Flow - Engaging in Everyday Life
Have you experienced that sense of “flow” when working on something inspiring and challenging? An experience some might call “spiritual”? the opposite of boredom and anxiety? Csikszentmihalyi presents a perspective on this sense, including how it works and how we might find more of it. I’ve included the two books I’ve found most helpful, plus others which serve for deeper explorations into the topic.
Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi - reprint 1998
Beyond Boredom and Anxiety: Experiencing the Flow in Work and Play
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi - 2000
Tags: creativity, living, spirituality, work Posted in: Books, Self Development 
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Living the Ethical Life
Service and compassion as part of the good life:
Some Do Care: Contemporary Lives of Moral Commitment
Anne Colby, preface by William Damon - 1994
Tags: ethics, living, service Posted in: Books, Community Comments Closed
Damon on Raising Moral Children
- The Moral Child: Nurturing Children’s Natural Moral Growth
William Damon - Reprint 1990 - Greater Expectations: Overcoming the Culture of Indulgence in Our Homes and Schools
William Damon - 1996
Tags: education, moral education, parenting Posted in: Books, Interpersonal Comments Closed
Ethics and Excellence
Pulling together a modern concept of ethics and the idea of excellence: “[I]f the fundamentals of good work excellence and ethics are in harmony, we lead a personally fulfilling and socially rewarded life.”
Good Work: Where Excellence and Ethics Meet
Howard Gardner, Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi, William Damon
Paperback 2002 / Hardcover 2001
Tags: ethics, excellence Posted in: Books, Self Development Comments Closed
Emotional Intelligence
The topic of “emotional intelligence” has shed a lot of light on how people can build their abilities to understand others, and help build a world that is more humane, in which everyone’s needs and worth matter. I’ve included the seminal work on the topic, plus a lot of others that add to understanding and some that include a lot of practical help.
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Emotional Intelligence : Why It Can Matter More Than IQ Daniel P. Goleman Hardcover / Published 1995 Audio Cassette / Published 1995 (Daniel P. Goleman, reader) Paperback / Published 1997 |
Tags: EQ, relationships Posted in: Books, Interpersonal, Self Development Comments Closed
Fun with a Bite
Christine Lavin is a singer/songwriter who celebrates (and whines about) women’s lives as they’re really lived, with her twisted combination of comedy and pathos.
Two among many:
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The Bellvue Years Christine Lavin - 2000 |
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Getting in Touch With My Inner Bitch Christine Lavin - 1999 |
Tags: folk music Posted in: Music Comments Closed
Rise Up Singing
An essential resource in the library of every person who loves to sing folk songs old and new. Warning: if you sing a lot, you’ll want the toughest copy of this you can find, and even then you may find yourself replacing it every few years, because you’ve worn it out or you’ve given it to a friend who couldn’t live without it!
Rise Up Singing: The Group Singing Songbook (15th Anniversary Edition)
Peter Blood, et al
Paperback
Tags: folk music, group singing Posted in: Books, Community, Music, Religion/Philosophy, Self Development Comments Closed
The Great Quotations
George Seldes’ books of quotations are classics, and still among my favorites. Seldes, a journalist who strongly defended freedom of the press and liberal principles of truth and justice, accumulated his favorite quotations over decades as a writer, and compiled them for the inspiration of others. My major criticism of Seldes’ collections is that he seems to have lived before the discovery of women’s existence — very few of his quotes are from women.
The Great Quotations
by George Seldes / Reprinted 2000
The Great Thoughts
by George Seldes / Reprinted and updated 1996
Tags: quotations Posted in: Books, Religion/Philosophy Comments Closed
Spirituality - Readings and More
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Spiritual Literacy : Reading the Sacred in Everyday Life / Frederic Brussat, Mary Ann Brussat / Hardcover / Published 1996
This book has many short readings, lending insight into key concepts in a humanistic (or theistic, for that matter) spirituality. |
Tags: quotations, spirituality Posted in: Books Comments Closed
Being Spiritual - Differently
Why does ’spirituality’ seem to mean different things to different people? How can you touch that human need for inspiration in people with different preferences? Peter Richardson provides some helpful insight:
Four Spiritualities: Expressions of Self, Expressions of Spirit:
A Psychology of Contemporary Spiritual Choice
Peter Tufts Richardson
Paperback or Hardcover / Published 1996
Tags: MBTI, spirituality Posted in: Community, Religion/Philosophy, Self Development Comments Closed