The stories in this work describe depth psychological experiences of persons who often ended up in psychiatric hospitals. Beyond suffering and pain, these person's stories show a spirit and courage which led them to become advocates or artists. Many of the authors are well known and part of a national and international movement, advocating for rights of those in the psychiatric system. This work also includes a handful of professionals who may not have been hospitalized, but have found effective methods to help those in distress. Read this work if you want to see what happens in intense psychological experiences, and how the path to healing has been discovered.
In Religious Stories in Transformation: Conflict, Revision and Reception, the editors present a collection of essays that reveal both the many similarities and the poignant differences between ancient myths in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and modern secular culture and how these stories were incorporated and adapted over time. This rich multidisciplinary research demonstrates not only how stories in different religions and cultures are interesting in their own right, but also that the process of transformation in particular deserves scholarly interest. It is through the changes in the stories that the particular identity of each religion comes to the fore most strikingly.
A collection of short stories highlights lycanthropy with a twist and includes contributions by R. A. Salvatore, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Peter David, Craig Shaw Gardner, Julia Ecklar, and Jody Lynn Nye. Original.
"Stories of Transformative Learning is intended to encourage people to explore the potential for transformative learning in their lives, practices, and communities. This book illustrates the transformative learning process through ten stories of individuals from both inside and outside of the classroom. Adult educators and adult learners will find the book to be personally insightful and professionally useful. There have been many accounts of transformative learning experiences, but it is not often that we have the opportunity to hear first-hand personal stories of transformative learning. Here, ten stories are told directly by the people who experienced them, with additional commentary from the authors. These stories are intended to resonate with readers and to inspire people to create the conditions where transformative learning can occur in their lives and professional practice. Storytelling is one way in which both educators and learners can understand the process of transformative learning. Telling stories, reading others’ stories, and contemplating our own stories all help us to become aware of alternative perspectives, a process that is at the heart of critical reflection and critical self-reflection, which is, in turn, central to transformative learning. We hope to increase readers’ sense of agency and more self-directed, self-fulfilling lives. By demonstrating how others have examined and reconsidered otherwise hidden assumptions that constrained the quality and potential of their lives, we show readers how they may do the same."
Clutter: it’s not just the piles of junk in your closet. It’s also the nagging thoughts, endless to-do lists, and calendar full of obligations. It’s the fears and worries that cycle through your mind on repeat, and the sticky emotional energy that you pick up from the people around you. It’s the sense of panicky suffocation you feel when you contemplate all that you “have” to accomplish in a day, a week, or a lifetime. For almost thirty years, Stephanie Bennett Vogt has been teaching the art of clearing clutter at every level: physical, energetic, mental, and emotional. Her unique “slow-drip” approach to clearing is a welcome antidote to popular binge-cleaning methods that leave you feeling exhausted and overwhelmed. With her practical tips and step-by-step guidance, you’ll learn how to identify the root causes of clutter, create a personalized clutter-clearing plan, and break the endless cycle of clutter accumulation. Completely revised and updated with even more inspiring stories, helpful exercises, and insightful advice, Your Spacious Self: Clear the Clutter and Discover Who You Are, 10th Anniversary Edition is the ultimate guide to transforming your home and life.
A complete yearlong course in clearing yourself of excess stress and stuff, this book features short contemplations, personal stories, tools, tips, one-minute practices, guided meditations, and wonderful questions to help readers create spaciousness in their lives. Stephanie Bennett Vogt will teach you how to unplug, detach, and clear to create more space and serenity in your life, what she describes as “the sacred process of removing clutter from both your house and your mind.” Included are 365 daily lessons organized into 52 weekly segments, with each lesson building on the others to develop one’s clearing muscle and grow new habits that will last a lifetime. The week usually begins with a personal story to introduce the theme and ends on the 7th day with a “Check In” to review and integrate the experience. Sprinkled throughout are meditations, Q&As, and testimonials. At the end of each lesson the author gives the reader an opportunity to “explore” a topic with several open-ended statements designed to bypass the thinking mind and open the channels to one’s highest wisdom. Weekly themes covered include: Moving Stuck EnergyConnecting with HomeBeing EnoughShining Light on Invisible ClutterLiving ImperfectlyWaiting It OutCultivating StillnessForgivingFlourishing
Awakening to Awe is a self-help meditation on an alternative--and growing--spiritual movement. This is a movement comprised of people who refuse the "quick-fix" model for healing, whether that model entails popping pills, indulging in material comforts, or adhering to doctrinal dogmas. By contrast, the movement about which Schneider writes is composed of people who have developed the capacity to experience the humility and wonder, or in short, awe, of life deeply lived. In particular, this book highlights the stories of people who through the cultivation of awe have transformed their lives. For example, readers will discover how awe transformed the life of an ex-gang member into a beloved and productive gang mediator, an ex-drug addict into a communally conscious healer, and a sufferer of stage three cancer into a contemplative and spiritual seeker. The book will also inform readers about the challenges and joys of awe-based child-raising, education, humor, political activism, and aging. Drawing on the philosophy of Schneider's earlier work, the acclaimed Rediscovery of Awe, Awakening to Awe tells the down-to-earth stories of a quiet yet emerging revolution in the transformation of lives.
Hope is the magic elixir that can transform life's troubles into a sense of grace and meaning. Experience modern-day miracles as 30 inspiring individuals share their high-fives and down-lows of moving through physical challenges, abusive relationships, addictions, lost and found love, and more. Read the personal testimonies of everyday people and prominent figures, including: Co-author Kathleen O'Keefe Kanavos' finding her forever love Co-author Rev. Ariel Patricia's message of hope from an animal totem New York Times bestselling author James Redfield's synchronicities of writing The Celestine Prophecy Spiritual mentor Sister Dr. Jenna's transformation from disco queen to Divine angel New York Times bestselling author Dr. Bernie Siegel's spiritual flat tires in life Media guru Deborah Beauvais' fight to save her child ... and herself Author Tamara Knox's path to physical and spiritual wellness Media partner Peggy Willms' decision on her pregnancy And more inspiring true stories of courage, triumph, and peace. If you liked Chaos to Clarity and Crappy to Happy, the first two books in the series, you will love this standalone third book. Each true story is a shining beacon for embracing life and moving through the Mayhem and into the Miracles.
"A story threaded with shimmering vibrance and beauty, A Thousand Nights will weave its spell over readers' hearts and leave them captivated long after the final tale has been told." -- Alexandra Bracken, New York Times best-selling author of The Darkest Minds series A dazzling retelling of Arabian Nights, A THOUSAND NIGHTS is a tale of family, love and power that would not feel out of place if Scheherazade herself were telling it. And maybe she is... Lo-Melkhiin killed three hundred girls before he came to her village, looking for a wife. When she sees the dust cloud on the horizon, she knows he has arrived. She knows he will want the loveliest girl: her sister. She vows she will not let her be next. And so she is taken in her sister's place. Night after night, Lo-Melkhiin comes to her and listens to the stories she tells, and day after day she is awoken by the sunrise. Exploring the palace, she begins to unlock years of fear that have tormented and silenced a kingdom. Lo-Melkhiin was not always a cruel ruler. Something went wrong. Far away, back in their village, her sister is mourning. Through her pain, she calls upon the desert winds, conjuring a subtle unseen magic, and something besides death stirs the air. Then at the palace, the words she speaks to Lo-Melkhiin every night are given a strange life of their own. Little things, at first: a dress from home, a vision of her sister. With each tale she spins, her power grows. Soon she dreams of bigger, more terrible magic: power enough to save a king, if she can put an end to the rule of a monster.
In this spiritual, moving autobiography, Wilma Mankiller, former Chief of the Cherokee Nation and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, tells of her own history while also honoring and recounting the history of the Cherokees. Mankiller's life unfolds against the backdrop of the dawning of the American Indian civil rights struggle, and her book becomes a quest to reclaim and preserve the great Native American values that form the foundation of our nation. Now featuring a new Afterword to the 2000 paperback reissue, this edition of Mankiller completely updates the author's private and public life after 1994 and explores the recent political struggles of the Cherokee Nation.
