Do What You Love, the Money Will Follow
Shakti Gawain
"Filled with inspirational examples...infinitely more appealing than those sterile books telling us how to become a millionaire before we are 35." Explorations
--Rev. Richard N. Bolles, author of What Color is Your Parachute?
Mindfulness and Meaningful Work:
Explorations on Right Livelihood
Mindfulness and Meaningful Work is a classic, providing a wealth of resources for investigating the challenge of integrating work with spiritual practice. It contains thirty-seven contributions by some of the leading thinkers and activists of our time, helping us to find work that is meaningful, life-affirming, and non-exploitive.
Seven Story Mountain by Thomas Merton
There have been innumerable people who have read this book who never went to church in their lives, people who overcame addiction, people who got their lives back on track-simply from the hope they gleaned from this honest autobiography of a normal, flawed individual. You will be heartbroken when you finish it and especially so when you realize that he is no longer with us. Yet, these words and the story therein are eternal and have universal appeal. The writer had a gift for making the inaccessible accessible for so many. Read it and discover for yourself why so many people have read this and read it more than once.
A Kick in the Seat of the Pants
Roger Von Oech
When was the last time you had a creative idea? This morning? Last month? Last year? Sometimes you need A Kick in the Seat of the Pants to get your thinking going. This book does just that by taking you on a guided tour through the four roles of the creative process: Explorer, Artist, Judge, and Warrior.
When it's time to seek out new information, adopt the mindset of an Explorer. Get off the beaten path, poke around in outside areas, and pay attention to unusual patterns.
When you need to create a new idea, let the Artist in you come out. Ask what-if questions and look for hidden analogies. Break the rules and look at things backwards. Add something and take something away. Ultimately, you'll come up with an original idea.
When it's time to decide if your idea is worth implementing, see yourself as a Judge. Ask what's wrong and if the timing's right. Question your assumptions and make a decision.
When you carry your idea into action, be a Warrior. Put a fire in your belly, eliminate your excuses, and do what's necessary to reach your objective.
Kick provides exercises, stories, tips, and Roger von Oech's proven techniques to help you strengthen each of your own creative roles.
Be Here Now
Ram Dass
Beloved guru Ram Dass tells the story of his spiritual awakening and gives you the tools to take control of your life in this “counterculture bible” (The New York Times) featuring powerful guidance on yoga, meditation, and finding your true self.
When Be Here Now was first published in 1971, it filled a deep spiritual emptiness, launched the ongoing mindfulness revolution, and established Ram Dass as the preeminent seeker of the twentieth century.
Just ten years earlier, he was known as Professor Richard Alpert. He held appointments in four departments at Harvard University. He published books, drove a Mercedes, and regularly vacationed in the Caribbean. By most societal standards, he had achieved great success. Yet, he couldn’t escape the feeling that something was missing.
Psilocybin and LSD changed that. During a period of experimentation, Alpert peeled away each layer of his identity, disassociating from himself as a professor, a social cosmopolite, and lastly, as a physical being. Fear turned into exaltation upon the realization that at his truest, he was just his inner-self, a luminous being that he could trust indefinitely and love infinitely.
Thus, a spiritual journey commenced. Alpert headed to India where his guru renamed him Baba Ram Dass—“servant of God.” He was introduced to mindful breathing exercises, hatha yoga, and Eastern philosophy. If he found himself reminiscing or planning, he was reminded to Be Here Now. He started upon the path of enlightenment and has been journeying along it ever since.
Be Here Now is a vehicle for sharing the true message and a guide to self-determination.
Start With Why
Simon Sinek
The inspiring, life-changing bestseller by the author of Leaders Eat Last and Together Is Better.
In 2009, Simon Sinek started a movement to help people become more inspired at work and, in turn, inspire their colleagues and customers. Since then, millions have been touched by the power of his ideas, including more than 28 million who've watched his TED Talk based on Start with Why - the third most popular TED video of all time.
Sinek starts with a fundamental question: Why are some people and organizations more innovative, more influential, and more profitable than others? Why do some command greater loyalty from customers and employees alike? Even among the successful, why are so few able to repeat their success over and over?
People like Martin Luther King Jr., Steve Jobs, and the Wright Brothers had little in common, but they all started with why. They realized that people won't truly buy into a product, service, movement, or idea until they understand the why behind it.
Start with Why shows that the leaders who've had the greatest influence in the world all think, act, and communicate the same way - and it's the opposite of what everyone else does. Sinek calls this powerful idea The Golden Circle, and it provides a framework upon which organizations can be built, movements can be led, and people can be inspired. It all starts with why.
Robert Fritz
Path of Least Resistance
Robert Fritz's Path of Least Resistance is an empowering guide to creating a life that reflects your abilities and passions. It's not a new age book in that the author does not teach that everything that happens to us stems from our conscious attitudes and intentions. He presents very good evidence as to why affirmations and will power don't work. His thesis is that you cannot create what you desire in life until you change the underlying structures that make your life what it currently is. Changing those structures does not have to do with problem solving either. It has to do with figuring out what you do want (harder than it sounds), and then using the creative process to set in motion the forces to accomplish whatever that is.
Fritz is a professional musician with a clear understanding of the artistic process. However, he takes this process well beyond the arts and applies it to life in general. He has worked with groups who have used these principles in foreign aid projects and business. He's also worked with individuals who have changed their personal and professional lives for the better. The point is that creativity is not just for artists--it's a human concern. If we all understood how to create rather than to just react to what life throws at us, the world would be a happier place. This is a hopeful, inspiring work which should benefit anyone wanting to live a well-crafted life.