the time of Lords and Ladies of England. Lord Alleyne Bedwyn loses his memory in battle and is discovered naked and nearly dead in the forest and brought back to health by Rachel York in a room above a brothel with the help of the ladies and Sergent Strickland, who helped transport Alleyne from the forest...a fake marriage between Alleyne and Rachel to ingratiate her with her Uncle who is holding her inheritance of jewels and later confessions of both the Uncle and Rachael and Alleyne restore Rachel's relationship to her Uncle's and her rightful place as heir to Chesbury. Eventually, Alleyne slowly regains his memory, and the couple marry and live at Chesbury.  Losing the memory of one's identity leaves one free to become anything one wants to be...what if you could really let go of all of your past...what new paths might emerge before you wi...

INWARD ARC Frances Vaughan (1985). The Inward Arc:                                                     Healing and Wholeness in                                                     Psychotherapy and Spirituality. Vaughan (PhD in Psychology) was a psychotherapist who integrated spirituality in therapy...she is the author of three other books...she weaves different spiritual perspectives (Christian, Hindu, and Buddhist in particular) and spiritual perspectives (Freudian, Jungian, Humanist, Cognitive-Behavioral, and Transpersonal) into the themes of the book. The experiential activities at the end of each chapter were my favorite. One theme was that we need awareness and healing to brin...

SURELY YOUR JOKING Richard Feymann (1985). Surely You're Joking Mr. Feyman!                                                                   Adventures of a Curious Character. Feyman (pronounced "Fine-man") is a noble prize winning physicist. The book draws on interviews with him that narrate stories chronologically from the time of his life as a boy in his own laboratory to working on the first bomb to teaching physics at several universities to travel abroad.  Things that resonated with me: Do things  for the FUN of it, just to play around...one of the best ways to learn. Don't trust an expert's opinion about research--read the original research yourself and make up your own mind, and if it's possible and important, do your own calculations to confirm the numbers. For any theory/mod...

MERRY and COMPASSIONATE Mary Balogh (2003). Slightly Scandalous. Blough writes fictional novels...this is the 3d book in her "Slightly" series and involves the Marquess of Hallmere Joshua Moore and Lady Freyja Bedwyn of Lindsey Hall. A farce betrothol (to protect from scandal) takes a long time to turn into a "love match" which only takes hold at the end of the story. Joshua's meriment and deep compassion meet Freyja's haughtiness and fierceness. Freyja leaps into what she fears to overcome it (a courageous but not a long term wise habit) while Joshua trusts that in life "all will be well," echoing Saint Julian of Norwich's famous saying. The practice is to cultivate a feeling of gratitude for the gift of life, for the merriment of being alive with dancing eyes, a smiling face, and words that uplift and inspire ALONG WITH a deeper compassion for the well-being of all creatures, especially those within our care.