Download or read book Soulwork of Clay written by Marjory Zoet Bankson and published by Turner Publishing Company. This book was released on 2012-06-21 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Let go of your pretensions—squeeze, shape, knead & play your way to spiritual growth. "I am being formed by the clay. I am reconnecting with the earth, and with the other basic elements, too—air, water, fire—and life itself. Every gesture leaves its trail in the clay. Every fingerprint, a message. My breath fills the cavity. My touch curves the wall of a bowl. And inwardly, I am being formed by the outward practice. I am learning to trust the process, to lean into the possibilities rather than striving for some predetermined goal. I am being hollowed out, stretched and constricted, trimmed and sometimes reworked entirely." —from the Prologue Drawing from her first-hand experience of working with clay, Marjory Zoet Bankson takes you through the seven-step process of making clay into a pot, drawing parallels at each stage to the process of spiritual growth: Grounding—Connecting with our core elements Kneading—Awakening to the inner realm Centering—Gathering everything together Shaping—Focusing inner and outer pressures Finishing—Trimming away the excess Decorating—Adding a playful touch Firing—Committing to transformation This simple connection with the earth has the potential to put you in touch with the whole of creation and, at the same time, your soul's longing to participate as an artist, creating something new and unique. Through reflective questions in each chapter—along with a wealth of unique clay projects that even beginners can do—Bankson invites you on a journey of spiritual discovery, a path of reconnecting with your body and spirit, and with the earth itself.

Download or read book SoulWork written by Deborah P Bloch and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-07-17 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What programs address career development in an holistic way, including issues of meaning and purpose, spirituality, and 'work within a life'? Written for career planners, executive coaches, life change counselors, HR and human services managers and all those interested in employee development, workplace values, life-career assessment and personal transformation, this book helps to connect your career to the spiritual values that give your life meaning.SoulWork: Finding the Work you Love, Loving the Work relates your career to spiritual themes, and aims to provide advice and support to people in working through their personal choices. Updated from 1998, the revised edition places career choices in the context of holistic, personal, spiritual development and internal change. A spiritual approach to integrating work/career with all life issues. This book examines the concept of careers within the context of seven themes, including chapters on: Change, Balance, Energy, Community, Calling, Harmony, Unity, Exercises Each starts with a story and then offers career issues, reflections on various aspects of the chapter theme and a set of applications that includes self-administered questionnaires and exercises. The authors take a systematic approach, use clear language and examples that many people will be able to relate to. The value of this book lies in its practical focus on the issues of matching work life to life in its totality. It offers an opportunity to reassess one's career and connect it to the spiritual values that bring meaning and depth to one's life.SoulWork offers a refreshingly unconventional approach to the quest for satisfying work. Rather than focusing on matching occupations against personality traits as many other books do, this book advocates finding one's ideal job through one's calling. That is, drawing on strengths, life experiences, personal needs, and goals to arrive at meaningful work.

Download or read book Celtic Christian Spirituality written by and published by SkyLight Paths Publishing. This book was released on 2011 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Celtic Christians beheld the world around them and perceived the divine life of God as upholding every aspect of the material universe. Their prayers and poems, their liturgies and theological interpretations give Christians a sense of faith that is confident in a merciful and infinitely creative, healing God.

Download or read book How to Do Good Avoid Evil written by Hans Küng and published by SkyLight Paths Publishing. This book was released on 2009 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explore how the principles of a global ethic can be found in Judaism and how they can provide the ethical norms for all religions to work together toward a more peaceful humankind. In 1993, the Parliament of the World's Religions endorsed the "Declaration toward a Global Ethic" composed by Hans Küng. In it, representatives from all the world's religions agreed on principles for a global ethic and committed themselves to directives of nonviolence, respect for life, solidarity, a just economic order, tolerance, and equal rights and partnership between men and women. But the declaration was just the first step. In this impressive volume, Hans Küng, probably the most famous living Roman Catholic theologian, and Rabbi Walter Homolka, head of Germany's Abraham Geiger rabbinical seminary and distinguished professor, draw on the Jewish tradition to show the riches that Judaism can offer people of all faiths and nonbelievers in achieving these directives. Presenting key sacred texts and theological writings, the authors make the case for binding values and basic moral attitudes that can be found in Judaism's universal message of a better world. Exploring Judaism's focus on ethical conduct over declarations of faith, the authors show that making ethical decisions is indispensable in an ever-changing world.

Download or read book Creative Aging written by Marjory Zoet Bankson and published by Turner Publishing Company. This book was released on 2010-02-01 with total page 163 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discover Your Unique Gift "Creative aging is a choice.... If we remember that transition always begins with endings, moves on to a wilderness period of testing and trying, and only then do we reach the beginning of something new, then we can embrace this encore period of life with hope and curiosity, remembering always that it is our true nature to be creative, to be always birthing new ways of sharing our planet together." —from the Epilogue In a practical and useful way, Marjory Zoet Bankson explores the spiritual dimensions of retirement and aging. She offers creative ways for you to share your gifts and experience, particularly when retirement leaves you questioning who you are when you are no longer defined by your career. Drawing on stories of people who have reinvented their lives in their older years, Bankson explores the issues you need to address as you move into this generative period of life: Release: Letting go of the vocational identity associated with your career or primary work Resistance: Feeling stuck, stagnant, resisting change Reclaiming: Drawing energy from the past, discovering unused gifts Revelation: Forming a new vision of the future Crossing Point: Moving from stagnation to generativity Risk: Stepping out into the world with new hope Relating: Finding or creating new structures for a new kind of work

Download or read book Women Spirituality and Transformative Leadership written by Kathleen S. Hurty and published by SkyLight Paths Publishing. This book was released on 2011 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A dynamic conversation on the power of women's spiritual leadership and its emerging patterns of transformation. "We invite you to come with curiosity into this living community of spiritual women, listening deeply as they share their personal stories of how their spiritual journeys have shaped and honed them as leaders.... We do not offer answers to all of the complex questions facing us as a human family, but we invite you to join us as we surrender to the mystery of being open, present and engaged together in these uncertain times." --from the Introduction This empowering resource engages women in an interactive exploration of the challenges and opportunities on the frontier of women's spiritual leadership. Through the voices of North American women representing a matrix of diversity--ethnically, spiritually, religiously, generationally and geographically--women will be inspired to new expressions of their own personal leadership and called into powerful collaborative action. CONTRIBUTORS: Lisa Anderson * Jean Shinoda Bolen, MD * Karen R. Boyett, MA * Fredelle Brief * Reverend Guo Cheen * Joan Chittister, OSB * Phyllis W. Curott, JD and HPs * Dr. Barbara E. Fields * Rachelle Figueroa * Carol Lee Flinders, PhD * China Galland * The Right Reverend Mary Douglas Glasspool * Shareda Hosein * Kathleen S. Hurty, PhD * Musimbi Kanyoro, PhD * Valarie Kaur * Kay Lindahl * Dawn T. Maracle, MEd, EdD (ABD) * Courtney E. Martin * Susan Quinn * Jan Booman Saeed * Adelia Sandoval * Ann Marie Sayers * Kathe Schaaf * Reverend Lorenza Andrade Smith * ALisa Starkweather * Lynda Terry * Diane Tillman * Yoland Trevino * Karma Lekshe Tsomo * Nontombi Naomi Tutu * Jamia Wilson

Download or read book Secrets of the Eternal Moon Phase Goddesses written by Julie Peters and published by SkyLight Paths Publishing. This book was released on 2016-05-10 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Part introduction to Tantric traditions, part personal growth guide, this exploration of the Eternal Moon Phase Goddesses—with nightly meditation and journaling practices—is for anyone who wants to embrace the confusion, loss, loneliness, desire and pleasure that make up the spectrum of human experience—and better understand who they already are.

Download or read book Sacred Stress written by George R. Faller, MS, LMFT and published by SkyLight Paths Publishing. This book was released on 2016-04-20 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Learn how to understand and use your stress for positive change. With up-to-date analysis, real-life examples and spiritual practices, this book explores the effects of stress and ways to honor its symptoms. Rather than be limited by a perspective of distress, you can use stress as a catalyst for growth in all areas of life.

Download or read book The Quilting Path written by Louise Silk and published by Turner Publishing Company. This book was released on 2012-04-11 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Quilting is the miracle of giving new life and purpose to fabric scraps. It can rejuvenate your spiritual life too. We affirm that life is here and now in our quilting and its ability to enable our journey. It is the vehicle for our continuing movement along our lifetime of efforts. Our quilts allow both the goal and the process in one magnificent creation after another. Our quilting generates the perfect combination of faith with action, hope with realism, and the universal with the particular, so that we are blissful and grateful in our co-creation experiences. —from the Conclusion What can you learn about yourself through quilt making? What deeper symbolism can you find in the act of cutting and piecing? How can this simple activity help you make your way down a spiritual path? Delve into these questions and more in this imaginative book that will become your spiritual friend, your teacher and your sanctuary. Contemporary quilter Louise Silk takes you through her own quilting journey to discover how the process of making a quilt can be used to explore and strengthen your own spirituality. Each chapter introduces a universal human attribute organized according to the mystical tradition of Kabbalah, relates it to a personal life practice and then applies the attribute and the practice to an original quilt project. Anyone from the novice to the needlework expert—and from any faith tradition—will be nourished and gratified by the patchwork and appliqu experiences offered in this creative, engaging book. These ten projects, carefully designed for you, include: One-Patch Utility Quilt Log Cabin Quilt String Pieced Pillows Straight Furrows Baby Blanket Quilting Carry-all Bag Patchwork Prayer Shawl Folk Art Appliqu Quilt Remembrance Crazy Quilt T-shirt Quilt Rail Fence Signature Tablecloth Plus dozens of variations ...

Download or read book The Scrapbooking Journey written by Cory Richardson-Lauve and published by Turner Publishing Company. This book was released on 2012-05-10 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Take up your scrapbooking in a whole new state of mind—and spirit. When I scrapbook, I feel empowered and connected and hopeful. I feel grateful and content and stimulated. In the process of scrapbooking, I feel the closest to my essential self, and to God. —from the Introduction In this imaginative, creative resource, award-winning scrapbook designer Cory Richardson-Lauve leads you on a celebration of the divine connection you can experience through scrapbooking. Weaving her own insights, techniques and artwork with the reflections and layouts of other professional scrapbookers and the wisdom of spiritual thinkers, Richardson-Lauve reveals how this innovative and dynamic craft can become a practice used to deepen and shape your life. Each chapter includes an original scrapbooking project with dozens of variations—for both cut-and-paste and digital artists, beginning scrapbookers and published designers alike—that helps you explore a theme essential to both your designs and your spirituality.

Download or read book The Knitting Way written by Linda Skolnik and published by Turner Publishing Company. This book was released on 2012-04-13 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Knitting is the miracle of creating new dimensions from a strand of yarn. Let it bring that miraculous transformation to your spiritual life too. This book is about seeing and listening. It’s about becoming aware that through knitting you can hear and give attention to what’s in your heart and soul—that knitting can be a place of rest and thought and a place for the Divine. It’s about connection—to yourself, to the world, to others and to the Holy. —from the Preface What can you learn about yourself through your knitting? What deeper symbolism lies behind the loops and patterns that you create? How can this simple activity help you make your way down a spiritual path? Delve into these questions and more in this imaginative book that will become your spiritual friend, your teacher and your sanctuary. Follow the knitting journeys of the authors and other knitters to discover how they have used their knitting to explore and strengthen their spiritual selves, and how you can do the same. In this joyful and engaging look at a time-honored craft you are invited to: Find time and space that was previously hidden in plain sight Try creative, thought-provoking original knitting patterns Recognize and deepen spiritual connections through knitting Meet other knitters on the journey to spiritual and self- discovery Explore new ways to expand and savor your knitting community Recognize your own power to pass along the knitting wisdom

Download or read book Practical Interfaith written by Rev. Steven Greenebaum and published by SkyLight Paths Publishing. This book was released on 2014-10-07 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Interfaith as a Faith—A Way to Move Past Preaching about Love and Compassion to Actually Practicing Them “A commitment to Interfaith is no small commitment. Nor is it an easy commitment. But I do believe it can be a rewarding and healing one. Interfaith widens our world. And, if we let it, Interfaith frees us from the imprisoning shackles of one of the most debilitating of all human emotions—fear of the ‘other.’” —from Chapter 6 The interfaith movement is taking root. More and more of us are exploring it. At the same time interfaith finds itself at a crossroads. Where do we go now? Rev. Steven Greenebaum not only suggests the faith of Interfaith as a positive way forward but also offers a practical, down-to-earth approach to a more spiritually fulfilling life. In this accessible how-to guide, Greenebaum addresses: What it means to practice Interfaith as a faith and why you might want to embrace it.Why you can choose Interfaith as a faith and still keep your own spiritual tradition.How to establish the necessary foundations to start an Interfaith spiritual community.How to choose the right minister for your Interfaith community.What you can expect as your community forms and grows.And much, much more. Along with offering resources such as Interfaith liturgy and guides to Interfaith church governance, he includes the voices of members of the Living Interfaith Church, the community he founded, to share their whys and hows of participating in an Interfaith church.

Download or read book Like a Child written by Rev. Timothy J. Mooney and published by SkyLight Paths Publishing. This book was released on 2014-05-30 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By breaking free from our misperceptions about what it means to be an adult, we can reshape our world and become harbingers of grace. “In our desire to grow up, mature, become adults, we become enamored with who we are supposed to be. When we have finally ‘grown up’ we realize much of who we really are has been left behind or buried under various masks and roles we play. But the knowledge of who we truly are never leaves us. To reclaim our selfhood, we must grow up again and consciously embrace all that it means to be childlike.” —from Chapter 12, “It Takes a Long Time to Become Young” By restoring the childlike ways of humility, trust, awe, wonder, playfulness and more, we can recover a fuller picture of what it means to be human. This unique spiritual resource explores what Jesus may have meant when he said, “Unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” It addresses our modern misperceptions regarding the nature of maturity and the common coping mechanisms—distrust, guardedness, insecurity, judgmental thinking—we acquire, and feel we require, in adulthood. Along with the wisdom of ancient and modern spiritual luminaries, this book provides over twenty-five spiritual practices to help us cultivate the childlike ways of attention, self-awareness, joy and resilience in our inner lives as well as in our relationships with others.

Download or read book The Divine Feminine in Biblical Wisdom Literature written by Rami M. Shapiro and published by SkyLight Paths Publishing. This book was released on 2005 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The pure and penetrating message of the Divine Feminine Wisdom can become a companion for your own spiritual journey The first of God's creations and God's endless delight, Wisdom (also known as Chochma and Sophia) is the Mother of all life, the guide to right living. She is God manifest in the world you encounter moment to moment. Her teachings, embedded in the Holy Scriptures of Jews and Christians, are passionate, powerful calls to live in harmony, love with integrity and act joyously. Through the Hebrew books of Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes and Job, and the Wisdom literature books of Sirach and the Wisdom of Solomon, the Divine Feminine speaks to you directly, and Her only desire is to teach you to become wise. Rami Shapiro's contemporary translations and powerful commentaries clarify who Wisdom is, what She teaches, and how Her words can help you live justly, wisely and with compassion. This is not a book about Wisdom but the voice of Wisdom Herself, liberating, uplifting and compelling. Now you can experience the Divine Feminine and understand Her teachings with no previous knowledge of Wisdom literature. This SkyLight Illuminations edition presents insightful commentary that explains Sophia's way of wisdom and illustrates the countless opportunities to experience Her creative energy through which God fashions all things.

Download or read book The Advent of God s Word written by Rev. Dr. Brenda K. Buckwell, Obl. OSB and published by SkyLight Paths Publishing. This book was released on 2015-10-15 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Quiet your heart and listen for the loving whispers of God through this daily Advent retreat experience. Offers compelling reflections on the season's traditional scripture readings and creative ways to let God's word sink deep into your heart and soul, including journaling with mandalas, audio divina and meditative movement.

Download or read book The Potter s Way written by Florence St. George and published by Short Books. This book was released on 2023-04-27 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Warm, honest and full of inspiring tips, Florence's story shows us that pottery has the power to soothe the heart and heal the mind.' JULIA SAMUEL 'An honest and redemptive story about the power of fun and creativity - I've always said if it was mandatory to wear a smock once a week and get messy with clay, adults would be happier.' MIRANDA HART Sometimes, the smallest things lead to the biggest changes. When struggling with depression and feeling lost after the birth of her daughter, Florence St. George began experimenting with a lump of clay on her kitchen table. Pot by pot, bowl by bowl, she discovered that as her hands became busier, her mind grew calmer. In just a few years, Florence went from complete beginner to contestant on The Great Pottery Throw Down, learning what clay has to teach along the way: that creativity doesn't have to be expensive, that pottery is the perfect antidote to internet overload and that working with clay can ground you like nothing else. In The Potter's Way, Florence shares her tips on how to get started on your own pottery journey, from hand-building pinch pots to throwing large-scale vessels on the wheel. This captivating book invites us all to slow down, reflect and experience the transformative power of creativity. 'I have found nothing outside myself that can truly fill the void, but this book demonstrates that pottery is about as close as it gets.' NICK LOVE 'This book is a journey, with a map. Like all maps, it relay's history, from the first point of contact to pivotal moments along the way. I like a map. They help us to find our way.' INDIA HICKS

Download or read book Laugh Your Way to Grace written by Susan Sparks and published by SkyLight Paths Publishing. This book was released on 2010 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Laughter the GPS System for the Soul Laughter was honored by the ancients as a spiritual healing tool and celebrated by the world's great religions. So why aren t we laughing along the spiritual path today? What would happen if we did? In this personal and funny look at humor as a spiritual practice, Rev. Susan Sparks an ex-lawyer turned comedian and Baptist minister presents a convincing case that the power of humor radiates far beyond punch lines. Laughter can help you: Remove the fearful mask of a God who doesn t laughDebunk the myths that you don t deserve joyFind perspective when faced with adversityExercise forgiveness for yourself and othersReclaim play as a spiritual practiceHeal emotionally, physically, and spirituallyKeep your faith when God is silentLive with elegance, beauty, and generosity of spirit Whatever your faith tradition or if you have none at all join this veteran of the punch line and the pulpit in reclaiming the forgotten humor legacy found in thousands of years of human spiritual history."