Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness: Walking the Buddha's Path Review

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Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness: Walking the Buddha's Path ReviewBhante Henepola Gunaratana has summarized all of the Buddha's path to happiness, everything we know about affecting change in our lives, and everything that psychology teaches us about healthy living into a single, easy to read, easy to apply manual for happiness. This book is a gem! It can be used for inspiration, or instruction. It can be read countless times for added insight. If you are inclined toward Buddhism, or at least are taken with the Buddhist perspective, you will appreciate the straightforward approach he takes to describing the eight steps. If you are not Buddhist or so inclined, you might be put off with some of what you read (the Author clearly believes that the Buddha's way is THE way, and you might be inclined to think of Jesus as the way, or someone else), but I think any rational person would recognize the power and potential for creating change that is captured in this book.
The eight steps are:
1. Skillful Understanding - recognizing the roles of cause and effect, and truly understanding the Four Noble Truths as taught by the Buddha
2. Skillful Thinking - Emphasis on understanding how our attachment to things is the source of our suffering (letting go), the practice of loving-friendliness, and practicing compassion.
3. Skillful Speach - Special emphasis on truth-telling, gentle speach, and avoiding useless chatter.
4. Sillful Action - Particular attention to the Five Precepts, namely abstaining from killing, stealing, speaking falsely, sexual misconduct and misuse of intoxicants.
5. Skillful Livelihood - Understanding that how we make a living can have negative or positive impacts (skillful or unskillful) on our path to happiness.
6. Skillful Effort - Recognizing and dealing with the hindrances and fetters that keep us tied to our unhappiness.
7. Skillful Mindfulness - A study of mindfulness practice in terms of the body, feelings, the mind, and mental objects.
8. Skillful Concentration - Teaches what concentration means in the context of meditation, and how it is developed through the four stages to full Concentration.
At each step, you'll recognize yourself and the things you do that hold you back from the path of happiness. You'll find solace in the knowledge that you are not alone (these are common to all us human beings), and relief in learning how to see things differently so that the world you live in works FOR you and not against you.
This is a wonderful book, and anyone who feels they need to make changes in their life would benefit enormously.Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness: Walking the Buddha's Path Overview

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Planting Seeds: Practicing Mindfulness with Children Review

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Planting Seeds: Practicing Mindfulness with Children ReviewThis book is a beautiful, practical, and extremely helpful book that anyone interested in introducing children to mindfulness and related practices will greatly appreciate. It was written by the Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnamese Zen monk and teacher, and author of many well-known books, including Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life. The book evolved out of his work with children at Plum Village Community, a Buddhist center in Southern France that he co-founded. The book encompasses the work of himself and many of his colleagues at Plum Village, including nuns and monks in-residence, as well as educators and parents that have attended retreats at the center focused on children.
Written for both parents and educators, each chapter of Planting Seeds begins with an overview of a topic, including mindful breathing, meditation, compassion, nature, suffering, healing, age, and death. After the overview, each chapter includes stories, sample activities, and guided meditations that adults can use to explore these themes with children. Many chapters include personal stories from educators and parents that work at Plum Village, or that attended retreats there and then strove to integrate what they learned in their work. They describe their personal experiences - including challenges - introducing children to these activities, in both home and school environments.
Although the themes are all grounded in Buddhism, they are introduced in a way that is non-religious, and so could be used to introduce children of any background to mindfulness. In fact, most of the educators that offer testimonials describe integrating these themes into secular environments, or even religious ones of other persuasions.
The book includes a CD with some of the guided meditations and songs tied to the exercises in the book, including "I Follow My Breath", "Pebble Meditation" and "Deep Relaxation for Young People." Lyrics are included for those songs that have them in the back of book, as well as written overviews of the guided meditations. Four meditation cards corresponding to the four meditations included in the 'Breathing in, Breathing Out' meditation are also in the Appendix.
For example, in the first meditation, the focus is on feeling as fresh and pure as a flower, so the card says:
"Breathing in, I see myself as a flower, a human flower...
Breathing out, I am beautiful just as I am, and I feel very fresh."
Subsequent cards are focused on being solid as a mountain, calm as still water, and free as open space.
Many chapters also include excerpts from Q&A sessions Thich Nhat Hanh did with children involved in these activities. One of my favorites was from a discussion on age and death (Thich Nhat Hanh is referred to as Thay here):
Child's Questions: How old are you?
Thay: Well, how old are you first?
Child: I am six, almost seven.
Thay: Listen, I am going to give you a good answer. I am the continuation of the Buddha, so I am 2,600 years old.
Child: Oh!
Thay: I am also the continuation of my father, so I am 110 years young. I know that you are my continuation and I feel that I am in you, so at the time I am six years old also. That is true, because I have been reborn in that child. He will carry me into the future. So I am quite young. I am six years old. If you look around, you see me a little bit everywhere. I have different ages. Okay?
Overall, this is a beautiful and practical book that any parent or educator (Buddhist or no) will treasure as a guide to introducing children to mindfulness, compassion, and related themes.Planting Seeds: Practicing Mindfulness with Children Overview

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Mindful Eating: A Guide to Rediscovering a Healthy and Joyful Relationship with Food--includes CD Review

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Mindful Eating: A Guide to Rediscovering a Healthy and Joyful Relationship with Food--includes CD ReviewI came upon this book accidentally in the new cook book section at the Carnegie library. I took a glance and the contents seemed interesting. So on my driving home, I listened to the guided mindfulness exercises CD that came with the book. This was not what I expected--my way home felt like a transformed journey to self discovery: the exercisers were simple, practical; the voice soothing; the effect, however, was profound. I was intrigued by how was it possible that our body would know the foods that we need at a particular point in time? I eagerly plunged into the book and read all about the seven kinds of hungers. I was very pleased for the insight I gained from the reading. This book inspires. The writing is lucid and thoughtful.Mindful Eating: A Guide to Rediscovering a Healthy and Joyful Relationship with Food--includes CD Overview

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Dancing with Life: Buddhist Insights for Finding Meaning and Joy in the Face of Suffering Review

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Dancing with Life: Buddhist Insights for Finding Meaning and Joy in the Face of Suffering ReviewMost of the Dharma books that I've read fall into two categories: lightweight new-age fluff or heavily-footnoted scholarship. This book avoids both extremes. It's very compactly written, with no apparent filler. (If anything, I think he is too brief in touching on some important points.) I find the title of the book to be a bit unfortunate, but it's actually appropriate to the subject matter.
The book is structured around the Four Noble Truths, and as a long-time Buddhist (with a strong predilection for scholarly detail) I thought that it couldn't teach me anything new. It did, though, and on a number of levels. You might think you know all about the 4NT, but this version from the Samyutta Nikaya really adds a new dimension, and is directly applicable to one's practice.
In short, I give this book a pretty-much unqualified rave. A few stylistic weaknesses and an overuse of italics, but in content it's deeply inspiring and immediately useful.Dancing with Life: Buddhist Insights for Finding Meaning and Joy in the Face of Suffering Overview

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Living Buddha, Living Christ Review

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Living Buddha, Living Christ ReviewWhen you begin to read it you can see it is written by a Zen master because Thich Nhat Hanh is able to say much with few words. I am a Christian and this book introduced me to Buddhism. Nearly every sentence would cause me to stop in my tracks and think. I was introduced to many completely new ideas and philosophies through the course of this book. Although I will never be a Buddhist and I do not agree with everything Thich Nhat Hanh believes, I have a great respect for their beliefs as well as others. It also helped me to understand Christianity and Christ's message, and shaped my own beliefs. You will gain a lot of cultural and philosophical insight if you read this book.Living Buddha, Living Christ Overview

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The Seeker's Guide (previously published as The New American Spirituality) Review

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The Seeker's Guide (previously published as The New American Spirituality) ReviewI have been to many "new age" workshops and have read tons of the books available on self-help and spirtuality. Some of it was great, but often I felt as if something was missing. I wondered what relevance the spirtual journey had to my psycholigical growth and I worried that my concerns with psychology were too self-absorbing. Lesser captures the essence of this tension in her book. She looks at how the spiritual and psychological path can intersect in a way that anyone can understand - and she does it so well that I found myself actually saying "ah ha!" as I read along. She also speaks in a frank, candid way about the "new age" movement, and that is really refreshing. It sounds like she has met absolutely everybody in the field and talks about them all as human beings instead of big stars. What a relief!
I also really liked her own story, because it made me see how much we are all seekers on a path. The way she talks about her ups and downs makes the rest of what she says seem even more real. You can tell that she has a great feeling for anyone who is out there trying to figure things out in their own way. It was encouraging. She wrote one part about a poem she and her husband return to whenever they have to make a dificult decision because it has a message that they learn from again and again. I was really struck by the simplicity of doing that and I thought, "wow, I could do that!" There were a bunch of those stories -she talked about things she did to keep herself on track that were simple, but took some thought, and reading them inspired me.
I guess that is really the bottom line. If anyone is on a path or thinking about learning more about different ways of exploring spirituality and self growth, this book is a real inspiration. It is also packed with a lot of information, as she quotes so many other teachers and writes about a lot of different traditions. I was impressed by how much she packed into it.
She also writes about the Omega, which I had never heard of. It sounds like a fasinating place so I was glad to find out about it.
Bottom line is, I recommend it - especially if you are one of those people who is yearning for some kind of spiritual connection or a more peaceful place inside yourself and you just don't know where to get started. It was really good.
I noticed I was the only one in the review area - anybody else out there read it?The Seeker's Guide (previously published as The New American Spirituality) Overview

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Living with Your Heart Wide Open: How Mindfulness and Compassion Can Free You from Unworthiness, Inadequacy, and Shame Review

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Living with Your Heart Wide Open: How Mindfulness and Compassion Can Free You from Unworthiness, Inadequacy, and Shame ReviewI'm so grateful for this book! I ended it feeling as though I had attended an extended meditation retreat with many tools to help free me from tendencies to self-judge and to nurture self-compassion. The authors provide many grounded explanations and examples of the origins of the deficient-self and how, in applying mindfulness to body, mind, and emotions, our relationships to ourselves and others are transformed into greater love and service. Having read many books on the applicability of mindfulness, I believe this is one of the most comprehensive and clearly written with much heart. The teachings presented are universal and touch the humanness in each of us.Living with Your Heart Wide Open: How Mindfulness and Compassion Can Free You from Unworthiness, Inadequacy, and Shame Overview

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Soul Revolution: How Imperfect People Become All God Intended Review

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Soul Revolution: How Imperfect People Become All God Intended ReviewSoul Revolution reads like a daily devotional or small group study book, tracing what Burke calls the "60-60 experiment" through discussions of various aspects of the Christian life focused on loving God and loving others. Burke uses illustrations and stories from the church he founded in Austin , Gateway Church, offering examples of the kind of transformation that took place when the church practiced the 60-60 experiment. The experiment was essentially a challenge for people to turn their focus to God every 60 minutes of their day for 60 days. The goal of this practice is "to stay consciously aware all through your day that God is with you and desires loving, trusting relationship" (43).
Obviously this is an extremely simple practice and nothing terribly new, yet the book is filled with stories of people who feel their lives have radically changed through regularly turning their attention to God throughout the day. I did not find the ideas Burke presented as particularly radical or revolutionary looking back on Christian history, but the stories of change in the book are both radical and revolutionary. Burke describes a community struggling with addictions, violence, abuse, greed, selfishness who were able to find a new freedom from these vices through the community of Gateway journeying together.
At times, the stories Burke shares makes the 60-60 experiment seem like a kind of magic cure for the problems that plague us in life. In the chapter on tithing, Burke warns that no one should "give to get" (240), but each of the stories recounts people who have decided to begin tithing for a period of time and experienced unexpected material or financial gain. While I respect the way that Burke frames his discussion of wealth and the Christian journey as a whole, it is hard not to feel like the 60-60 challenge is in some sense being pushed as the miracle cure for addictions, poverty, depression, etc.
I have been having several ongoing conversations with different people in my life about what spiritual growth looks like. It is easy to say that the goal is to 'look like Jesus' or to 'keep your focus on God,' yet difficult to make any kind of broad generalizations about what that might actually like in someones life. I found Burke's approach to be helpful, particularly in it's simplicity, but I think there needs to be more discussion about what it means to grow spiritually when you don't see radical changes or results in 60 days.Soul Revolution: How Imperfect People Become All God Intended Overview

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The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself Review

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The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself ReviewI simply cannot say enough great things about this profound book! The Untethered Soul gets right down to business answering some of the deepest, soul searching questions I'd had for years but didn't know whom to ask. It's almost as if the author has seen into the inner-workings of my mind!
With very straight forward examples, the book emphasizes the pitfalls of relying on the mind to come up with ideas for making ourselves happy. The book points out that relying on the outside world for inner happiness just simply doesn't work. Happiness comes to us when we change and let go of ourselves at the deepest, innermost-level rather than changing the world outside.
The Untethered Soul helps to explain the crazy world around us where the unhampered ego creates conflict. This book is a step-by-step guide to the letting go of the ego - a process that may seem counter-intuitive initially, but ultimately leads to freedom from the nagging mind and heavy heart and directs you to the beauty of the self within.
The chapter on Contemplating Death has made me truly appreciate each living moment. I no longer want to waste time on energy depleting thoughts and feelings.
I am grateful that Michael Singer has written a book so deep that it could actually make a difference in people's lives and help to make the world a better place to live.
Consider yourself warned! Once you read this book, there is no turning back from The Untethered Soul within.The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself Overview

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The Gift of Loving-Kindness: 100 Meditations on Compassion, Generosity, and Forgiveness Review

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The Gift of Loving-Kindness: 100 Meditations on Compassion, Generosity, and Forgiveness ReviewI've mentioned loving kindness meditation here on the DailyBuddhism quit often in my postings the past few weeks, and it may still not be clear what it's all about. This book makes it clear as glass. The book is small (6"x6"), and as the title itself suggests, would make an excellent gift for someone interested in taking up a simple form of meditation for perhaps the first time. Although the introduction and explanatory pages mention Buddha a few times, the book is not religious and could be enjoyed by anyone of any faith.
The introductory section explains why the authors wrote the book, how to use the book, and basic instructions for both formal and informal loving kindness meditations. This takes around 44 pages, and is an interesting, fast read. The instructions on the formal meditation are clearly presented, and easy to follow and practice.
The book centers heavily on the ideas of generosity, forgiveness, and compassion. Towards others, of course, but starting with directing those concepts towards yourself. The book explains early on that it's hard to direct loving kindness outwards towards others if your mind is filled with blame or self-hate. Therefore, the book focuses on directing loving kindness (generosity, compassion, and forgiveness) towards yourself first, and then expanding that mindfulness outward towards others.
The rest of the book is broken into four parts, consisting of exercises that expand or modify these basic instructions in simple, yet useful ways. Part one of the book consists of meditations of loving-kindness towards yourself, part two is about loving-kindness towards difficult emotions, part three covers loving-kindness towards others, and finally, part four involves loving-kindness towards the world. On the last few pages are some additional resources for further exploration.
The bulk of the pages are filled with 100 mindful practices that can be attempted in any order. Some are quite good, others are a little weak, but since you can pick and choose the ones that appeal to you, there's plenty to work with. Each exercise is explained clearly and concisely, usually with only two or three paragraphs. Some of the ideas are a bit saccharine, but with a book on this subject, that's nearly unavoidable.
Buddhism Level: Beginner. All DailyBuddhism readers should be able to understand all parts of this one. It has no jargon and requires no special background. It's even find for those who may be uncomfortable with Buddhism, yet interested in meditation.
It's easy to do, it's easy to understand. Send yourself a little gift of loving kindness, and you can learn to pass it on to the rest of the world.
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The Gift: ESP, the Extraordinary Experiences of Ordinary People Review

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The Gift: ESP, the Extraordinary Experiences of Ordinary People ReviewESP is often passed off as delusion or coincidence. But decades of research by Drs. J.B. and Louis Rhine at Duke University provided ample evidence that it is a sixth sense, of sorts, more available to some than others.
Author Sally Rhine Feather is the daughter of the Rhines and is director of the Rhine Research Center in Durham, NC. Michael Schmicker, an investigative journalist, is the author of Best Evidence, a book which explores evidence for psychic phenomena and survival of consciousness at death. The two have collaborated on this book in offering dozens of stories from the Rhine Research Center's database. "Our efforts today no longer focus on whether ESP exists; we have strong evidence that it does," Feather states in the preface. "Instead, we are studying how ESP works, by examining how personality, emotional relationship, mental and physical states, education, gender, and other variables may affect ESP experiences."
The authors are quick to point out that the many cases in this book, taken from more 14,000 in the database, are not intended as scientific proof of ESP. While anecdotal, the great number of them must lead any open-minded person to consider that the explanation for them goes beyond fraud, delusion, or coincidence. Consider the case of a bank president who, during World War II, became very depressed while on a fishing trip, feeling strongly that his son, Bill, was the cause of it. A few nights later a telegram was received saying Bill had been critically wounded. The distraught father had no indication as to what the wounds were, but he began to visualize a head wound, right behind the ear, as well as some kind of arm wound. As it turned out, the actual injuries were almost exactly as seen by the father.
Many cases are of precognition - seeing events before they actually happen - such as the case of a woman driving toward the Pentagon with her husband and suddenly seeing huge clouds of smoke rising into the sky over the building. She became very emotional and began hyperventilating. Two weeks later, on September 11, 2001, American Airlines Flight 77 smashed into the Pentagon.
Children have many ESP experiences that are often ignored by adults, who assume that they are the result of overactive imaginations. That apparently wasn't the case with a four-year-old child asked his parents if Aunt Myrtle and Uncle Charles were in a train wreck. "I see'd they did," the child told the confused parents. The next day, word reached the parents that the aunt and uncle had stalled on train tracks and their car was hit by a train. As far as could be determined, it happened almost the same time as the child's remarks.
A very interesting chapter deals with messages from the dead, such as deceased loved ones appearing to children before word had reached the family of the death of the person. In one case, a woman and her teenaged daughter traveled from Washington, D.C. to California and were greeted by the woman's father, whom they had left in Washington, D.C. As the father/grandfather greeted them, he slowly faded away. Soon thereafter, they received word that he had died.
The final chapter gives advice on recognizing and dealing with personally experienced ESP, the goal being to help the person accept, understand, and embrace the experience rather than fear it or pass it off as a trick of the mind.
This book is interesting, informative, intriguing, and inspiring. With 100 or so cases detailed, it offers plenty of variety and can be read in bits and pieces. Many of the experiences are simple enough to be shared with children as stories to enlighten rather than to frighten.The Gift: ESP, the Extraordinary Experiences of Ordinary People Overview

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