Books For Sale - Spiritual Books, Religious Books, Retreat Books
FindtheDivine has recommended books that provide information about the Spiritual Retreat: locations, guides and prayers. These books are listed below and can be purchased from this site in conjunction with Amazon Books.
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Recommended spiritual books are listed below.
STRAIGHT LINE MEDITATION:
HOW TO RESTORE AWARENESS AND WHY YOU NEED TO
by Carol E. McMahon, Ph.D. with Master Deac Cataldo
"...an inspirational book."
M. K. Mogavero
ISBN 1439226040
"Straight Line Meditation: How to Restore Awareness and Why You NeedTo " introduces a feedback meditation method, a fix for the wandering mind.
Meditation requires attention, says McMahon, but attention is hard to hold on to. Meditation, she says, needs a way to monitor attention, a way to see what you are doing. Her feedback method provides it. In this method attention is focused on the bull’s eye of a disc. Attention holds the eyes still, keeping the image in the same place on the eye’s retina, using up photo-pigment (as in exposing photographic film), and creating visual distortion in the form of light. The light is feedback. By seeing the light, explains McMahon, you literally attend to your attention. Instead of drifting and dreaming, feedback lets you mind your mind. The light of enlightenment is explained as “receptor fatigue.” Put to use as feedback it harnesses attention, stops the wandering, and guides you straight to the goal.
Antidepressants have been declared to be “the treatment of choice” for depression. Each year, American doctors write more than 200 million prescriptions for people suffering from depression, as well as others who are inhibited, shy, anxious, in pain or unhappy. Yet, as we consume these medications (with their potentially disabling side effects) in record numbers, there is a growing body of evidence that they don’t work nearly as well as we’ve been led to believe.
Is There Another Way?.
James S. Gordon, MD, a pioneer in integrative medicine, has been successfully treating people with depression without the use of antidepressants. He challenges conventional wisdom on how depression is viewed and treated, and now describes his approach to healing in UNSTUCK: Your Guide to the Seven-Stage Journey Out of Depression (Penguin Press).
Dr. Gordon is a professor at Georgetown Medical School and former chair of the NIH Advisory Council for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. He stresses that “depression is not a disease,” rather “a sign that our lives are out of balance, that we’re stuck.” It can be “the start of a journey that can help us become whole and happy.”
In UNSTUCK, Dr. Gordon details an integrative approach that combines nutrition, meditation, exercise, self-expression and other techniques. He has taken 40 years of experience treating patients suffering from clinical depression, as well as anxiety, low energy, and ordinary unhappiness, and distilled it into an easy-to-use guide to understanding the causes of depression, alleviating its symptoms, and empowering people to take an active role in their own healing.
THE LOST EPISTLE OF JESUS presents a holistic vision of Christianity by dramatizing the passion of the "good thief" on the cross as an epic love story. The novel was a finalist in the Best Books competition sponsored by USABOOKNEWS and has been enthusiastically received.
Imagine a world where Jesus Christ's struggles with his love for Mary Magdalene resulted not in marriage but in timeless wisdom for today. This is the world of The Lost Epistle of Jesus ($15.99, paperback, 978-1-60266-126-4), Evan Drake Howard's epic love story set in first century Jerusalem that explores Christ and Christianity in revolutionary new ways. The story revolves around a miraculous epistle that Jesus wrote to help people in all generations through the storms of falling in love and loving. The novel also raises questions about why Judas Iscariot committed suicide, who really killed Jesus, and what it means to be a true Christian.
Historian and retreat leader de Waal explores the rich legacy of Celtic songs, poems, prayers, and blessings that grew out of the dynamic meeting of Christian monasticism with an older, communal way of life ordered by kinship, a rural sense of place, the pattern of the seasons, and the cycles of birth and death. The author does a fine job tracing the strands that make Celtic Christianity compelling and unique. An important addition to Celtic literature for both general readers and specialists.
From Kirkus Discoveries. In her first book, "From Childhood to Christhood," the author "shares her journey, the universal laws and divine resources she discovered and the ways in which she was able to reinvent her outlook on life.
Jocelyne Ranucci saved her own life. Through painful life lessons, abusive relationships and everyday obstacles, the author discovers her true power. The power to transform, transcend and create our own perfect life; a power she believes is innate in us all. Through a careful process of study and meditation she began to realize that we are all the creators of our own destiny, that we can learn to love and accept ourselves deeply, and that we can leave the destructive patterns of the past behind, forever.
To travel from Childhood to Christhood is the spiritual journey of humankind. It is the path that takes us into Christ consciousness. Christ consciousness is not about Christianity,but rather a natural spiritual evolvement of human consciousness, the awakening of a sense of unity with life, in its many forms, and oneness between the human and the divine. Christ consciousness is the acknowledgement that life is love. Not the egocentric love born of our human nature, but the all-loving,all-knowing and all-powerful love of our divine nature. Once we reach this understanding and exemplify it in our daily life, we live in Christ consciousness. You may choose to call it by a different name as for example Buddha consciousness, Atman or The Great I Am.
If you would like to spend more time "in love" follow this tip. When you feel that all your buttons are being pushed, and you want to shut down and move away from your mate--stop and regroup. Take a deep breath and think about your first kiss. Decide on an anchor word to bring you back to your heart, and to your commitment to love. Commit to 15 minutes each day concentrating, on what you want to see in your relationship.
Make a list of all the things you are grateful for in your life, and spend 15 minutes feeling gratitude. Make a commitment to love by creating a vision, for what you want in your relationship, and then focus on your vision. Love's Secret offers easy to apply tools throughout each chapter, to keep you focused on love.
Charles Marsh is a graduate of Gordon College (B.A.), Harvard University (M.T.S.) and the University of Virginia (Ph.D.)
He is the author of four books: Reclaiming Dietrich Bonhoeffer: The Promise Of His Theology ; God's Long Summer: Stories of Faith and Civil Rights ; The Last Days; and The Beloved Community: How Faith Shapes Social Justice from the Civil Rights Movement to Today. Charles is also a professor of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia, where he directs the Project on Lived Theology.
In matters of faith and politics, our nation is tragically divided. Christians at every place along the political spectrum are struggling to respond to poverty, criminal justice, war and peace, environmental responsibility, the sanctity of human life. We argue over whether faith should shape politics and if it should, how? Too often both camps emphatically declare "God is on our side" without stopping to ask whether or not we are on his.
"What is a Christian to do?" Charles Marsh asks in his latest book. Wayward Christian Soldiers is a non-partisan call to all Christians to remember that the inherent foundation of our faith is built on the gospel, not on the sands of political ambition or class-bound values. The body of Christ defies the boundaries of class, race, and nationality. We are bound to each other by the Word, not by the box we check in the voting booth.
Wayward Christian Soldiers entreats us to take a step back from the political arena, where debating candidates knock themselves over to mention the words Jesus and God as though they were name-dropping. The book is searching, honest, and sometime painfully candid, but Marsh writes out of a deep spiritual anguish: the Gospel's captivity to political and cultural agendas has undermined the evangelical churches' mission to preach forgiveness and repentance to the nations. Instead, we are learn again what it means to be a citizen in the Kingdom of God, to remember that Jesus spoke of peace and love and rendered himself unpopular by doing so.
Four out of ten church members and a majority of pastors report having a significant spiritual experience through a church camp or retreat time. Unfortunately, most pastors have little training in the art of planning or leading retreats. Although a few resources offer theme ideas for retreats, they tend to lack any serious biblical or theological underpinning. Very few resources help develop the practical aspects of retreat planning. Now, The Retreat Leader’s Manual offers a practical guidebook for those leading retreats, including the nuts and bolts of how to plan a budget, the right questions to ask about a potential retreat site, and ideas for making Bible study and worship memorable for persons of many ages.
Written by veterans in the development of camp programs and the operations of camps and conferences, this resource offers the perfect blend of the theoretical and the practical – the how and the why of leading meaningful retreat experiences.
Deep Coaching:
Using the Enneagram as a catalyst for profound change
"We believe that this book will lay the ground work for the growth and appreciation of both the Enneagram and coaching, showing the way toward greater excellence in both fields. The author, Roxanne Howe-Murphy, is uniquely suited, in both background and the depth of her personal development, to the task of synthesis and creation that she has set for herself."
Excerpt from the Foreword by Don Richard Riso and Russ Hudson
Authors of the best-selling book, Wisdom of the Enneagram
In this exciting new work, “Deep Coaching is introduced as the integration of core psychological and spiritual dynamics to help individuals experience deep shifts and sustainable, positive life changes. Based on the author’s extensive use of the Enneagram and building on the ground-breaking work of Don Riso and Russ Hudson, this book demonstrates the many ways that the Enneagram can be used as a profound system for coaching.
The Deep Coaching Model™ provides a compelling context for the coaching process. Presence-based coaching practices form the foundation for advancing transformative and sustainable outcomes.
The basic hidden blueprint of each personality type is described in a visually informative, compact and meaningful way Case studies and type-specific considerations for selecting coaching strategies and fieldwork applications are given.
The book offers “coaching cues,” guide sheets, and examples of powerful questions that interrupt habitual patterns and open doors to the client’s truer nature.
A systematic approach to “Unraveling the Inner Story” helps to create perspective and choice.
"The songs that spring from the soul of man pale in comparison to God's Song of Love, infinite Love, for all. It is yours and all who would take and receive ... His Love. Take ... ... and ... ... live." GLSM p.1
"All God's creatures gathered, and asked: 'What would You have us do to celebrate the coming of a new day?' And God said: 'Love all you are.' And God's creation sang of Love. And the side of the earth that held light, serenaded the side of the earth that held dark, and Love danced in the dreams of man." GLSM p.51
Journey Back in Time with Jesus
book and CDs takes you back into the Chaos and Confusion that took place during the days when Jesus walked the earth.
by Joan Campbell
... a Spiritual intuitive who consciously walks her path. She is committed to bringing forth information that will empower others in reaching their highest potential.
This is a how to book on recognizing emotions /energies that are driving our everyday lives and are controlling our actions/reactions unconsciously. In order to change unwanted behavior we need to recognize what is happening. As the saying goes "you need to name it to claim it."
This book and experiential CDs will lead you through the process of naming, claiming and releasing the energies we are carrying in the DNA of our bodies. These emotions/energies have been around since man's, (our ancestors), recorded history.
In this book I was guided to use the well known story of Jesus of Nazareth which is told in the Christian bibles. We use the story of Jesus to more easily recognize the emotions/energies played out in our DNA from our ancestral history.
As you look at other stories told throughout time, throughout mankind's history, you will see the same emotions/energies played out over and over.
God Touches: Finding Faith in the Cracks and Spaces of My Life
by Dan C. Gilliam
A close encounter with a lightning bolt, passing out drunk on a highway, and hitchhiking coast-to-coast--these are just some of the experiences Dan Gilliam has survived to write about. From preacher's kid to agnostic alcoholic and back again into the life of the church, follow his intriguing path to spiritual understanding and encounter godly grace along the way.
In God Touches, find out how bicycles can take a person to happiness and sobriety, how a loudmouthed second baseman learned to love silence and solitude, and how savoring communion can mean more than stealing mouthfuls of sacred juice and crackers. Often funny, at times radical, and always interesting, these stories of one man's turn from faith and his return will inspire you to look into the cluttered corners of your life and find there the touches of God.
Dan Gilliam has ministered in Presbyterian, Methodist, non-denominational Christian and Quaker churches. He has also spoken and performed his original spiritual-folk songs for over 1,000,000 people in forty states and eleven countries. In the last sixteen years, since discovering that a spiritual way of life worked best when practiced sober, Dan has also participated in over 3,000 12-step meetings.
God Touches offers the blandly, stuffily or wearily religious a taste of Christian spirituality that is spicy, natural, honest, and downright vivacious. And it offers the irreligious a window into the soul of a man whose faith never makes him less human, less thoughtful, or less interesting. Beautifully written and inspiring too. - Brian McLaren, author/speaker/activist (brianmclaren.net)
Gathered Stones: Divine Encounters in Everyday Lifeis a collection of true stories from a pastor's life. While some speak of mystery, some speak of life and death, and others are just plain funny, each story offers a glimpse of God.
God communicates relentlessly, and always in the midst of our everyday lives. These true stories reveal some of that awesome communication in one pastor's life. Partake and be inspired.
Mike is an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church and currently serves as Senior Pastor of Washington Street Church in the heart of Old Town, Alexandria, Virginia. In the midst of his third decade as a pastor, Mike has previously served five other churches. Mike considers his life an ongoing blessing. Through a loving family, extraordinary friends, wonderful churches, and personal nearness, God has provided the framework of his life and continues to shape it.
Visit GatheredStones.com to order Gathered Stones, sign up for newsletters or Mike's weekly messages.
How Shall We Become Holy?: 30 Steps to Intimacy with God
How Shall We Become Holy, Thirty Steps to Intimacy with God—Equally appropriate for beginners and the more spiritually advanced, this is a book that those seeking holiness will find invaluable. Holiness is an integral part of what we do every day, and the author's suggestions are possible to achieve and profound in their effects.
Mary has edited two award-winning national magazines, "The Master's Work" and "Catholic Forester," has written for two Daily Devotionals, "Living Faith" and "My Daily Visitor," and authored a syndicated column called Catholic Singles. She has a Master's Degree in Pastoral Studies.
Book Description
Building on the premise that the Holy Spirit is being poured out on ordinary people, the author offers the reader 30 ways to experience deeper intimacy with a God who is alive, accessible and relevant. Equally appropriate for beginners and the more spiritually advanced, these thought-provoking reflections on the exciting journey to holiness, begin with some basic steps, continue with ideas on avoiding sin and conclude with ways to grow in virtue. Scripture based and sprinkled with the wisdom of saints and spiritual masters, this small book will ignite the soul's fire and keep it blazing.
Testimonials
"...This book is a simple statement that we are all called to holiness....To a nation of people who are afraid to make a commitment to anything because something better might come along, it speaks of a commitment that rests in the awareness of Christ's call. "This is a book that one seeking a more intimate relationship with God will read again and again." --From the Foreword by Msgr.James Peterson
"Like the best books on spirituality, this book offers practical suggestions...", says Mark Neilsen.
FindtheDivine recommends books that are written by our friends.
About the Author
MaryEllen O'Brien is a writer, retreat leader and speaker in the field�of spirituality.
She is currently completing writing her doctoral dissertation in theology at Loyola University Chicago, and holds both an M.A. in Theology from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, and a B.A. in Religious Studies from St. Michael's College in Vermont.
She has taught at Loyola University Chicago and at Lewis University, a Christian Brothers school near Chicago.
The art of Living Well & Dying Well responds to the questions: What is the good life? How do we live life to the fullest in the face of sin, suffering, and death? How do we die at peace?
Structured like a stational liturgy, Living Well & Dying Well calls us to stop and face the five spiritual crises-loss of faith, despair, impatience, pride, and greed-and five remedies-inspiration, hope, patience, humility, generosity -that are pivotal moments on the journey of life and death. Along with each of these remedies, O'Brien offers meditations, prayers, and a summons to communal support. This latter piece is crucial-living well and dying well requires us to love and accompany one another in our journeys.
From the Introduction
My purpose in writing this book is to reclaim the wholeness of the Ars Moriendi tradition as a religious and deeply spiritual practice that has much to teach us. The core of the tradition-the five spiritual temptations and remedies-are still valid today. For the purposes of this volume, I call the temptations "spiritual crises," thus using more contemporary language without losing the depth of the experience. These are truly individual crises that need to be identified, named, and embraced.
In Sweet Company Conversations With Extraordinary Women About Living A Spiritual Life is a compelling collection of intimate conversations with 14 remarkable women, each with a spiritual life that nourishes them and serves as a dependable compass for their decision-making. Each chapter tells the story of one woman's inner development in her own words, and the social, emotional and professional fulfillment her spiritual commitment provides her.
In Sweet Company casts a wide net: The women range from 31 to 91 years of age; they come from Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, Hindu and Native American traditions and follow practices synthesized from their own life experience. Above all, they are women who are beloved and respected for who they are as well as for what they do.
Participants include:
Olympia Dukakis - Academy Award-winning actress
Riane Eisler - Historian and feminist, author of The Chalice and the Blade
Sister Helen Prejean - Social justice activist and author of Dead Man Walking
Katherine Dunham - Dancer, choreographer, and Kennedy Center Honoree
Zainab Salbi - Founder of the global relief organization Women For Women International
Margaret Wheatley - Management expert and author of Leadership and the New Science
and eight other activists, religious leaders and visionaries.
This exquisite high quality workbook has 13 remarkable original sacred images that have been called a “stroke of genius”. It uses the ancient art of creative visualization to expand the heart flames of love, wisdom, and power and the five secret rays governed by the 5 Dhyani Buddhas. It integrates the elements of fire, air, water, and earth with the spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical aspects of one’s being. It is intended as a heart focus for children and adults.
Barbara has also written and illustrated 3 rhyming story and educational coloring books, and she creates energetic portraits as well. All her coloring books are intended to bring relaxation, stimulate creativity, encourage enlightenment, and enhance the self-healing process. They are a joy for all ages to color.
Other books by Barbara include:
Anthill: A Rhyming Short Story Coloring Book
Monarch Majesty: A Rhyming Educational Story Coloring Book
Turtle Tidbits: A Rhyming Educational Coloring Book
"In her beautiful illustrations Barbara Scherek has brought together the art and science of medicine, both East and West. Anyone using her illustrations would find a truly spiritual connection with the divine."
Gladys T. McGarey, M.D., M.D. (H) Founding Board Member and Past President of American Holistic Association, Scottsdale, Arizona
365 Nirvana Here and Now: Living Every Moment in Enlightenment
by Josh Baran
What People Are Saying:
"Read this -- Now! In his just published book, 365 Nirvana Here and Now, Josh Baran delivers a daily wake-up call from the world's great thinkers, celebrated and obscure." — O The Oprah Magazine (November, 2003)
"This book is for everyone who wants to be free and happy, here and now. This is a profound and exciting collection of wisdom that you can read every day." —Jack Canfield, co-author of Chicken Soup for the Soul®
365 Nirvana Here and Now is the ultimate hit parade of ageless wisdom and timeless presence. Save yourself thousands of bucks by not buying thousands of books. It's all HERE!” —Victor Davich, author of The Best Guide to Meditation
"365 Nirvana Here and Now is helpful for anyone interested in the depth of spiritual experience. This collection will have a very broad appeal since it reflects the full range of world spirituality. This is a great gift to any spiritual seeker—from beginners to those who have explored the depths of their souls." —Loch Kelly, Chaplain, Union Theological Seminary
In "Stalking The Divine", a Cleveland woman attends Christmas Mass at an old city church seeking holiday cheer and comfort in the trappings of a faith she abandoned more than 30 years ago. Instead, she finds a tiny threadbare congregation and a nearly forgotten group of aging, cloistered, contemplative nuns with a mission to pray day and night for the sorrows of the world.
Thus begins a three-year dialogue between the nuns and Kristin Ohlson, who struggles to understand how these women gave up the world--and continue to do so joyfully--for their faith. Ultimately, Ohlson finds that talking to the nuns becomes a way of opening herself up to the possibility of the sacred--which is, in its way, an answered prayer.
Jack Needham’s powerfully inspiring novel, The Zebra Hunter, tells the story of a kindhearted caregiver who befriends a dying person who was also his spiritual teacher.
Needham never runs short of emotions. He explores every possible encounter between his two lead characters, allowing them to engage in brutally honest, heart-to-heart interaction. Needham also displays a remarkable account of hope and companionship, revealing amazing, almost endless, possibilities in life here on earth and in heaven that await everyone.
Zebra Sense from The Zebra Hunter
Resting in God, I am a channel for healing. Resting in God, his love flows through me. I feel God’s love flow through me and regardless what is going on around me, I feel peace and I feel joy. I take one breath and I feel the holy presence within me.
Resting in God, I allow myself to experience life around me without holding on and letting it challenge me. Resting in God is a place for me to experience life instead of a place for me to go. I am renewed by resting in God; therefore, every moment is an expression of God.
Reading Letters from the Holy Ground is learning to see God in all things. Building on the insight that "we are all platforms for the dancing God," this book invites us to be liberated by beauty and holiness. It is that presence of God which makes every place holy.
STRAIGHT LINE MEDITATION:
James S. Gordon, MD, a pioneer in integrative medicine, has been successfully treating people with depression without the use of antidepressants. He challenges conventional wisdom on how depression is viewed and treated, and now describes his approach to healing in UNSTUCK: Your Guide to the Seven-Stage Journey Out of Depression (Penguin Press).
In Sweet Company Conversations With Extraordinary Women About Living A Spiritual Life is a compelling collection of intimate conversations with 14 remarkable women, each with a spiritual life that nourishes them and serves as a dependable compass for their decision-making. Each chapter tells the story of one woman's inner development in her own words, and the social, emotional and professional fulfillment her spiritual commitment provides her.
This exquisite high quality workbook has 13 remarkable original sacred images that have been called a “stroke of genius”. It uses the ancient art of creative visualization to expand the heart flames of love, wisdom, and power and the five secret rays governed by the 5 Dhyani Buddhas. It integrates the elements of fire, air, water, and earth with the spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical aspects of one’s being. It is intended as a heart focus for children and adults.
"Read this -- Now! In his just published book, 365 Nirvana Here and Now, Josh Baran delivers a daily wake-up call from the world's great thinkers, celebrated and obscure." — O The Oprah Magazine (November, 2003)
Thus begins a three-year dialogue between the nuns and Kristin Ohlson, who struggles to understand how these women gave up the world--and continue to do so joyfully--for their faith. Ultimately, Ohlson finds that talking to the nuns becomes a way of opening herself up to the possibility of the sacred--which is, in its way, an answered prayer.
