"Stand Like Mountain, Flow Like Water"

by Brian Luke Seaward

Book Description:

Once thought to be a symptom of illness, stress is now best defined as a disconnection from our divine source. Times of stress may bring feelings of panic and mayhem, but when we call upon our inner resources, stress also provides the opportunity for spiritual growth. Ageless wisdom suggests that achieving spiritual growth requires balance; to stand secure and grounded like a mountain, but to flow like water. This book reveals how we can achieve balance and peace in our lives.

Meaningful Quotes:
"Music," he said, "has a very spiritual essence. When we listen to music, we eavesdrop on the thoughts of god." What he said next really grabbed my attention. "We must distinguish the difference between spirituality and religion. Spirituality unites, where religions divide and separate."

She explained, "Religion is for those who are trying to avoid hell; spirituality is for those who have been there."

From various corners of the globe, earth has often been described as a grand classroom where assignments are given and pop quizzes appear frequently.

Stand Like Mountain, Flow Like Water
available at Powells and Amazon

“The Book of Secrets”

Unlocking the
Hidden Dimensions
of Your Life
by Deepak Chopra

Publisher Comments:
Every life is a book of secrets, ready to be opened. The secret of perfect love is found there, along with the secrets of healing, compassion, faith, and the most elusive one of all: who we really are. We are still mysteries to ourselves, despite the proximity of these answers, and what we most long to know remains lodged deep inside.

We all want to know how to find a soul mate, what career would be most fulfilling, how to live a life with meaning, and how to teach our children well. We are looking for a personal breakthrough, a turning point, a revelation that brings with it new meaning. The Book of Secrets — a crystalline distillation of insights and wisdom accumulated over the lifetime of one of the great spiritual thinkers of our time — provides an exquisite new tool for achieving just that.

Because answers to the questions at the center of life are counterintuitive, they are often hidden from view, sequestered from our everyday gaze. In his ongoing quest to elevate our experience, bestselling author Deepak Chopra has isolated fifteen secrets that drive the narrative of this inspiring book — and of our lives. From "The World Is in You" and "What You Seek, You Already Are" to "Evil Is Not Your Enemy" and "You Are Truly Free When You Are Not a Person," The Book of Secrets is rich with insights, a priceless treasure that can transport us beyond change to transformation, and from there to a sacred place where we can savor the nectar of enlightenment.

Memorable Quotes:
If there is one reality, it must be all-inclusive.

Subtle experience is quiet and harmonious.

What you seek, you already are.

Experience isn't a place, it's a focus of attention.

...you posses a 2nd perspective, one that is always calm, alert, detached, tune in but not overshadowed. ...you center if you follow any emotion far enough. It will end in silence.

If you follow any emotion far enough, it will end in silence.

When you laugh, you're are losing the need to take yourself so seriously.

When you shrug, you lose the need to blow things out of proportion.

When you feel calm, you lose the need to feel agitated or to have drama.

When you can look at yourself as if you are another person, you lose the need to be the only one who counts.

When you feel relief or fatigue coming out, you lose the need to hold onto stress.

When you have the feeling of letting go, you lose the need to be vindicated – the possibility of forgiveness is in sight.

Suffering is pain that we hold on to.

“The person who has found god has freed himself from choices.”

Kierkegard

Wholeness remains the same no matter how much it changes.

Love grows timid and afraid when not expressed.

“There is a life-force within your soul, seek that life. There is a gem in the mountain of your body, seek that mine. O traveler, if you are in search of 'that' don't look outside, look inside yourself and seek 'that'.” Rumi

The Book of Secrets available at Powells and Amazon

Other books by Deepak Chopra:
The World Is in You
What You Seek, You Already Are
Evil Is Not Your Enemy
You Are Truly Free When You Are Not a Person

“One Breath at a Time”

Buddhism and
the Twelve Steps
by Kevin Griffin

Book Description:
Kevin Griffin, a Buddhist meditation teacher and longtime Twelve Step practitioner, weaves his personal story of recovery with traditional Buddhist teachings. The book takes us on a journey through the Steps, examining critical Twelve Step ideas like Powerlessness, Higher Power, and Moral Inventory through the lens of Buddhism. One Breath at a Time presents potent ancient techniques for finding calm and clarity and offers a vision of a Higher Power not tied to traditional Western Judeo-Christian concepts. One Breath at a Time describes the convergence of two vital traditions, one ancient, the other contemporary, and shows how they are working together to create a rich spiritual path for our times. Certain to resonate with both meditators and those whose mantra is 'One day at a time,' One Breath at a Time should find a large, welcoming audience.

Meaningful Quotes:
The Buddha was emphatic on the point that we are responsible moment to moment for our words and actions, not just victims of destiny or hidden forces, we have an element of free will.

Letting go, dropping the tendency to chase after external, and even internal gratification brings the greatest joy.

...before you can really let go of ego, you need a healthy ego.

I can feel good about helping people feel happy, and I appreciate that I can be part of something without being the whole thing.

Certainly quietness and solitude are powerful tools for practice. But the heart work of connection is equally powerful and vital to our growth.

The simplest definition of Buddhist right speech is to say only “What is true and useful.”

Now I try to worry about my identity and just do what seems like the right thing to do.

We are a process, we are possibilities, and we constantly change.

We need to maintain the balance between effort and acceptance, between perfection and forgiveness, between letting go and taking care of our needs. Once again, the Middle Way acts as our guide, gently moving us forward on our path.

Because of your perfectionism, you keep putting off doing anything which leads to procrastination, after a while, you can't function, paralysis. The three Ps.

Forgiveness is something we do in our own hearts to relieve ourselves of the pain of resentment.

...the real value of the spiritual life isn't found in moments of great bliss but in the daily application of mindfulness and lovingkindness.

“I don't have power over what desires I have, but I do have power over what actions I take.” Noah Levine

Addiction is desire run rampant.

We don't let go because there is some rule that says we most; we let go because we see how our clinging is causing pain.

One Breath at a Time available at Powells and Amazon

Links: KevinGriffin.net

“Boundless Healing”

Meditation Exercises to
Enlighten the Mind
and Heal the Body
by Tulka Thundup

Book Description:

This book offers simple meditation techniques to awaken healing energies in the body and mind. Using Buddhist principles as a basis, Tulku Thondup has created a universal guide that anyone can use. It will benefit those who want to preserve good health as well as those who need comfort and relief from illness or mental distress. Boundless Healing offers: Ways to employ the four healing powers: positive images, positive words, positive feelings, and positive belief Detailed healing exercises that can be done individually or as part of a twelve-stage program Exercises for dispelling anxiety Healing prayers for the dying and the deceased, plus advice for helpers and survivors These meditations draw on our innate capacity for imagination and memory, our natural enjoyment of beauty, and our deep-seated longing for a state of quiet calm. For all those who wish to become healthier, happier, and more peaceful in everyday life.

Meaningful Quotes:
“The meaning of becoming invincible to obstructions such as adversaries, sickness and evil forces – is not necessarily reversing them or preventing them from arising but not allowing them to become obstructions to our journey on the path.” Third Dodrupchan

“The true value of a human being is determined primarily by the measure and the sense in which he has attained liberation of self.” Albert Einstein

Boundless Healing available at Powells and Amazon

“A Path with Heart”

A Guide Through
the Perils and Promises
of Spiritual Life
by Jack Kornfield

Publisher Comments:

Perhaps the most important book yet written on meditation, the process of inner transformation, and the integration of spiritual practice into our American way of life, A Path with Heart brings alive one by one the challenges of spiritual living in the modern world. Written by a teacher, psychologist, and meditation master of international renown, this warm, inspiring, and expert book touches on a wide range of essential issues including many rarely addressed in spiritual books. From compassion, addiction, and psychological and emotional healing, to dealing with problems involving relationships and sexuality, to the creation of a Zen-like simplicity and balance in all facets of life, it speaks to the concerns of many modern spiritual seekers, both those beginning on the path and those with years of experience.

A Path with Heart is filled with practial techniques, guided meditations, stories, koans, and other gems of wisdom that can help ease your journey through the world. The author's own profound — and sometimes humorous — experiences and gentle assistance will skillfully guide you through the obstacles and trials of spiritual and contemporary life to bring clarity of perception and a sense of the sacred into your everyday experience. Reading this book will touch your heart and remind you of the promises inherent in meditation and in a life of the spirit: the blossoming of inner peace, wholeness, and understanding, and the achievement of a happiness that is not dependent on external conditions.

A Path with Heart shows us how we can bring our spirituality to flower every day of our lives. It is a wise and gentle guidebook for an odyssey into the soul that enables us to achieve a deper, more satisfying life in the world.

Meaningful Quotes:
Spiritual joy and wisdom do not come through possession but rather through our capacity to open, to love more fully, and to move and be free in life.

Our love is the source of all energy to create and connect.

“In the long run, the sword is always beaten by the spirit.”

Napoleon Bonaparte

In sitting on the meditation cushion and assuming the meditation posture, we connect ourselves with the present moment in this body and on this earth. We sit in this physical body halfway between heaven and earth...

“Our hearts can grow strong at the broken places.” anonymous

“The mind creates the abyss, and the heart crosses it.”

Sri Nisarzadatta

To live life is to make a succession of errors.

“What we need is a cup of understanding, a barrel of love, and an ocean of patience.” St Francis de Sales

To undertake a genuine spiritual path is not to avoid difficulties but to learn the art of making mistakes wakefully, to bring to them the transformative power of our heart.

Boredom comes from lack of attention.

“Only a spiritual warrior can withstand the path of knowledge. A warrior cannot complain or regret anything. His life is an endless challenge and challenges cannot possibly be good or bad. Challenges are simply challenges. The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge, while an ordinary man takes everything as a blessing or a curse.” Don Juan

Even the most exacted states and the most exceptional spiritual accomplishments are unimportant if we cannot be happy in the most basic and ordinary ways. If we cannot touch one another and the life we have been given with our hearts.

“The spirit and the body carry different loads and require different attentions. Too often we put saddlebags on Jesus and let the donkey run loose in the pasture.” Rumi

“Those who enter the gates of heaven are not beings who have no passions or who have curbed the passions, but those who have cultivated an understanding of them.” William Blake

Restlessness is only the surface level of a beautiful wellspring of energy within us, an unrestricted flow of creativity.

“True enlightenment and wholeness arise when we are without anxiety about nonperfection. “ Third Zen Patriarch

“(True men and women of old) slept without dreams and woke without worries. Easy come, easy go, they took life as it came gladly.” Chuang Tyn

“The first thing you learn in life is you're a fool. The last thing you learn is you're the same fool. Sometimes I think I understand everything, then I regain consciousness.” unknown

...when these qualities of Buddha nature and personal self are combined with a deep realization of the emptiness of self, we can be said to have fully discovered the nature of self. This true self is both unique and universal, both empty and full.

True compassion arises from a healthy sense of self, from an awareness of who we are that honors our won capacities and fears, our own feelings and integrity, along with those of others.

Compassion for ourselves gives rise to the power to transform resentment into forgiveness, hatred into friendliness, and fear into respect for all beings.

“As you press on for justice, be sure to move with dignity and discipline, using only the weapons of love.” Martin Luther King Jr

“I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures. Simple in actions and thoughts, you return to the source of being. Patient with both friends and enemies, you accord with the way things are. Compassionate toward yourself, you reconcile all beings in the world.
  Thus the wise man residing in the Tao sets an example for all beings. Because he doesn't display himself, people can see his light. Because he has nothing to prove, people can trust his words. Because he doesn't know who he is, people recognize themselves in him. Because he has no goal in mind, everything he does succeeds.” Tao Te Ching

“Keep yourself at peace first, and then you will be able to bring peace to others.” Thomas a Kempis

A Path with Heart available at Powells and Amazon

Other books by Jack Kornfield:
After the Ecstasy, the Laundry
The Art of Forgiveness, Lovingkindness, and Peace
Teachings of the Buddha