100 Names for Love by Diane Ackerman

I love this book: 100 Names for Love: a Stroke, a Marriage, and the Language of Healing.

I was browsing through some quotations when I came across this one by Diane Ackerman.

“Look at your feet. You are standing in the sky. When we think of the sky, we tend to look up, but the sky actually begins at the earth. We walk through it, yell into it, rake leaves, wash the dog, and drive cars in it. We breathe it deep within us. With every breath, we inhale millions of molecules of sky, heat them briefly, and then exhale them back into the world.” 

I went to the library and found this book. I took it home and started reading. It was fascinating. I couldn't put it down! I finished reading it in 3 days.

I recommend it to anyone who has a relative who experiences a stroke. The author's husband had a stroke at age 75 and this book chronicles his 5 year recovery. The famous neurologist, Oliver Sacs, visited them shortly after he returned home from the hospital. Dr. Sacs inquired as to what they were told about the "window of opportunity." The author said 3 months. Dr. Sacs informed her that the brain can continue to heal and learn new skills as long as it is challenged. The author decided to devise her own therapy to encourage her husband to recover his verbal faculties. The book shows how successful they were.

After I finished the book, I purchased a copy and sent it to a friend, whose husband had a stroke 3 weeks ago. Her husband is much younger, but has brain damage in some of the same areas. I encouraged her to read it, because it is optimistic in it's viewpoint, and also has resources in the last chapter.

I think this book deserves 5 stars.

The vocabulary is fantastic and I will write another blog and publish it in my other blog, Philolog's Blog.

New Opportunities

Everyone wants to start something new, it seems! This is a prayer/meditation that I found in the book, You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay:

In the Infinity of life where I am, all is perfect, whole and complete. My unique creative talents and abilities flow though me and are expressed in deeply satisfying ways. There are people out there who are always looking for my services. I am always in demand and can pick and choose what I want to do. I earn good money doing what satisfies me. My work is a joy and a pleasure. All is well in my world.

I definitely recommend this book.

Playing Golf and Hypnosis

People ask me Can hypnosis really improve my golf game? The answer is yes. Ask any successful player. Many have used hypnosis and visualization to help their game. Of course, they won't tell you about it. They want to be the only one with the hypnotic advantage!  

I just read a book by Chi Chi Rodriguez. It has some great tips for playing golf and even for LIFE!

Only fools live in the past. In medal, a golfer has to learn to immediately forget the last shot, good or bad, and move on to the next one. Compliment yourself on a ball well hit or scold yourself for a poor shot, but then move on quickly. You've got to get out of the past. Put a price on each swing and you'll learn to concentrate and scramble around a golf course to save every shot. Even on a bad day, it's better to lose only a little money, and every stroke you save is change that stays in your pocket. Play every shot as if it is important, because it is.

That's a quotation from the book, Chi Chi's Golf Games You Gotta Play.

Today's Favorite Book

The best book I read today was:

Three Feet from Gold
by Sharon Lechter and Greg Reid

I couldn't put it down. It was very interesting. It wasn't what I expected. It says Think and Grow Rich on the Cover, so I thought it was written like that book which is over 80 years old. It was much better. The book is like a novel, written in modern language. I liked it. That's my book report.



It's available on Amazon, new or used!

Procrastination

 I just got The Power of Now by Eckharte Tolle and he says that we need to reduce toughts and emotions and just be the watcher or observer. I am observing right now, that I think too much. Just make a decision and stick with it.

Worrying is just another way to procrastinate.

when desire becomes intention

Martha Beck has written a delightful book called The Joy Diet. Although this book contains 10 menu items, it is not about food, nor about diet as as now use the word. Beck purports that diet originally meant something more like lifestyle, rather than a painful plan of eating that takes all enjoyment away from the bland nutrients you consume.

I enjoy her subtle sense of humor, as well as her insight into the minds of men and women everywhere. She really seems like a normal person as she recounts stories about the clients she has worked with as a life coach. And she was the first life coach I ever encountered among the thousands that are now ubiquitous on the web.

She speaks about goals as desires, so passionate as to be irrestible, so motivation is never lacking when you truly know your heart's desire. Now these are goals that inspire!

The book is called The Joy Diet.

Giving Thanks

Thank you and happy Thanksgiving to you!

I have just completed a book called, Bliss to You, by Trixie Koontz. Trixie is Dean Koontz' golden retriever. Or she was, anyway. She has published 3 books. So far.

In this book, she describes 8 steps to bliss. I hope to summarize and review the book thoroughly some time in the future, but for now I will just discuss the last step. Number eight is Gratitude. Somehow it seems fitting to speak about gratitiude at this time of year.

I am grateful for many things. Things and people. I have a soft bed, a nice house, a comfortable reliable car, a full pantry, and lots of clothes. I have some good friends, a wonderful husband, a brilliant child, and a small but close family. I am thankful for all of you.

Thank you for the opportunity to express my gratitude.

Again, Happy Giving-Thanks Day!

How to Become WHealthy

I am whole, perfect, strong, powerful, loving, harmonious, and happy.
This is the perfect affirmation or autosuggestion according to The Master Key System by Charles Haanel. It is found in Part 9.

I have completed the 24 part course. It took about 20 weeks. This was an arduous process, but well worth the effort. Although I have taken many weekend courses in prosperity, it is very unlikely that any of them will permanently change behavior. Habits consist of what we do every day over time. The Master Key prescribes a method of daily meditation, along with gratitude, affirmations, study, inductive reasoning, and persistence. If you really follow his instructions, you cannot fail.
I definitely recommend this book. But not as an easy read. Don't take this to the beach with you. Just reading it does not create change in your life. You have to live it.

If you are ready to take this giant step, see my other blog, makeyourmasterkey.blogspot.com.
 
Thank you.

Review of The Master Key System

"This is the process by which failure is changed to success. Thoughts of courage, power, inspiration, harmony, are substituted for thoughts of failure, despair, lack, limitation and discord, and as these thoughts take root, the physical tissue is changed and the individual sees life in a new light, old things have actually passed away, ... he is reconstructed and is filled with joy, confidence, hope, energy."

--Charles Haanel







This is what he said about his book, The Master Key System, available on Amazon. This book is almost 100 years old, yet it is the best book I have read about manifesting wealth and success. It outlines an exercise, which allows the reader to use his/her thoughts to create favorable conditions! This exercise is revealed slowly and gradually, so that anyone can do it, if they dedicate just 15-30 minutes each day. I definitely recommend it.

Even More Benefits

Many people already know the benefits of meditation: better
sleep, relief from stress, and a general sense of well being -
among other things. But many people don't know how to fit
meditation into their daily routine or simply aren't sure of how
to get the most from their practice.

Now, thanks to Mark Beck, there is an inexpensive, easy way to learn how. His book, Personal Empowerment through Meditation is a short handbook on a very practical method. It's available at smashwords, and other places where you can find e-books.

Beck writes about stillness. He says that stillness is water's true nature and that the Mind is like a glass of water with some sediment in it. Your mind is like this glass of water: it can be turbulent and muddy, or still and (mostly) clear.

He says that meditation is a "powerful tool that can help us lead happier and more peaceful lives."

So, if you've ever had trouble meditating, or are just beginning, you want to read this book! There are many physical, emotional, and spiritual benefits of meditation.


The benefits include inner peace as well as world peace, according to some...See the previous post for the scoop on world peace!

Also, see the book review on Verbal Impact.

Namaste.

Read, Eat, Pray, Love

I mean read Eat Pray Love, the book. I have!

After I read it I was thinking it has been a long time since I read a novel. But this isn't a novel. It is based on a true story. So is it fiction or non-fiction? It feels more like fiction, because most of the non-fiction I read does not have a story. This one has many vivid characters, and a lot of profound truths. Written as a triad, the author eats her way through Italy, majoring in pizza and gelato, then meditates 16 hours per day, which elevates her kundalini in India, then looks up a medicine man in Bali, who refers her to another healer when her wounded leg becomes infected. She has some interesting experiences in Indonesia, and meets the man of her dreams, even though she has just decided to live a monastic life. The story starts with a divorce, then a torrid love affair, and ends with a friendship which slowly turns to passion. Another triad.

I couldn't put this book down when I picked it up. There are three parts: Italy, India, and Indonesia. It does not go into depth with the author's marriage or divorce, except that it was a very painful, long, drawn-out process. In the first third, Italy was magnificent and the descriptions of food could send you running to your favorite Italian restaurant. The middle is about spirituality and did not translate well to the movie version. And in my opinion, the final third was a little unfocused. Her purpose in Bali was unclear. She set out to eat in Italy, and meditate in India, but went back to Bali to meet a man she met once years earlier, while writing an article. At that time he read her palm, and prophesized that she would come back and stay in Bali. He also promised to teach her everything he knew. I'm not sure he taught it all to her, but he was grateful that she made a permanent copy of all the notes that were given to him by his teachers. Bali looked beautiful. I bet this book, and movie, if nothing else, will at least revitalize the tourism to that island.


This is one woman's voyage of self-discovery in countries beginning with "I."

So another author has written the man's answer to Eat, Pray, Love. It is called Drink, Play, F@#k.

Eat Your Heart Out

That's a weird expression. Eat your heat out. Eat to your heart's content? I have to look into these and find out how they came about.

I'm reading Eat, Pray, Love and it is very funny. And I'm wondering about the eating part. The author is trying to mend her broken heart. She traveled to Italy first to try every kind of food available. The description of pizza in Naples is indescribably delicious!

More to follow.

A Spoken Review

Speaking will open doors, it creates opportunities, it takes you where you want to go. You are as good as you decide to be.

The title of the book is Speak like a CEO, Secrets for commanding attention and getting results, by Susanne Bates, and these sentences are all taken from this book.

Leading is all about communication. Communication is the most important skill of a leader.

Mastery is everything.

When you speak well, you enjoy it more.

Are these excerpts or quotations?

Happiness Part One

Interestingly enough, what people think and say will make them happy, doesn't.



And Abraham Lincoln had it right when he said, "People are just about as happy as they make up their minds to be."



I have read some books lately about Happiness. One was fiction, the other non-fiction.





The Happiness Code, by Amy Herrick--about a genetically modified baby, born with the "happiness" gene and some of his adventures while just a year old.




I can't remember the title about noticing the happy times and enjoying them and how to look at other events in a more positive way. (the next book I will read will be about improving the memory!)




And the best book about how to include more joy in your life, The Joy Diet by Martha Beck.

Angel Babies Book Review

I just read an amazing book by someone I know personally, Patricia McGivern. Patti is a hypnotist who has an office in Dunedin, FL. Her specialty is past life regression and she has written a book called, Angel Babies, Messages from Miscarried and Other Lost Babies. It is a very moving book about a very personal subject. It will definitely make you cry and may challenge your beliefs about the afterlife and reincarnation. It challenged my beliefs, and yet I have to accept the book as true, because I know Patti and I know she was writing from her own spiritual experiences. She also includes correspondence from other parents, psychics, authors and doctors.

Patti is an excellent writer and I'm glad she shared her spiritual experiences in this exceptional book! This book is definitely a gift to parents everywhere. Thank you, Patti!

Joyful book review

Oh dear, I forgot one of most favorite authors, Martha Beck. She has written a book called The Joy Diet, which is not about calorie restriction, but lifestyle. It is wonderful.

While I was reading this, I took it with me to the health club and I left it there. I went back, but couldn't find it. Someone probably thought it was a guide for losing weight, and picked it up. I hope they enjoyed it! The menu in this book has 10 items on it and she advocates going through each item in order and practicing each one for about a week, so that in 10 weeks you can transform your attitude and your life. It is very positive and inspiring. I went out and read another of her books after reading this, because I was curious about the author.

The other book is autobiographical about a very tumultuous time in the author's life when she was pregnant with her second child. She had a very difficult pregnancy, and yet some strange and wonderful things happened also.

She has 3 children in all. The second one has Down's syndrome. She discovered this during the pregnancy and decided to move forward against the advice of many concerned friends and family. The book ends happily, yet the story goes on.

This book has some very interesting observations on human behavior, as well as the American culture.

Sixth Sensory People

Sonia Choquette is one of my favorite authors. She has written several books about Improving your Life and Expressing your Spirit in your own unique way.


Some of her books:
Trust Your Vibes, Trust Your Vibes at Work, and Diary of a Psychic.

These are excellent books. I just completed the Diary of a Psychic and it is very entertaining, especially since she is just a few years older than me and she describes the clothing and hairstyles in hilarious detail!







I know there are others. I think she also has a workbook.

Female Authors

It has come to my attention, that although I always use quotations from women in my corespondence, most of the books I have reviewed in Verbal Impact (the newsletter) have been authored by men.

So at least for the next few editions, I will review books by some of my favorite female authors. In the interest of fairness and balance, of course!

Some of my favorite authors: Louise Hay, Sonia Choquette, Shakti Gawain and Erica Jong.
Wow, it's so hard for me to narrow it down to a brief list. I do love books. I think a lot can be learned from them.

Talk to Yourself

I have read this book a few times: What to Say When You Talk to Yourself by Shad Helmstetter. This is not a new book, but Helmstetter may have been the first to publish a book about the effect that your words and thoughts have on your attitude, and how your attitude pervades all of your experiences and interactions.

Helmstetter emphasizes repetition and exaggeration. He suggests that instead of saying, "I feel good," say I always feel good! And instead of "I don't overeat," I never overeat.

His statements were short and simple and extreme. I would also like to suggest that they be positive. For example, instead of "I never overeat," try I am completely satisfied after just a small portion of food. I always choose healthy food! I always eat just enough. Or maybe, I always enjoy small healthy portions.

I think the important thing is to be nice to yourself, and be aware of how your words do influence your moods.

A New Review

"On this planet, normal equals insane."

Just a quizzical quote from the pundit, Eckhart Tolle, from his book, A New Earth.

I would like to write a proper review for this book now that I have actually completed it. I was awe-inspired after only the first 2 CDs, but now that I completed all 8 (and I did have to listen at least twice to each one), I feel so excited to share ET's wisdom with all of you. I will actually be looking for his previous book at the library when I return this audiobook to the library.

This is an awesome book. It is difficult to find the appropriate adjcectives to describe it. It is filled with so many profound insights that it is very difficult to absorb in one reading. I have started to go through it again this week.

I would have to say that this book is about psychology. But not about psychology as we now know it. The word Psychology, means the study of the psyche, which means soul, but because it is so difficult to study the soul, it has become the study of human behavior. Human behavior can be observed and measured.

Eckhart Tolle has actually managed to combine the wisdom of many philosophers, including Jesus and Siddartha Gautama, and explained the true dysfunction of the human race in such a new and startling way that I now understand Life, the Universe and Everything. I just wish I could convey the meaning to you, dear reader. But all I have are words which are only symbols and cannot transmit the truth without creating thoughts which are the root of all dysfunction. Although I love words and I previously embraced thought as the answer to all dilemmas, it seems that thoughts, which are comprised of words, are really the culprits. They are responsible for all violence on the planet. The quote above refers to the current acceptance of wars and violence, as well as things like genocide and the practice of burning those with opposing viewpoints at certain periods of history, like the inquisition and the Salem witch trials.