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

MIRRORING Marco Iacoboni (2008). Mirroring people:                                                  The new science of how we                                                  connect with others. Iacoboni is a neuroscientist at UCLA that conducts experiments in brain mapping, especially as they relate to mirror neurons. He narrates stories that pose a problem, introduce a hypothesis, test the hypothesis in one or more experiments, and present findings at the end of the each chapter...long on the story, short on the findings, and even shorter on practical implications for living. Much of the emphasis on protocols of research is technical and more than what i wanted to read, but for others that...

PRAYER Matthew Kelly (2020). I Heard God Laugh:                                                A Practical Guide to Life's                                              Essential Daily Habit. Kelly tells of a man named John who taught him how to pray...just the two of them in a church...John read some scripture, they sat silently and conversed with God about it, then another scripture...from this Kelly developed his own method of prayer: gratitude, review of last 24 hours, significant moments, penance, freedom, intercession for others, and finishing with the Our Father...this looks a lot like what i've read in other places called ACTS--adore, confess, thanksgiving, and supplication. Kelly also says contemplative praye...

MATRIX ENERGETICS Richard Bartlett (2007). Matrix Energetics:                                                  The Science and Art of Transformation Bartlett is a chiropractic (DC) and naturopathic (ND) doctor who aligns with quantum physics and what he calls "matrix energetics" to address health issues...one of the main practices he advocates is called the "two point technique" which i describe below...he notes that God is the healer, grace is at work, we don't try to heal anything, we just connect two pints and let go, then reassess and measure, having fun, being playful, integrating whatever images come. Summary of two point technique (see his book for details): locate a point on the body that is hard, rigid, stuck, or immobile and place two fingers or the entire hand on that area...locate a second point on the body that increases the hardne...

HEART HABIT John Backman (2013). Why can't we talk?:                                                 Christian wisdom on dialogue as                                                  a habit of the heart. Backman writes from his personal experience and includes ideas from the field of Communication and Christian sources (scripture and saints). The idea that resonated with me the most is preparing your heart through prayer and meditation to create an attitude of openness, friendliness, curiosity, respect, acceptance, and caring before and during the dialogic encounter.  He also notes that dialogue doesn't guarantee a "successful" outcome...we may understand that we both disagree and hopefu...

COMMUNITY Jean Vanier (1989, orig. 1979). Community and growth. Vanier writes from a 25 year experience of living in a community of persons with disabilities at L'Arche, France. He defines community as, "...groupings of people who have left their own milieu to live with others under the same roof, and work from a new vision of human beings and their relationships with each other and God" (p.10). Writing from a Catholic perspective, Vanier quotes scripture and saints, and some of the topics covered include: heart, covenants, mission, growth, authority, gifts, welcome, and celebration.  The difficulty i have is there is almost nothing on the pragmatics living in community, especially farming and everyday work and play. I agree with his premise that many modern cities in the industrialized west in particular create conditions that foster individualism, consumerism, and loneliness, and that many of these individuals feel the need to be loved and cared for in a place where th...

EMPOWERED! Marc Prensky (2022). EMPOWERED!:                                     Reframing 'Growing Up' for a New Age Prensky, graduate of Harvard Business School, coined the phrase "digital native" in 2000, and as of 2023 wrote 10 books, mostly about digital natives (those born roughly from the year 2000 onward). The book is a radical reframing of beliefs, worldviews, paradigms, and mindsets regarding the process of growing up with a focus on people that are young during the next 20 years...from parental control to guidance, from academic schooling to empowerment, from jobs/careers to pursing dreams that make the world a better place...he calls this EMPOWERMENT. Empowerment supports people that are young in choosing real world projects to accomplish. Every project has a measurable positive impacts on the world (pre-post measures). Every project helps people that are young discover and develop ...

HEALING METHODS Serge Kahili King (2000). Instant Healing Now! Kahili King is a PhD and Hawaiian shaman. He distinguishes between 3 time periods for healing: less than an hour is instant, less than a day is rapid, and less than a week is fast. He covers all three kinds of healing methods in the book. The healing principles he covers are sound: power of the imagination--if we pick a healthy image to focus on, the mind will activate healthy memories, power of words--the words we choose direct the focus of our attention, power of focus--if we focus attention on a specific body part, that part increases in blood circulation, warmth, expansion, and cell activity.  There are MANY practical healing methods presented in the book, here are a few to test out: 1) place your hand over the painful body part, resting it there until some relief is felt. 2)cup a glass of water with the hands for 3 mins and then drink. 3)describe the shape, size, weight, color, and place of the pain--pull it out an...