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

GOLF M. Scott Peck (1999). Golf and the Spirit: Lessons for the Journey. Peck was a psychiatrist and died 5 years after publishing this book. I gave the book to my Dad in 2002 when Peck was still alive and I see where my Dad underlined parts in the book but never wrote anything in the margins as i nearly always do...my Dad died in 2023, and this is one of the books i retrieved from his bookshelf after the funeral...i often felt his presence while reading. The book also holds special meaning because Dad taught me how to golf as a youngster and we played many a round together growing up...we also played a round or hit a bucket of balls when i'd visit (he lived out of state) until he could no longer golf due to back and shoulder pain in his 60's. Peck applies the game of golf to life, especially the spiritual journey, by taking the reader through an 18-hole golf course that he designed. There is much to learn about paradox, being, competition, sex, flow, and spirituality. some of...

SPIRITUAL SOLUTIONS Wayne Dyer (2003). There's a Spiritual Solution to Every Problem. Dyer earned a Doctorate of Education in Guidance and Counseling, and is a prolific author. His first book that i read in the 1970's, Your Erroneous Zones, profoundly influenced my thinking as a teen.  The theme of this book is that there is a spiritual solution to every problem, that problems are illusions created in the mind by incorrect thinking, and that the solution to these mental problems is to change our thinking in light of the spirit (defined as an energy/intelligence that is the source of all life, i.e., God). Some might call this "spiritual bypassing," ignoring the body in favor of the mind and spirit. The first half of the book is lessons from Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. Dyer suggests that low frequency is associated with the "negative" and faster frequency with the "positive" [for me, at least musically, lower frequencies don't imply negative emo...

GIANT WITHIN Anthony Robbins (1991). Awaken the Giant Within:                                                     How to Take Immediate Control of Your                                                    Mental, Emotional, Physical, and Financial                                                   Destiny. Robbins is a self-educated person who developed several systems for improving the quality of life that led to seminars, audio tapes, and books...despite this book being 43 years old (as of 2024), I find his ideas relevant and applicable...

BELLY BUTTON Ilchi Lee (2016). Belly Button Healing:                                     Unlocking Your Second Brain for a Healthy Life      Lee is a prolific author who advocates world peace and draws from traditional Korean medicine, yoga, martial arts, and meditation. Some criticize his work as pseudoscience, but I've found plenty of science cited to support the general ideas in two of his books...however, i see no "clinical trials" of his belly button method in this book.  nonetheless, my attitude toward these things is "try it and see"--the only research that ultimately counts is the one you do on yourself (and we know from the placebo--mind-body--research, that if you believe in the teacher and the method, there's a 30-some percent chance that the method will work for you). something as simple as pressing on your belly button (through the clothes with m...

ENERGY Abby Wynne (2015). Energy Healing Made Easy:                                           Unlock Your Potential as a Healer Wynne has a Masters in psychotherapy and is certified in shamanism and mindfulness. Her mission is to "heal the world by teaching people to heal themselves." A core assumption is everything is made of energy that has a consciousness, including our biofield, our energy aura.  Some of the practices include: Setting an intention by saying aloud what one wishes to do, giving/asking for permission to do this, then waiting to feel for a yes or no (the intuitive sense of a yes or no response can be felt in the body by identifying where one feels energy in the body after asking a question that one already knows the answer the answer to--either a yes or a no question--e.g., is my name...? insert your real name for a yes response, and a fictit...

ENERGY OF MUSIC John Diamond (2011). The Pulse of Music:                                                The Life Energy of Music (Volume IV) Diamond is a medical doctor turned musical therapist because he believes music is more conducive for holistic healing than medicine. These 90-some short essays, of 1-3 pages each, cover various music topics. I'm looking for pragmatics and only find a few in this volume (note there are 3 other volumes in the Pulse of Music series).  Some of the pragmatics i found intriguing are: 1) many negative emotions are locked in the root of the tongue which can be gradually freed by sucking gently on one's middle finger for a few minutes several times a day...i didn't believe it, but when i tried this simple technique for a single day, my tongue felt freer, able to move easier...wonder what a long term practice might ...

PULSE John Diamond (1999). The Way of the Pulse: Drumming with Spirit. Diamond is a medical doctor famous for his research in Behavioral Kinesiology, especially muscle testing. He changed his life from medicine to music because music is life energy, a healing force that can be activated through singing, dancing, and especially drumming. The drum is the heartbeat that we first experience in the womb of our mother...this pulse is not like a metronome beat but a rhythmic and ever-changing pulse... Diamond recommends we choose a drum that resonates in/with our chest...sing the melody of a song before drumming it..."Imagine the drum is your heart, open in song. The music is its pulse."  Find a drum you resonate with, feel the pulse in your chest...find a song you love and sing it over and over until it is part of you...now, drum the song with your heart open to the pulse inside you and in the song...how does it feel?