The definition of overwhelmed? Standing in front of the self-help section at your local big box bookstore. How do you sort through all that clutter to find the best of the best? Here are five recommendations to get you started. From the practical to the spiritual, each ends up with the same core conclusions:
Go Put Your Strengths to Work, by Marcus Buckingham, is a practical exploration of the life and work-changing ideas that grew out of decades of research by the Gallup Organization. If you want to go right back to the source (and if you like online surveys instead of self-reflection), check out Now, Discover Your Strengths by Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton.
Stumbling On Happiness, by Harvard psychology professor Daniel Gilbert, is am entertaining and highly informative exploration of the nature of our minds as revealed through dozens of research studies. Don't let the word "research" throw you. You'll feel more like you've just had a hilarious evening with Gilbert rather than a three hour college lecture.
The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success: A Pocketbook Guide to Fulfilling Your Dreams, by Deepak Chopra, comes from a spiritual perspective, yet feels highly practical. You will find yourself nodding as you recognize truth after truth, and understand how these strategies can be integrated into your life.
The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, A Toltec Wisdom Book, by Don Miguel Ruiz, will challenge your sense of reality. Yet, you won't want to put it down. It's novel-like feel will keep you turning the pages, wanting to know more about this ancient insight into how we become who we are - and how we can return to our more authentic selves.
Change the Way You See Yourself: Through Asset-Based Thinking, by by Kathryn D. Cramer, Hank Wasiak, returns to the light and inspirational. If you like books with lots of graphics, photos, different size fonts, and short articles, this one is for you. The premise is simple: Look at yourself through a positive lens and you get different results. This is the sequel to their equally fun, Change the Way You See Everything through Asset-Based Thinking.
So there you go. Not a comprehensive list, but a great place to start. Enjoy!
It seems like all my life I have been making subtle distinctions. They have always felt HUGE to me, but subtle to others. In the 1980s, when I was a music therapist, it just didn't seem right that finely researched, psychodynamic, improvisational work with autistic kids went by the same name as generic sing-alongs on the geriatric unit. In the 1990s, when I was in substance abuse prevention, the distinction was between preventionists who focused on stopping unwanted behavior and those who focused on positive youth development.
Now it is law of attraction, a sometimes woo-woo concept that was swept into our consciousness by the marketing blockbuster, The Secret. On one side of this distinction are those who seem to make few distinctions, who talk about LOA as if we can just think a thought and, poof, the object of our desires will appear. It doesn't match our human experience, but is nonetheless held to be true. And if you don't get results, well, you probably just need their newest program to help you "get it." Interestingly enough, these are the same folks from whom I receive almost daily hard-sell marketing emails. Seems their thoughts aren't quite enough to get the job done.
Then there are the folks who don't push their message much at all. They rarely talk about manifesting mansions on the coast or Maseratis in the driveway. They focus on the journey. They know that feeling the joy of abundance is as important as having physical abundance, that beauty already exists in the world, if only we choose to see it. When I listen to these folks, it feels true. I can connect the dots and see that this law of attraction is nothing more than the negative thoughts spirals I know so well - in reverse!
It hardly seems fair that they both go by the same name, for they are nearly the antithesis of each other. One pushes, one allows; one demands, one seeks; one impatiently waits for the manifestation to appear, the other is already living the joy of what is. I want to explore the second.
In the coming weeks and months, I plan to develop ways for others to join me in these explorations. LOA for Skeptics, I'll call it. And like the paradox of all truth, by making the subtle distinction, we won't have to be skeptical at all.
Care to join me?
Many months ago, I reflected on the growing role of social media and was astounded to find that folks like us are using it - a lot. Last week…
So what is the result of all this? Connection.
We are finding each other again. After losing the backyard fence and being suffocated by organized playgroups, we are finding each other again. After losing ourselves in wall to wall activities and community meetings, we are discovering the joy of chit-chat, the fun of swapping stories and laughing at our foibles and sharing a good joke. We are passing our vacation pictures around and sharing tips on kids, finance and where to get the best coffee in town.
Say what you will about the banality of it all, people are talking again. The chit-chat leads to sharing leads to talking about life and happiness and things that matter. It was a long dry spell there when we forgot what community is. But we are back.
As resilient as ever.
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