Today's Quotes - March 28. 2010

“Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.”

“Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.”

“Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.”

“It is not the magnitude of our actions but the amount of love that is put into them that matters.”

“Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.”

Mother Teresa

Book Review: The Shift by Dr. Wayne Dyer

“Thoroughly unprepared, we take the step into the afternoon of life. Worse still, we take this step with the false presupposition that our truths and our ideals will serve us as hitherto. But we cannot live the afternoon of life according to the program of life’s morning, for what was great in the morning will be little at evening and what in the morning was true, at evening will have become a lie.”

Carl Gustav Jung

Every once in a while a book comes along that truly gives you pause and forces you to deeply reflect on life and the driving forces behind your decisions and your philosophy. For me, Dr. Wayne Dyer’s latest work; The Shift – Taking your Life from Ambition to Meaning is one of those rare books.

The Shift, a companion book to the movie of the same name illustrates how and why to make the move, or the shift, from ambition to meaning. Dyer focuses on the reconnection that is possible with our spiritual connectedness as we first decide, and then begin this transformation.

The book starts with a piece from an inspirational documentary titled Hasten Slowly: The Journey of Sir Laurens van der Post:

The bushman in the Kalahari Desert talk about two “hungers”.
There is the Great Hunger and there is the Little Hunger.
The Little Hunger wants food for the belly;
But the Great Hunger,
And the greatest hunger of all, is the hunger for meaning….

The book is divided into 4 chapters, smartly titled: From, Ambition, To and Meaning. The first chapter follows the transition from the spiritual realm into a physical one which is the first shift; from energy to form. This chapter explores the question of who am I and where did I come from in a way that I have never read before. I found it to be well thought out and extremely thought provoking.

Ambition, the second chapter, follows our progression as in our travels we leave a place of spiritual connection and then shift to a life that is ego driven and is constantly in search for more, a pursuit that is fruitless as each accomplishment is simply replaced by the desire for another. Dyer refers to this shift as a natural progression that requires us to edge God out and learn to believe in our false self. This explanation is followed by a thorough description of six lies that ego needs us to believe and how these affect our actions.

The third chapter, To, unfolds as Dyer describes the next shift as we attempt to step away from the demands of the ego and move towards the authentic self and a life of purpose. This is really defined as a return to the “fromness” from where we started. At this point our sense of separateness can be replaced by an understanding of how we are all connected and how attempting to control others runs counter to our true essence. He quotes both the Tao Te Ching with “never think of conquering others by force. Whatever strains with force will soon decay. It is not attuned to the way” as well as the words of Jesus; “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” (Matthew 5:9) to illustrate the point. The seven steps of our U-turn illustrate in detail what we can expect as we begin this journey.

The fourth and final chapter, Meaning, takes us full circle as we arrive, ironically, back to where we started and describes how to prepare for a life of meaning and begin a life practicing the virtues that constitute our original nature.

At just over 100 pages in length, this is a small book with an enormous amount of information. It is supported by meaningful and beautiful quotes such as:


“Life is not meaningful…
unless it is serving an end beyond itself;
unless it is of value to someone else.”

- Abraham Joshua Heschel

“The one possible way of giving meaning to (man’s)
existence is that of raising his natural
relation to the world to a spiritual one.”

- Albert Schweitzer

As a committed student of life and personal development, I am always seeking well written sources of inspiration and learning in order to better understand life and my role in it. I found Dr. Wayne Dyer’s “The Shift” to be one of those sources of inspiration and it is a book that I will return to again.

For more information, visit Hay House at:
http://www.hayhouse.com/details.php?id=4672&utm_id=3313
or Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/Shift-Taking-Your-Ambition-Meaning/dp/1401927092/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265149999&sr=8-2

Please note that Hay House provided a copy of The Shift at no charge in exchange for being considered for review. My written review of this book is an honest reflection of my feelings towards it. Cam

Today's Quote - March 8, 2010

"Time is limited, so I better wake up every morning fresh and know that I have just one chance to live this particular day right, and to string my days together into a life of action, and purpose."
— Lance Armstrong

Book Review - Chants of a Lifetime by Krishna Das

In his book, Chants of a Lifetime: Searching for a Heart of Gold, author Krishna Das takes us on his journey of self discovery and his quest to find peace and harmony. In colorful detail, Das describes his self destructive youth and his lifelong pursuit of a full understanding of life. All through his life, Das struggles to understand his purpose and explores different avenues, always feeling, with a deep conviction, that there is something more.
Das’s life changes when he travels to India and meets Neem Karoli Baba. Baba, or Maharaj-ji, as he is referred to by his followers, opens Das’s eyes to a higher spirituality and is the catalyst that changes his life.
This book is very much an homage to Maharaj-ji and the intense love and admiration that Das has for him is evident throughout.
Krishna Das is drawn to the practice of Bhakti Yoga – the yoga of devotion and the practice of kirtan which translates to “chanting the divine names” and goes on to explain how these practices allow him to find love and inner peace.
Through this process, Krishna Das gains a fuller understanding of love and life itself. He states: “Learning to be ourselves, seeing life as our teacher rather than as something that happens to us, all this is based on the faith that there is something to learn and something to become.”
I found it interesting that even in different cultures and at different times in history, the concept of the “Golden Rule” permeates the teaching of all of the great guru’s and philosophers of life. On this topic, Das quotes Shirdi Sai Baba with these words:

“Whoever or whatever creature comes to you, do not drive away but receive with due consideration. Give food to the hungry, water to the thirsty, and clothes to the naked. Bear with others reproach. Speak only gentle words. This is the way to happiness. The world maintains a wall – the wall of differentiation between oneself and others, between you and me.
Destroy this wall.”

Krishna Das describes the practices that he has learned and draws you into his world as he travels back to the United States and shares his chanting with people there.

As an added bonus with this book, Das has included a cd containing a number of the chants that he has recorded. The haunting music and beautiful tone of his voice is incredibly peaceful and helps the listener to better appreciate his story.

I found Chants of a Lifetime to be an interesting read and would recommend it to anyone interested in gaining a better understanding of Bhakti Yoga, Kirtan chanting or the stories of others journey for peace and a fuller understanding of life.

For more information, visit Hay House at http://www.hayhouse.com/details.php?id=4593&utm_id=3313
Or Barnes & Noble at http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Chants-of-a-Lifetime/Krishna-Das/e/9781401920227/?itm=1&USRI=chants+of+a+lifetime

Please note that Hay House supplied the book Chants of a Lifetime at no charge in exchange for being considered for review. My written review of this book is an honest reflection of my feelings towards it. Cam