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

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...

MEMORIES Susanne O'Leary (2021). The Lost Promise of Ireland. This is book 3 in O'Leary's Sandy Cove Starlight Cottages series set in modern-day Ireland. Maggie lived in Sandy Cove during the summers in one of the Starlight Cottages her family owned, and at 18 fell in love with Paul, an American visiting...they promised to write and be together always, but Paul stopped writing soon after their summer departure...Maggie is now renting the same cottage that her family used to own as a divorced adult mother of two grown children, rekindling the memories with Paul, and through unusual circumstances, they meet up again, but Paul is not the same person and has a hidden business agenda of turning the small village into a tourist area...Maggie ends their relationship and realizes that Brian, a vet who had a crush on her during those summer visits of her youth, is her real love, and they eventually get together through their mutual love for animals, the village, and friends. practic...

ANGELIC Julie Ryan (2017). Angelic Attendents:                                       What Really Happens as We Transition                                         from this  Life into the Next . Ryan holds no academic degrees...she invented surgical devices and founded many successful companies...she now identifies as a psychic and medical intuitive that is able to remotely see anyone's medical condition, including their stage in the dying process. Ryan presents anecdotal evidence including confirmation of what she "sees" via doctors and families, i.e., she first reports what she sees, then seeks and receives confirmation. from her experiences, she posits 12 phases in the dying process that everyone goes through; however, the time in each phase varies ...

WILDBUILT Becky Chambers (2021). A Psalm for the Wildbuilt. Chambers has a BA in Theatre Arts and published several science fiction novels. This story takes place on a moon in the land of Panga where robots of an earlier era have gained self-awareness and live in the wilderness apart from humans doing whatever they wish while humans live in sustainable villages..."sibling Dex" (the main character) is disenchanted with his comfortable life and becomes a "tea monk" traveling in a makeshift coach, setting up temporary shop in different villages to listen and serve tea (his listening skills help him determine what tea to serve)...Dex meets a robot named Mosscap on the outskirts of the villages, in the wild, and they strike up a friendship and travel together, the robot wanting to know what do people need and how it can help them. there are philosophical points throughout the story, AND one main practice that we can all do is LISTEN with full attention to another's s...

SECRET OF IRELAND Susanne O'Leary (2021). The Lost Secret of Ireland. O'Leary has no formal degrees that i could verify...with 30+ novels to her credit, she is a prolific author. This is the 2nd of a series of novels set along the Irish coast in a place called Sandy Cove where the Starlight Cottages (a former coast guard station) are...each book in the series explores the life of another character that lives/visits one of the cottages. In this story Ella, an artist, recovering from an accident, is visited by 85-year-old Lucille (best friend of her mother who recently died) who aids in her recovery with positive, go get em, zest for living attitudes...In time, Ella falls in love with Rory, one of Lucille's sons, and the big secret is revealed: one of the former Starlight Cottage residents was convicted of a minor crime, sent to an Australian penal colony, and after serving their time, started a prosperous business and became involved in politics, and now has returned to Irel...

INTUITION TOOLS Joel Pearson (2024). The Intuition Toolkit:                                            The New Science of Knowing What                                            Without Knowing Why. Pearson has a PhD in neuroscience and to date has over 100 scientific publications. Intuition is the use of unconscious information to improve decisions/outcomes [this narrow definition of intution makes it amenable to research in the lab]. Evidence for unconscious processes of intution include:  proprioception (knowing where our body parts are),  vestibular perception (balance and motion),  interoception (perception of anything inside the body),  blindsight (navigating objects without being able to see them) and...

WHAT'S FUNNY Frank MacHovec (2008). Humor What's Funny. MacHovec has a PhD in Clinical Psychology and is the author of several books...this is a short book of 90 pages. the 1st part includes definitions and theories of humor the 2nd part, about 2/3 of the book, describes and provides examples of different TYPES of humor, e.g., jokes, puns, satire--some of them may not resonate well for the younger generation as they refer to examples pre-2000 the best part of the book is the last 3 pages where he provides questions for the reader to reflect on the sources of humor in their life including: t.v. shows, comedians, music, books, cartoons, jokes...his overall advice is to play more, be a kid, game, engage in music, have fun! there is a helpful reference to Albert Ellis (creator of rationale therapy) on using humor in therapy to laugh at oneself, obtain new perspectives, and develop paradoxical thinking (unfortunately, there are no details on HOW to do this)  practice: ask what resou...

INDUCTION Max Highstein (2019). Guided Meditation Handbook. Highstein has a BA in Music, and two MA's in Counseling Psychology and Spiritual Psychology.  This book covers how to create audio-guided meditations and includes 12 scripts for various topics including: relaxation, pain management, sleep, processing grief, decision making, meditation. The process of creating a guided meditation includes: Induction help the listener shift attention from normal waking consciousness to a relaxed and receptive state of consciousness through slow deep breathing combined with words like comfortable, relaxed, slow, deep, rest, secure, settle... Transition a further shift accomplished through a metaphor like: ascending or decending a stairway or hill/mountain, elevator...(depending on if you want to increase or decrease the energy), walking through a doorway, stepping onto a train, boat, plane, or getting on a horse, elephant, unicorn... Main body of the program topics might vary from health, gro...

BEAUTIFUL MIND Edward De Bono (2004). How to Have a Beautiful Mind. DeBono has a PhD from Oxford and wrote over 67 books at the time of this writing. cultivating a beautiful mind is about exploring and enjoying the art of conversation instead of argumentation and debate... some of the tips for practice in conversations include: asking "what if" questions to stimulate interest noticing adjectives...connections to another's feelings for topics that interest you, ask: "tell me more about..." use the 6 thinking hats to EXPLORE any topic...the hats are symbolically represented as colors: white=gather information red=focus on emotions black=look critically yellow=see the positive green=explore creative options blue=plan/organize to explore, say: "put your...hat on" for a controversial topic, put ALL the ideas down in parallel, look for: common ground and  points of difference as hypotheses to be tested new information means a new decision have fun by learing...

CONTEMPLATIVE MOVES Richard Rudd (2020). The Art of Contemplation . Rudd has a Master's in literature and metaphysics from the University of Edinburgh. 3 techniques and 3 confirmations, along with practical applications, are presented. 1.MENTAL technique: Pausing , to notice lifes pauses and enjoy them, to also intentionally create pauses, e.g. pause for 3 minutes every 3 hours... confirmation: Insight --open to greater space, relaxation, inner stillness 2.EMOTIONS technique: Pivoting , within the pause, intuit what's happening, e.g. green-yellow-red... confirmation: Breakthrough , to allow, accept, embrace whatever is going on 3.PHYSICAL technique: Merging , after the pivot, merge with whatever the experience is with love, friendship, and gentleness confirmation: Epiphany , transformation   my take: i see the value in pausing and noticing what's going on (1&2), but i'm confused with the "physical" merging being an epiphany, for me, it makes more sense to ...

JAB & HOOK Gary Vaynerchuk (2013). Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook . Vaynerchuk has a BA in Management Science and is best known for his entrepreneurial work. The boxing metaphor of jab and right hook is applied to marketers where jabs represent creating connections with audience interests (GIVING for free), and the hook represents asking the audience to do something (e.g., purchase a product/service, subscribe, like...(GETTING). The general format is for marketing is: jab, jab, jab...followed by the hook (jabs are the free gives to create connection and the right hook is the knock out punch). For every type of social media, there is a native context that the marketer needs to read based on who is using the platform, their purpose, and the platform's unique format...all of these need to be taken into account when engaging with the audience in jabs and hooks. Best advice across platforms is to use a striking, high-quality photo to grab attention (most people are scanning, looking for ...

SECRET AFFAIR Mary Balogh (2010). A Secret Affair. 5th and final book in the Huxtable series set in the Regency era of England. Hannah Reid marries an old rich Duke, becoming the Duchess of Dunbarton and learns platonic love...when the Duke dies 10 years later, she has an affair with Constantine Huxtable, illegitamate son of the Earl of Merton...over time they discover that they each have charitable hearts, households set up to help the poor that is kept secret, slowly they learn to care for each other and eventually marry and have a son. Favorite lines: I will always love you...nothing you do will make me stop (16) Everyone is a rose...of infinitely layered petals...precious at the heart of their being (142) We found something to laugh at every day...laughter is better than medicine (185) ...her life had followed a definite pattern...she could have never have predicted or planned...those years had not been an interval in her life...They had been integral to it...[italics mine] (226)...

INCLUSIVE THERAPY Bill O'Hanlon (2003). A Guide to Inclusive Therapy:                                               26 Methods of Respectful                                               Resistance-Disolving Therapy O'Hanlon has a Master's of Science in Counseling and Psychology from Arizona State University--a clinical hypnotherapist and author of over 30 books at the time of this writing...founded "possibility therapy" and "inclusive therapy." one key issue in therapy is balancing validating a person's experience while also inviting them to change (as most people will resist suggestions to change). some of the PRINCIPLES of inclusive therapy: give permission for ALL experiences (not necessarily behavior, but f...

FORGIVE Everett Wrothington (2003). Forgiving and Reconciling:                                                          Bridges to Wholeness and Hope Worthington has a PhD in Psychology, began studying forgiveness in the 1980's, and at the time of this book in 2003, published over 150 articles/papers on forgiveness (mostly from a social science and Christian orientation). forgiveness is an individual decision to not behave negatively toward a person that has hurt one, and making concrete attempt(s) to restore the relationship, whereas reconciliation is a relational process (requiring the cooperation of the offending party) that reestablishes trust in the relationship after trust was violated. the core process of forgivenss (this can be done individually without the offender involved) is summarized by the acronym REAC...

TO HOLD Mary Balogh (2007). Someone to Hold. This is the 2nd book in the Westcott romance series set in the Regency era of England. Camille Westcott (raised as lady Wescott but when here father dies, she discovers she is an illegitamate child of an illegitamate marriange) takes on a job as a teacher at an orphanage where her legitimate sister Anne had been teaching for 26 years...she meets Joel Cunningham who grew up in the orphanage and vounteers teaching art...Joel discovers he is the nephew of a wealthy man who dies and leaves him a fortune...Camille and Joel have an awkward relationship, but eventually marry and adopt 2 children from the orphanage. Favorite quotes: Choices...accept and move forward, deny and carry on, hide away and close one's mind, explore, make sense of it, and be born anew (49) Something that seems tragic, in hindsight, often holds an unexpected gift (374) Joel's paintings capture the character, the qualities of a person, not just the imag,e and for that...

AGING Connie Zweig (2021). The Inner Work of Age:                                               Shifting from Role to Soul. Zweig has a PhD in Depth Psychology...thesis: aging provides an opportunity to shift life perspective from outside roles of the hero's journey, ego, family, work and so forth to universal soul orientation of awareness, mindfulness, meditation, spirit, love, and service. we can grow into the wise elder (e.g., Gandalf, Obi Wan Kenobi) by entering 3 portals of awareness: shadow--e.g., ageism--hear and befriend the messages of the body as it ages pure awareness--cultivate via meditation, opening, silence, from "doing to being" mortaility--coming to terms withour personal death (e.g., life review) practices: digest the life we've lived by performing a life review distill the lesson learned from our life review turn the lessons into ...

SEDUCTION Mary Balogh (2009). Seducing an Angel. This is the 4th book in the Huxtable series set in Regency England. Stephen, the Earl of Merton, the youngest of the Huxtables, is targeted for seduction by Cassandra Belmont (a widow with a checkered past, according to the ton), but the plan backfires, and through extraordinary circumstances, the two marry. i love how Balogh takes seemingly disastrous circumstances and turns them around for a long-term good as in the case of 2 nights of seduction which results in the discovery of a pregnancy 7 months later solidifing their decision to marry. Favorite quotes: Think of those who have been kind to you today. Forget those who have not.116 Some events, some moments, were dropped deliberately into one's life...by an unseen hand. But that hand has no power to dictate one's response. It is up to the individual concerned to make something out of these events and moments. Or not. 150 ...I would be ready to come here and be healed. And to ...

WAR Yeva Skalietska (2022). You Don't Know What War Is:                                                  The Diary of a Young Girl from the Ukraine. Yeva was 12 years old when the war began in her city in the Ukraine...she kept a detailed diary by day and time for 28 days, from the sound of the first bomb to her landing in Dublin, Ireland, free at last. The fear, uncertainty, and trauma of the bombings come through powerfully in Yeva's story--all material concerns are nothing compared to the overwhelming need to survive for oneself and one's loved ones.  The kindness of ordinary people who helped her escape Ukraine to Hungary, then to Dublin, restores my faith in humanity.  The ability to connect by mobile phone was a blessing and a curse.  Prayer was a central part of the story--G help us, get us safe.  I (Jim) feel so GRAT...