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...

SENSE OF WONDER Rachel Carson (1956,1998). The Sense of Wonder. Carson (a biologist) is best know for her work Silent Spring  that provides scientific evidence for pollutants (like ddt) destroying the ecosystem and eventually destroying all life on the earth... the Sense of Wonder edition published in 1998 adds photos (worthy of contemplation--so beautiful) taken by Nick Kelsh to the original work. The primary purpose of the book is to assist children in their growing sense of wonder for nature, not in the sense of identifying and memorizing names of plants and birds, but in the sense of journeying with children, showing not telling, enjoying excitement, curiosity, and the sense of wonder of the natural world.  Those who develop this sense of wonder Carson maintains will "dwell...among the beauties and mysteries of the earth...are never alone or weary of life...their thoughts can find paths that lead to inner contentment and renewed excitement....[they] find reserves of st...

SOUL WISDOM Zhi Gang Sha (2007). Soul Wisdom I: Soul Language, Soul Song, Soul Movement, Soul                                            Tapping, Soul Dance. Sha was trained in many Chinese arts from a young age (e.g., tai chi, qi gong, kung fu), becoming a medical doctor, then acupucturist and herbalist, studying with master Zhi Chen Guo, eventually receiving divine transmissions for his "soul" teachings.  Briefly, everything has a soul, a divine essence, that we can communicate with (see below). Sha affirms mind-body communication, but believes that soul communication is much more powerful. These soul teachings include language (similar to Christian "speaking in tongues"), singing, dancing, tapping (on different places on the body for healing), and dancing.  There is much repetition in the book regarding benefits of soul communication to us, others, and mother earth....

DANCE OF CHANGE Michael Lindfield (1986). The dance of change: An eco-spiritual                                                   approach to transformation. I was inspired to buy this book after listening to Lindfield's Ted talk called Experiments in communication with morphogenic fields :  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqK4nB29wWs Michael spent much time with the Findhorn community and is well acquainted with the philosophy of Rudolph Steiner (among others)...much of what he writes about are principles that leave the individual to figure out how to apply those principles to their life.  A sample of the topics: Celtic calendar of 8 festivals, Starhawk's Goddess IS the world, 7 bodies of the human, ceremonial magic, dancing with our shadow, quest for the grail, seed and soil metaphors for life, and using our inner voice to navigate life. I found t...

WOO WOO David Hamilton (2021). Why Woo-Woo Works: The Surprising                                                                Science Behind Meditation, Reiki, Crystals,                                                   and Other Alternative Practices. Hamilton has a PhD in chemistry and worked in big pharma for many years before devoting himself to writing on topics related to the mind-body connection.  "Woo-woo" is the belief in things with no scientific basis...the phrase is also associated with the sound that ghosts make. He demonstrates that many woo-woo phenomenon have a scientific basis, but many people aren't aware of the research. A clas...