Inspiration

POETRY OFFERING: 

This is what you should do:
Love the earth and sun and animals,
despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks,
stand up for the stupid and crazy,
devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants,
argue not concerning God,
have patience and indulgence toward the people…
reexamine all you have been told in school or church or in any book,
dismiss what insults your very soul,
and your flesh shall become a great poem.
~ Walt Whitman ~

TEACHERS WHO HAVE INSPIRED ME:

Martha Beck blew my mind wide open when I first heard her speak in the summer of 2013. She is so brilliant and courageous and every word she says is true, true, true. Her teachings are what started me on the road to freedom, eventually leading to my studies with her as a life coach. Disclosure: I am now a Martha Beck affiliate but used these same words before our official relationship. They come from the heart. You can click here to connect with her.

Jon Kabat-Zinn first introduced me to the power of mindfulness and for this I will be forever grateful.  His embodiment of the practice convinced me that it was something important to explore. His contributions to the field of mindfulness as a science can not be overestimated.

Thich Nhat Hanh At 88 years old, this gentle, humble monk has dedicated his entire life to educating others about the importance of inner transformation as a pathway to global peace. Mindfulness does not mean docility or a blind acceptance of that which needs to be changed. He was nominated by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. for the Nobel Peace Prize. I feel very honored to have attended several workshops with him and a 5 day retreat at Blue Cliff Monastery.

Quick smile break courtesy of friends who know that joy isn’t meant to be a crumb.

dogsmileseal smileIMG_0493

 

BOOKS TO INSPIRE YOU:
Please click on any of the links for more information or to get started with some inspiration right now.

Untethered Soul, Michael Singer
Finding Your Way in a Wild New World, Martha Beck (anything by Martha is great)
Outrageous Openness, Letting the Divine Take the Lead, Tosha Silver
The Soul of Money, Lynne Twist (a MUST READ for anyone who has  a mentality of scarcity or angst about money; this book was a game-changer for me)
The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible, Charles Eisenstein
Evolving Towards Peace: Awakening the Global Heart, Jalaja Bonheim
The Four Agreements: A Toltec Wisdom Book, Don Miguel Ruiz
Ten Poems to Change Your Life, Roger Housden (any of his poetry compilations are outstanding)

IMPORTANT BOOKS & MOVIES (THAT MIGHT CHANGE YOUR WORLDVIEW):

An Unreasonable Woman: A true story of shrimpers, politicos, polluters and the fight for Seadrift, TX, Diane Wilson
If you have ever felt powerless to affect change, please read this book. When this uneducated shrimp-boat captain who is also a mother of 5 learns that she lives in the most polluted county in the US, and that it’s about to get more polluted when a multi-billion dollar global chemical company buys its way into town, she decides to fight back. This is an epic tale of bravery, tenacity, and refusal to settle despite an entire town and her own family turning against her. Diane Wilson is on my short list of (s)heros.

Mad in America, Bad science, bad medicine, and the enduring mistreatment of the mentally ill, Robert Whitaker
My intuition had long told me that the mental health industry in America was deeply flawed. This book supports that theory with the meticulously detailed evolution of the “science” and how the field has been hijacked from the very beginning by pharmaceutical companies, special interests and those with big egos. This is a haunting and compelling read about how we all have been deluded about what constitutes mental illness and how best to treat it.
War of the Whales, Joshua Horwitz
This reads like a spy thriller or horror story but is the shockingly true story of the unanticipated consequences of military testing and the subsequent, disturbing attempts to cover-up the truth. I couldn’t put it down and now realize that all actions have reactions, even where we can’t see them such as in the depths of the ocean.

The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight, The fate of the world and what we can do before it’s too late, Thom Hartmann
While everything appears to be collapsing around us, we can still do something about it and create a world that will work for us and for our children’s children. The inspiration for Leonardo DiCaprio’s web movie Global Warning, this book explores the reasons for our culture’s blind behavior, and how we can fix the problem. The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight helps us understand–and heal–our relationship to the world, to each other, and to our natural resources.

Where Men Win Glory, The Odyssey of Pat Tillman, Jon Krakauer
Pat Tillman walked away from a multi million dollar contract as a professional football player to join the military and serve his country after 9-11. Krakauer is a meticulous researcher who gives a compellingly detailed account of Tillman’s deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan and his subsequent death in what was later determined to be a friendly fire incident that the military and government tried mightily to cover-up.

The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town, John Grisham
For those who might take their liberty for granted, you might want to read Grisham’s disturbingly true account of a professional baseball player who was sucked into the criminal justice system, ultimately ending up on death row despite his innocence.

World Peace Diet: Eating For Spiritual Health and Social Harmony, Will Tuttle PhD
Food is our most intimate connection with the natural world and the choices that we make everyday have real consequences, not just for our own individual self but for the health of the planet and ecosystem at large. Tuttle beautifully blends science, data and spirituality and leaves us with specific principles of how our food choices can help elevate things on our planet right now; an important read for anyone who consumes food 🙂

Blackfish
A fascinating and heartbreaking documentary about the captive whales that are used for entertainment in  parks like Seaworld and about the ethics involved with keeping such majestic, intelligent and wide-ranging creatures in tiny, solitary confinement for life.

Bidder 70
College student Tim DeChristopher committed an ingenious and highly effective act of civil disobedience to save an arguably corrupt government from selling out some of our national treasures to the oil and gas industry. He redefines courage and I dare you to see this movie without being moved and inspired by it.

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