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BOOKS for which I am grateful... - 9/8/2007 2:58:49 PM   
J1937

 

Posts: 784
Joined: 6/25/2007
From: Austria/Europe
Status: offline 		Books which have given me new insights have always played a major role in my life. Some of them have accompanied me through decades, and I keep feeling grateful for what they have taught and are teaching me. Being a teacher at heart, I feel the urge to share my gain with others, especially as I myself have received valuable tips and references from friends, which I am most grateful for.

To start with, I´d like to mention Marshall B. Rosenberg´s work,  consisting of several books and CDs, in which he presents his method of non-violent communication. His basic book is Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life. I wonder how well-known it is in his own country - here in Austria I was witness of the enthusiasm with which his presentation was met in July of this year.To me, non-violence shows THE way to peace at all levels, although it is "simple, but not easy", as Rosenberg himself says. Information is also given at www.cnvc.org  .

Juliana


_____________________________

"Speak Peace in a World of Conflict" (M.B.Rosenberg)
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RE: BOOKS for which I am grateful... - 9/8/2007 5:05:43 PM   
Imenuff

 

Posts: 752
Joined: 3/23/2007
Status: offline 		Dear Juliana, We are truly all the beneficiaries of your retreat! thank you so much for beginning this thread. I am pleased the chocolate chip cookies turned out well. Making them to the sounds of Mozart sounds like an ideal way to do it.

_____________________________

Shalom(May you be at peace in Body, Mind,& Spirit)

I'menuff
Post #: 2
RE: BOOKS for which I am grateful... - 9/8/2007 6:22:04 PM   
buttington

 

Posts: 1865
Joined: 6/9/2007
From: UK
Status: online 		Juliana,
I am grateful to many books (and I'm currently struggling to find room for them in my 2 rooms. I have a lot of books) but as I read your post, the book which came to mind was the first one of a 'Spritual' type which I bought quite a few years ago now. "The Body/Mind Workbook" by Debbie Shapiro, because it made me think completely differently about my health.   J

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Love is the only way
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RE: BOOKS for which I am grateful... - 9/8/2007 11:02:01 PM   
Hildegard

 

Posts: 2473
Joined: 8/30/2006
From: Chicago
Status: offline 		Dear Juliana, I have been in love with books ever since childhood. I owe a great deal to many books, but  I am most grateful for the books by Brother David Steindl-Rast, especially "Gratefulness, the Heart of Prayer", and "A Listening Heart". The first one has become an approach to life that is truly lifegiving, the second one has a chapter about Haiku, "Mirror of the Heart". It inspired me to start writing fourteen years ago, which, in turn, has become a gift to others.

Edda

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Peace and joy!
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RE: BOOKS for which I am grateful... - 9/9/2007 5:05:45 AM   
buttington

 

Posts: 1865
Joined: 6/9/2007
From: UK
Status: online 		I've just remembered another book which has transformed my thinking (yet again!) more recently. I've mentioned it on this site before. "The Gentle Art of Blessing" by Pierre Pradavand.
The idea behind it is so simple and yet so powerful.      J

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Love is the only way
Post #: 5
RE: BOOKS for which I am grateful... - 9/9/2007 2:11:04 PM   
J1937

 

Posts: 784
Joined: 6/25/2007
From: Austria/Europe
Status: offline 		Grateful for your contributing to this new thread by your posts, Edda, Judith and Betty! I´ll have a look at the books you mention, Judith, as I do not know them yet. Thank you. As for Brother David Steindl-Rast, Edda, I have known and loved his books for years, but - to tell the truth - I find "Gratefulness,the Heart of Prayer" so poorly translated into German that I have all along wished to make a better translation of it! (Just one example of many: where he is talking about peak experiences he speaks about a mother looking at her baby in the CRIB - and would you believe it - in German this reads "ihr in der KRIPPE liegendes Baby "! What´s that poor baby doing in the manger ? I´ll check whether the book is still available in German, I doubt it has been read much.




_____________________________

"Speak Peace in a World of Conflict" (M.B.Rosenberg)
Post #: 6
RE: BOOKS for which I am grateful... - 9/9/2007 9:22:05 PM   
artemis611

 

Posts: 387
Joined: 7/20/2007
From: Oklahoma
Status: offline 		For me, I think the most transformative book was Happiness in a Storm, by Dr. Wendy Harpham.  She's a doctor who's had chronic lymphoma for many, many years; and she came to town to speak at a time when I was struggling emotionally with the effects of breast cancer.  I was really angry for a long time about the losses I experienced.  Her talk and her book helped me embrace a "new normal," and gave me a definition of "hope" that made sense to me.  She helped me realize that, even though my body was surviving well, I was "losing my battle" with cancer because I had been letting cancer kill my joy.  I couldn't move past it in any way, such as taking care of myself physically or spiritually, until I had this realization. 

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To truly listen is to perfect one's own virtue.
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RE: BOOKS for which I am grateful... - 9/10/2007 8:23:54 AM   
Imenuff

 

Posts: 752
Joined: 3/23/2007
Status: offline 		One book that I am "grateful" for is Violence Unvailed by by Gil Bailie. The reason for after grateful--While this book is very readable and was on the New York Times Best Seller List for a long time, it is written based on the philosophical ideas of Rene' Girard. The book anthropologically traces violence in society since the beginning of recorded history and ends with the violence of the Cross. It has been a constant challenge to me for many, many years as it shows very clearly how much my own life is often a microchosm of the violence that fills the world. Hence . It is one of those books where my intellect would prefer saying "ignorance is bliss" but where my heart says, "The truth shall set you free." -- A very wise retreat director once said, "Do not question life; let life question you." This book so readily brings into focus for me not "Why is there so much violence in the world?" Rather--"How am I contributing to all the violence in the world?

_____________________________

Shalom(May you be at peace in Body, Mind,& Spirit)

I'menuff
Post #: 8
RE: BOOKS for which I am grateful... - 9/10/2007 10:32:47 AM   
J1937

 

Posts: 784
Joined: 6/25/2007
From: Austria/Europe
Status: offline 		Grateful for your quote of "How am I contributing to the violence in the world", I´menuff, I will use it as a link to some more information about Rosenberg´s method of non-violent or empathic communication. The sub-title of his book "Speak Peace in a World of Conflict" is "What You Say Next Will Change Your World"! The first principle to follow (and the hardest!) is to state what I observe, FREE FROM MY EVALUATIONS. Whenever I remember to keep my observations free from judging, interpreting, giving a diagnosis..., the other one will be ready to listen instead of defending him-/herself, and the foundation for fruitful dialogue has been laid. I truly wish everyone could read about R.´s own  convincing experiences, of which he presents many.

Juliana
Post #: 9
RE: BOOKS for which I am grateful... - 9/10/2007 11:49:12 AM   
zenmember

 

Posts: 381
Joined: 2/26/2007
From: Sarnia, Ontario, Canada
Status: offline 		One book which I am grateful for is a book entitled Hiroshima Diary: The Journal of a Japanese Physician, August 6, September 30, 1945, by Michiko Hachiya. He was a survivor of Hiroshima and kept a daily diary about the women, children and old men that he treated on a daily basis in the hospital. The doctor was badly injured himself but recovered enough to help others and his account of the personal tragedies of innocent civilians who were either badly burned or died as a result of the bombing puts the moral issue into a clear perspective for all of us to consider.

I was living in Hiroshima at the time I encountered this book and it brought to life the whole drama of the bomb.  Visiting the memorial Museum and attending the annual remembrance ceremony four years in a row is an awesome experience. Reading Hachiya's Diary and visiting the actual locations described in his book helped me to research further into the dropping of the bomb and reasons for non-violence in our global society.  We also got to visit Nagasaki where you have a chance to see even a different perspective of events and a few years later we managed a trip to Saipan and Tinian Island where the bombs were stored and the Enola Gay took off from.

What a tragic turn of world events all for the glory of a few political goals that led to decades of Cold War; and to think it could happen again.

Here's a quote to go along with Betty's; --"How am I contributing to all the violence in the world? "

Gandhi is one of the best examples of practiced non-violence in modern time that comes to mind;

"You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean;
if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.
As long as you derive inner help and comfort from anything, keep it.
Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.
Be the change you want to see in this world.
Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed.
                                                                                       Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well."

                                                                                                                                                                                   - Mahatma Gandhi

Post #: 10
RE: BOOKS for which I am grateful... - 9/10/2007 3:05:53 PM   
buttington

 

Posts: 1865
Joined: 6/9/2007
From: UK
Status: online 		What an interesting thread this is turning out to be! If nothing else, it is showing that we are all 'on the same page' so to speak.

Lori, I have 2 dear freinds who both had breast cancer many years ago, and strangely, although they didn't meet until much later, they both discovered that truth which you describe, and both got better without surgery!     J

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Love is the only way
Post #: 11
RE: BOOKS for which I am grateful... - 9/12/2007 10:51:17 AM   
J1937

 

Posts: 784
Joined: 6/25/2007
From: Austria/Europe
Status: offline 		Returning to the book which has been changing my attitudes toward, and consequently, my relations with others completely, M.B. Rosenberg´s "Non-violent Communication: A Language of Life", I´d like to introduce step 2 of his method. It deals with our FEELINGS, i.e. with getting in contact with them and, consequently, expressing them. There may be cultural differences in different parts of this earth as well as with regard to different generations. In this rmountainous, rough part of Austria at least, people have been brought up to keep what they feel to themselves; they used to be, and in part still are, taciturn and reserved. So we lack a vocabulary to exactly express what we feel, and, as a consequence, misunderstandings, barring our way to others, are inevitable. Behind each feeling, however, pleasant or unpleasant, there is SOMETHING, which is the topic of step 3 > next time! 

_____________________________

"Speak Peace in a World of Conflict" (M.B.Rosenberg)
Post #: 12
RE: BOOKS for which I am grateful... - 9/18/2007 11:55:19 AM   
Imenuff

 

Posts: 752
Joined: 3/23/2007
Status: offline
quote:

Behind each feeling, however, pleasant or unpleasant, there is SOMETHING,
Juliana, sorry it has taken me so long to respond to this. I couldn't agree more with this quote. To me feelings are often like a temperature on a thermometer. They tell you that "something" is there that needs to be looked at. Am looking forward to Step 3. I appreciate that you give concise core concepts from the book.

_____________________________

Shalom(May you be at peace in Body, Mind,& Spirit)

I'menuff
Post #: 13
RE: BOOKS for which I am grateful... - 9/20/2007 6:44:31 AM   
J1937

 

Posts: 784
Joined: 6/25/2007
From: Austria/Europe
Status: offline 		"To me feelings are often like a temperature on a thermometer. They tell you that "something" is there that needs to be looked at. Am looking forward to Step 3." (The color is my addition to your quote, I´menuff.)
Thank you, I´menuff, for spurring me on to continue outlining M. B. Rosenberg´s message of non-violent or empathic communication. You have already provided the keyword for Step 3 ! To me, it was a revelation to realize that all our feelings are connected with our  NEEDS. Needs are what is alive in us. When they are met, we have pleasant feelings, when they remain unanswered, unpleasant feelings arise. Just as it is important to develop a vocabulary of the various shades of feelings, it´s vital to develop a literacy of needs for communicating what´s alive in us at any given moment. Expressing our needs helps us to be more alive by being in touch with ourselves and with others, as on a basic level all human beings share the same needs.
As R. puts it: "We see each other´s humanness at the need level."
And Adlai Stevenson says: "Understanding human needs is half the job of meeting them."

Juliana


_____________________________

"Speak Peace in a World of Conflict" (M.B.Rosenberg)
Post #: 14
RE: BOOKS for which I am grateful... - 9/21/2007 7:44:47 AM   
Imenuff

 

Posts: 752
Joined: 3/23/2007
Status: offline 		Juliana, thank you for the time you are taking to synopsize the book Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life. . Step 3 from the book is a real entrance into our own reality. When we are willing to name and claim our own needs that in our gut are not being met, we can begin to have non-violent, empathetic communication. We are all so accustomed to burying our own neediness and "putting on a happy face.". It takes real courage and humility to admit our own neediness. I think that was the whole purpose of starting the thread "Today I feel 'Gratitude Challenged' merely to say it's ok to be honest about my emotional "being." As Mary Michael O'Shaughnessy,OP puts it in Feelings and Emotions in Christian Living, the word "emotion" comes from the Latin, e(x)-movere which means to move out, to agitate, to stir up, to excite, to arouse, to disturb. The book takes the normal "emotions" of life and shows them, not ignored or glossed over, but honestly felt and dealt with in the life of Jesus. "We are ALL wounded healers." (Henri Nouwen). It is through honestly admitting what is going on in our emotional being and neediness that we can begin to help heal others.

Safe Journey, Juliana. Namaste!

_____________________________

Shalom(May you be at peace in Body, Mind,& Spirit)

I'menuff
Post #: 15
RE: BOOKS for which I am grateful... - 9/24/2007 9:22:32 PM   
ena

 

Posts: 9
Joined: 9/22/2007
Status: offline 		I may have missed a "genre" type of book definition somewhere in this wonderful thread, but I'd like to mention 3 fiction titles that have "rocked" my world:  Our Lady of the Lost and Found (Schoeperen sp?), Lying Awake (Mark Salzman) and Gilead (Marilynne Robinson)  All three are intensely spiritual and I hated for each to end.  Jayne
Post #: 16
RE: BOOKS for which I am grateful... - 9/25/2007 10:40:46 AM   
J1937

 

Posts: 784
Joined: 6/25/2007
From: Austria/Europe
Status: offline 		Thank you for your message, Jayne! No, you haven´t missed anything. When I started the "book" thread, I thought it would be interesting and enriching (can I use this word? There is no English dictionary at hand where I´m staying right now  ) to exchange our individual reading adventures. To me, living in Europe, it is very valuable to know which books spiritually-minded people are reading over-seas. I am using the term "spiritual" in its widest sense, not thinking of any special genre. Can you, Jayne, in a few lines, please let us know why you are grateful for the books you have mentioned? I love reading books in English, although I´m not a native speaker of it.
As for the books by M.B.Rosenberg, I still wonder if they are widely known in America or not. As I´ve said, to me his message is the way to peace. Step 4 to come up when I´ve finished my week of fasting  !

Juliana

_____________________________

"Speak Peace in a World of Conflict" (M.B.Rosenberg)
Post #: 17
RE: BOOKS for which I am grateful... - 9/26/2007 12:48:57 PM   
Imenuff

 

Posts: 752
Joined: 3/23/2007
Status: offline 		Juliana, thank you for your question--
quote:

Can you in a few lines, please let us know why you are grateful for the books you have mentioned?
That is the real gift of this thread along with your giving a short synopsis as you are doing with M.B. Rosenberg. I also really like
quote:

it is very valuable to know which books spiritually-minded people are reading
. It is such a clear cut explanation of the importance and value of this thread. And yes, my dear, you used the perfect word when you used "enriching." Sadly, I don't think Rosenberg's works are very well known here in the States. I have not run into anyone who talks about them. Perhaps, you are helping to change all of that.

Blessings on your week of fasting

_____________________________

Shalom(May you be at peace in Body, Mind,& Spirit)

I'menuff
Post #: 18
RE: BOOKS for which I am grateful... - 9/27/2007 7:29:40 AM   
Solomon

 

Posts: 207
Joined: 6/9/2007
Status: offline 		I'm really grateful for pretty much every book that Peter McWilliams wrote. Well, the Life series, anyway.
  • Love 101 is about loving oneself. It goes into detail about how to do it, with loads of practical tips and advice.
  • Life 101 is about living life. How to have fun, how to deal with other people, finding your purpose, etc. More practical advice.
  • Wealth 101 is about wealth, and how to get it. Not just financial wealth, but emotional, spiritual, mental weath, etc. This book is what prompted me to start being grateful. Again with the practical tips.
  • You can't afford the luxury of a negative thought. Lots of tips for overcoming negative thinking.
  • Do it! All about getting the stuff you want, and taking an active approach to getting it. Helps you put aside procrastination.
All of these books are available online, completely for free, at http://www.mcwilliams.com.

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Things I'm Grateful For - Updated Daily. Now updated to the new Mk II version.
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RE: BOOKS for which I am grateful... - 9/27/2007 11:15:47 AM   
celtic star

 

Posts: 413
Joined: 5/23/2007
Status: offline 		I am grateful for Rachel Naiomi Remen's books " Kitchen Table Wisdom " and
" Grandfather's Blessings" - healing and inspiring.
Post #: 20
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