HEALING LIGHT Agnes Sanford (1947, 1972). The healing light. A gnes Sanford's book The healing light was first published in 1947, and after becoming a classic, was republished in 1972. As an Episcopalian, her method of healing is decidedly Christian although at times she appeals to a broader audience by recognizing a universal healing power that she describes as "healing light." There are perhaps 30+ stories of healing that she personally was involved in, some witnessed by others, varying from small but dramatic (the nearly instantaneous healing of a smashed thumb with a blackened nail) to the large and dramatic (people near dead from heart condition that within the hour are able to walk). She also admits that some are not healed even though we feel called to heal them, and that healing can occur on many levels beyond bodily healing (e.g., mind and spirit). Her method of healing is straightforward and requires faith: contact God by quieting the self and connecting wit...
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SOMEONE'S AT THE FRONT DOOR Patch Adams (1998). House Calls: How We can All Heal the World one Visit at a Time Patch is a medical doctor and genuine clown that defines health as, "...happy, vibrant life, doing the most with what you have, with delight" (page 2). He takes clowning around, playing around, and humor seriously believing that this helps nourish the mind, body, and spirit, especially in hospitals, but also in "house calls" like the old time doctors used to make to family's homes. The book is divided into several sections: one with words/phrases with a description, things to do (practices), and cartoons to illustrate, the second section is things a visitor can do, the next section on how to be a good patient, and finally a section on special concerns when working with children, teens, elderly, mentally ill, disabled, and dying. Patch has a unique and valuable perspective on medicine, healing, and life that we all could grow into to make the world a...
OLD ONES Chief Joseph River Wind (2015). That's What the Old Ones Say. "Old Ones," particularly first nation indigenous peoples like the Lakota people that Chief Joseph River Wind speaks of in this book, have much wisdom to share. The setting for the book is a campfire where the Chief Joseph River Wind and old friend Pipe Carrier share stories with each other about their lives and their people just as humans did around the first fires of long ago. One of the many wisdom lessons for me is that first nation cultures have a SONG for just about everything, and everyone is given a song by the Creator Wakan Tanka to help guide their life. Let us create space together, calling together the people in our life that we feel a close connection with...let us encircle the fire (maybe we can't have a campfire but surely each of us can gather round a candle, and if not that, we can gather round some other earth element like a bowl of water, a pine cone, vase of flowers...) and sha...
JEWELS, TEARS, & HEART Nora Roberts (1999). Jewels of the sun. Nora Roberts (2000). Tears of the moon. Nora Roberts (2000). Heart of the sea. This trilogy of books is set in Ardmore, Ireland, on the coast of the Celtic sea and centers around a cottage on Faire Hill, the ruins of a Saint, and the Gallagher family pub. The legend that parallels the lives of humans in the story tell of Carrick, prince of fairies who offers the beautiful mortal Gwen, diamond jewels of the sun, pearls from teardrops of the moon, and sapphires from the heart of the sea, but she turns from all of these. Gwen only desires his heart, his love, for him to say the words "I LOVE YOU." But Carrick is too proud and in anger curses them both until three couples declare their love for each other. It takes 300 years, but in each book, one of the Gallaghers, Aiden the oldest who tends the pub (and Jude the psychologist-writer from Chicago), Shawn the musician and cook for the pub (and Brenna the expert han...
JUICE FOR LIFE David Schmaltz (2003). The blind men and the elephant: Mastering project work. We need multiple perspectives (6 blind people feeling up the elephant) to achieve a coherent understanding of X (the elephant, whatever it is we're trying to understand), AND we hit a wall (the body of the elephant) because we don't know or are unsure of what we truly want--we need to find out what we WANT, what gives us JUICE to live, enjoy, create, and serve. All of us periodically need to ask ourselves what our true heart's desire is, what gives us the JUICE we need to not just survive but flourish... See if you can find the JUICE in your current situation (employment, school, family, volunteer work...). Can you discover or create an alignment between your heart's longing/desire/need and one or more goals of the organization? The practice here is meditating on describing our JUICE for life, and then finding (perhaps rediscovering) it, drinking it, savoring it, using it...
ORBIT THE HAIRBALL Gordon MacKenzie (1996). Orbiting the giant hairball. Use your imagination to lift off and orbit the giant hairball (whatever organizational rules, people, places... are constraining/limiting), creating a picture of the masterpiece you feel called to create and a coherent and compelling story to go with it. As a professor in the classroom, instead of using the traditional power point presentation in a lecture format (the organizational constraint), i draw a little picture on the white board and tell a story from my personal life that links the picture to the course idea i want students to explore/engage. Anyone communicating ideas can draw little picture and tell a story to engage their audience be that a child, college student, corporate exec, or granny.
3 X 5's: Index Card Wisdom from the Best of Books Introduction: What are 3 x 5's and how are they related to best of books? 3 X 5's are standard index cards that i've used for over 20 years to keep track of the "best parts of books" that i read...the best parts are bits of wisdom that i integrate into my everyday life. Process: It's a spiritual practice for me (i feel called to do this, and i find joy and satisfaction in the process): integrating the wisdom of teachers (authors of books) into my life in a way to "make life more wonderful" (tipping my hat to Marshall Rosenberg). i also use index cards to track what books i want to read each year for i am a bookaholic. ..i would buy books all year long if not for this method. whenever i get the desire to order a book--from a website, friend, video, another book reference, etc., i write the author, title, and WHY i want the book on an index card. Then, at the end of the school year in May, i go thro...