Author: Sharon S. Esonis Ph. D.
Yes, it's your little red wagon or, simply stated, it's your life, and only you can decide what to do with your little red wagon: you can push it, pull it or just stand and look at it! The little red wagon is a metaphor for that exciting, vibrant vehicle that transports our hopes, dreams, promise and passion. In other words, life as we would wish it to be. But to ensure that this vehicle of possibilities stays on course, we each must take responsibility for its progress and maintain control of its direction. This book is all about attitude, beliefs, expectations, thinking and behavior. It's about the power of Positive Psychology and the skills that promote optimal human functioning. And it's about developing the core strengths you need to navigate your little red wagon along the path to the good life. As Carlos Castaneda tells us, "We either make ourselves happy or miserable. The amount of work is the same."
Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Matthew Joseph Bruccoli
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
F. Scott Fitzgerald is best known for his novels such as THE GREAT GATSBY, but during his all-too-brief literary life, he sold some 160 short stories to popular magazines. Here, noted scholar and biographer Matthew Bruccoli assembles in one volume the full scope of the best of Fitzgerald's short fiction. These 43 sparkling masterpieces are offered in a handsome Scribner Classics edition, perfect for the home library.
Author: Yuval Noah Harari
Publisher: Harper Collins
New York Times Bestseller A Summer Reading Pick for President Barack Obama, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg From a renowned historian comes a groundbreaking narrative of humanity’s creation and evolution—a #1 international bestseller—that explores the ways in which biology and history have defined us and enhanced our understanding of what it means to be “human.” One hundred thousand years ago, at least six different species of humans inhabited Earth. Yet today there is only one—homo sapiens. What happened to the others? And what may happen to us? Most books about the history of humanity pursue either a historical or a biological approach, but Dr. Yuval Noah Harari breaks the mold with this highly original book that begins about 70,000 years ago with the appearance of modern cognition. From examining the role evolving humans have played in the global ecosystem to charting the rise of empires, Sapiens integrates history and science to reconsider accepted narratives, connect past developments with contemporary concerns, and examine specific events within the context of larger ideas. Dr. Harari also compels us to look ahead, because over the last few decades humans have begun to bend laws of natural selection that have governed life for the past four billion years. We are acquiring the ability to design not only the world around us, but also ourselves. Where is this leading us, and what do we want to become? Featuring 27 photographs, 6 maps, and 25 illustrations/diagrams, this provocative and insightful work is sure to spark debate and is essential reading for aficionados of Jared Diamond, James Gleick, Matt Ridley, Robert Wright, and Sharon Moalem.
Author: Brook Noel
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
Good Morning provides readers with a daily dose of inspiration to make every day matter.
Author: Raimo Hämäläinen
The book aims to help the reader to become more aware of our astonishing skills of Systems Intelligence. It focuses on everyday systems like families, workplaces and communities. These systems are created through our thoughts, actions and connections with others. They are systems that shape our lives, but also offer the possibility of us changing them from within. We are always part of systems. We can act intelligently from within those systems. Systems Intelligence extends the concepts of Emotional and Social Intelligence. Systems Intelligence is the innate yet learnable capacity through which we engage with the diverse systems in our lives. The book presents the Eight Dimensions of Systems Intelligence. It looks at how we can better see and understand systems through developing our systems perception. It pushes the reader to not just see systems around them, but to realize that we can often feel systems at work via attunement. It explores how reflection reveals how systems shape our thought processes and how we can develop the way we think. It reveals the systemic effects of positive engagement with others. It shows how an attitude of spirited discovery helps improve existing systems or create new ways of doing things. It stresses the skills and preparedness required for effective responsiveness within systems. It promotes wise action that allows us to work holistically with systems, to adopt a long-term perspective when needed, and to manage destructive emotions. It underscores the importance of a positive attitude to consistently act in systems intelligent ways. The reader can evaluate her strengths in Systems Intelligence by taking the SI-test at: www.systemsintelligence.aalto.fi/test The concept of Systems Intelligence was introduced in 2004 by Professors Raimo P. Hämäläinen and Esa Saarinen of Aalto University in Helsinki. Additional material on the concept of Systems Intelligence can be found at: www.systemsintelligence.aalto.fi
Author: Janette Oke
Publisher: Bethany House
Virginia must learn the heavenly source of strength through trials in this best-selling novel.
Author: Frank N. McMillan
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
Available electronically in an open-access, full-text edition from the Texas A&M University Libraries' Digital Repository at http : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /146844. Frank N. McMillan Jr., a country boy steeped in the traditional culture of rural Texas, was summoned to a life-long quest for meaning by a dream lion he met in the night. On his journey, he followed the lead of the founder of analytical psychology, Carl Jung, and eventually established the world’s first professorship to advance the study of that field. McMillan, born and raised on a ranch near Calvert, was an Aggie through and through, with degrees in geology and petroleum engineering. As an adult working near Bay City, Texas, he was lunching in a country café when by chance he met abstract expressionist painter Forrest Bess, who was ecstatically waving a letter he had received from Jung himself. The artist’s enthusiastic description of Jung as a master psychologist, soul doctor, and healer led McMillan to the Jung Center in Houston, where he began reading Jung’s Collected Works. McMillan frequently said, “Jung saved my life.” Finding Jung: Frank N. McMillan Jr., a Life in Quest of the Lion captures McMillan’s journey through the words of his own journals and through reflections by his son, Frank III. David Rosen, the holder of the first endowed McMillan professorship at Texas A&M University, adds insights to the book, and the late Sir Laurens van der Post, whom the elder McMillan met at the Houston Jung Center in 1979, authored a foreword to the book before his death. This is a story that sheds light on the inner workings of the self as well as the Jungian understanding of the Self. In often lyrical language, it gives the human background to a major undertaking in the dissemination of Jungian scholarship and provides a personal account of a life lived in near-mythic dimensions.
Author: Todd B. Kashdan, Joseph V. Ciarrochi
Publisher: New Harbinger Publications
Many have wondered if there is a key ingredient to living a full and happy life. For decades now, scientists and psychologists alike have been studying the strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive. The positive psychology movement was founded on the belief that people want to lead meaningful and fulfilling lives, to cultivate what is best within themselves, and to enhance their experiences of love, work, and play. At the same time, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT)—a mindfulness-based, values-oriented behavioral therapy that has many parallels to Buddhism, yet is not religious in any way—has been focused on helping people achieve their greatest human potential. Created only years apart, ACT and positive psychology both promote human flourishing, and they often share overlapping themes and applications, particularly when it comes to setting goals, psychological strengths, mindfulness, and the clarification of what matters most—our values and our search for meaning in life. Despite these similarities, however, the two different therapeutic models are rarely discussed in relation to one another. What if unifying these theories could lead to faster, more profound and enduring improvements to the human condition? Edited by leading researchers in the field of positive psychology, Mindfulness, Acceptance, and Positive Psychology is the first professional book to successfully integrate key elements of ACT and positive psychology to promote healthy functioning in clients. By gaining an understanding of "the seven foundations of well-being," professionals will walk away with concrete, modernized strategies to use when working with clients. Throughout the book, the editors focus on how ACT, mindfulness therapies, and positive psychology can best be utilized by professionals in various settings, from prisons and Fortune 500 business organizations to parents and schools. With contributions by Steven C. Hayes, the founder of ACT, as well as other well-known authorities on ACT and positive psychology such as Robyn Walser, Kristin Neff, Dennis Tirch, Ian Stewart, Louise McHugh, Lance M. McCracken, Acacia Parks, Robert Biswas-Diener, and more, this book provides state-of-the-art research, theory, and applications of relevance to mental health professionals, scientists, advanced students, and people in the general public interested in either ACT or positive psychology.
Author: Albert L. Winseman
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Growing an Engaged Church offers unique, research-based, often counterintuitive solutions to the challenges facing churches today, including declining congregant participation, decreasing contributions, and slumping membership. Ministers, priests, and church boards will find the evidence and answers in this book provocative, eye-opening, and, most importantly, actionable. What if members of your congregation . . . • were 13 times more likely to have invited someone to participate in your church in the past month? • were three times as satisfied with their lives? • spent more than two hours per week serving and helping others in their community? • tripled their giving to your church? What would your church — your parish — look like? And how would you go about creating this kind of change? One thing is certain: Church leaders are never going to inspire more people to be actively and passionately involved in their congregations by doing the same things over and over again. Pastors and lay leaders need something fresh. Something new. The last thing they need is “just another program” or to set up a laundry list of new activities for members. Based on solid research by The Gallup Organization, Growing an Engaged Church will appeal to both Protestant and Catholic clergy and lay leaders who are looking for a way to be the Church instead of just “doing church.”
Author: Stephen Batchelor
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
Does Buddhism require faith? Can an atheist or agnostic follow the Buddha’s teachings without believing in reincarnation or organized religion? This is one man’s confession. In his classic Buddhism Without Beliefs, Stephen Batchelor offered a profound, secular approach to the teachings of the Buddha that struck an emotional chord with Western readers. Now, with the same brilliance and boldness of thought, he paints a groundbreaking portrait of the historical Buddha—told from the author’s unique perspective as a former Buddhist monk and modern seeker. Drawing from the original Pali Canon, the seminal collection of Buddhist discourses compiled after the Buddha’s death by his followers, Batchelor shows us the Buddha as a flesh-and-blood man who looked at life in a radically new way. Batchelor also reveals the everyday challenges and doubts of his own devotional journey—from meeting the Dalai Lama in India, to training as a Zen monk in Korea, to finding his path as a lay teacher of Buddhism living in France. Both controversial and deeply personal, Stephen Batchelor’s refreshingly doctrine-free, life-informed account is essential reading for anyone interested in Buddhism.