5 comments about The Mindful Hiker: On the Trail to Find the Path.

1. When I read the "Mindful Hiker" I felt like I was coming home. The author offers us insights into the rich environment of finding inner peace through the wonder of nature. Prior to reading this book I didn't know that others felt the same strength I have felt through the "meditation" of walking. I didn't know there was a language to describe the connection between nature and well-being. Every chapter was written with such honesty that it was hard to turn away from my own. By the time I finished this book I felt that I had been on a journey of the soul and I was grateful for the opportunity. I highly recommend this book to any of us hikers and mindful spirits.



2. Sometimes the most simple acts can be the most powerful. Author Stephen Altschuler elevates the act of hiking -- walking for pleasure while communing with nature -- to dizzying heights in this part how-to, part environmental manifesto, and part love letter to northern California's Point Reyes National Seashore. Altschuler considers this area where he does most of his hiking his friend -- the place where he spends time with God. Hiking its trails and vistas offers a feeling similar to other pastimes people become passionate about -- like yoga or fly fishing -- that allow them to become suspended in time.
   
   Altschuler used his time hiking at Point Reyes to make sense of our tumultuous times and help him through divorce and midlife crisis. He points out the similarities between a hiking trail and a spiritual path, giving examples of Moses and Martin Luther King "going to the mountaintop" during their most important quests. The mountain trail mimics life, with its trailhead, forks, rises and dips, and eventually -- a summit. Altschuler urges us to use our senses of observation, to see, smell, and feel nature, "by slowing down and seeing what is before us." He not only describes this lovely approach to life, but encourages us to participate, by adding questions and suggestions at the end of each chapter, inspiring readers to think, recall, journal and learn about ourselves and our world.
   
   This is a modern day Walden that belongs in every hiker's backpack.



3. This book has little to do with hiking ang more to do with finding your happy place. Stephen Altschuler sould leave psychotherapy to some one who is good at it. The little check list at the end of each chapter made me fill as if I wasn't aloud to come to my own conclusions. There are much better books on this supject. Jim Littiken



4. Point Reyes National Seashore is one of my favorite places to hike and to meditate. So, I was delighted to find someone who is as in love with the out-of-doors as I am. Stephen's book is neat to read and to meditate with. It clearly brings up mental images I have stored up over the years and questions I have wrestled with. Coincidentally, since reading his book, I visited my daughter who lives in the Boston area only 25 miles from Walden Pond. Made a daytrip there and bought a book contaning both Emerson's Nature and Thoreau's Walking, under the same cover. What a neat connection with mindfulness. If you love Nature and like walking, or have some sort of relationship with the out-of-doors and the Inner Life, I'm sure you will find much to meditate about in this book.



5. The Mindful Hiker inspires me to see my own favorate hiking trails in a different way, to elevate them from favorite to sacred. It is a memoir of a slice of time and place, as well as a workbook, to help one deepen one's relationship to a specific path, park, beach, or even a single tree. Stephen's book also teaches Buddhist dharma, reminding us of non-attachment, impermanence, and gratitude. Delightful to read; I have given it as a gift to fellow hikers.

1 comments about El Poder Curativo Del Agua/ The Healing Power of Water.

1. I bought the hard cover and the pictures are full page and gorgeous. Interesting the author's last name is a take from the word "emotion".

1 comments about Life's Big Questions: 200 Ways to Explore Your Spiritual Life.

1. I remember when I was a kid and I used to lay awake at night wondering about all kinds of things like, "If the universe is infinite, then where is Heaven?" "If God loves us, how come He'd send some people to hell?" "How come only the Christians get to go to Heaven? What about all the people that died before Jesus and what about all the people who don't know anything about Jesus?" A lot of these questions stayed with me for a very long time even when I was going through my "born again" stint. I had a feeling that I was driving my fellow converts and the pastor of the church I was attending crazy with my questions. Whenever I asked them something, they would say, "Oh, that's in the Bible..." or "You just have to have faith..." They thought these trite and pedantic answers would soothe my curiosity.
   
   They were wrong. In fact, I just had more questions.
   
   If you really want to bug the crap out of someone, start asking them questions....especially questions that pertain to their beliefs...Most people don't feel comfortable with questions. Most people like answers. Most people like to be "spoon fed". I drive past several large fundamentalist churches to get to my rather small, metaphysical church. Whereas these fundamentalist churches have parking lots overflowing with cars, my little church has about 30-40. I'm not down on the fundamentalists, they have a right to believe what they wish to believe, but I often feel that many of them do not return the favor.
   
   I don't want to be told how to think. I don't want to be told how to feel. I want to know that God is not threatened by my questions and I don't think that God could be. I guess that's why I don't believe in a place called "hell". Why would an eternal, infinite, omnipotent being such as God be so threatened by a finite being such as myself and why would my "mistakes" provoke so much anger and wrath in a Being that Jesus referred to as simply, "Love"?
   
   This book is a great find. It has all of these great questions that are so much fun to just sit and ponder. My belief system is not "set in stone". I am always trying to find a way to expand my point of view. I don't want to have all the answers, I think that would make me boring. Sometimes, I just shrug my shoulders and smile, "I dunno..." Even Socrates was bold enough to say, "All I know is that I know nothing..."
   
   Questions get us to think and feel at new levels of awareness. Questions connect us to our core. Real Questions humble us but they never debase us or humiliate us. I forgot who said it, I think it might have been Heraclitus, who said, "The unexamined life is not worth living..."
   
   Examine your life a little more with the help of this profound book. Be bold enough to look within your mind, your heart, your very soul. Before you listen to another word that an "Authority" may speak, ask yourself, "Why do I believe this? Why do I believe this to be true for me?" "Do I believe it's true because people have told me it's truth, or do I feel in my gut that there is something more?"
   
   I'm not asking anyone reading this review to give up their religious preference, but if you meet someone who may believe differently than you, instead of trying so hard to convert that person, why don't you look past the differences and look straight into their soul and realize with real eyes see that in Spirit we are all one.
   
   Peace and Blessings...

1 comments about Essene Book of Meditations and Blessings.

1. For those who seek to attune themselves with the spiritual dimensions of nature, this little book provides the structure for daily practice. In this new age world, it is a breath of sensibility.

3 comments about Craving Hope: A Spiritual Companion on Your Weight Loss Journey.

1. Joni Woelfel has written an amazing selection of books about overcoming difficulties in her life. From chronic illness, suicide and living alone. This latest book is a worthy addition to the library.
   In her latest book Craving Hope, Joni Woelfel has another winner! It is full of the candid views into her life, spiritual struggles, and ultimate triumph we have come to expect from her books. A difficult subject to share on such an intimate basis, but Joni has done that successfully.
   In the beginning she evokes an image of the brick wall built by her spouse and son, intended to demarcate a sanctuary. She alludes to the wall throughout the book, both as a symbol of the journey and the sanctuary. It is the visual many of us need.
   The format is different from most of her previous books and we find a very interactive style.
   I highly recommend this book and encourage anyone thinking about, working on, or just needing encouragement about a weight-loss program to buy this book. You will find encouragement form a kindred soul!



2. On her web site, Joni Woelfel explains that her work has always risen out of what she needed to learn. In the introduction to this, her sixth book, she writes of researching the spirituality of weight loss "through the lens of an investigative reporter." No question the material is well researched, but it is also presented in an organized format appropriate to the subject matter. As one would expect, Woelfel recommends using the book in conjunction with a sound program based on healthy diet and exercise. She has also included five workbook lessons for small group use.
   
   Woelfel breaks her personal 90-day journey into 10 stages, starting with Becoming Ready. A single stage consists of nine days presented with a heading; quotation from scripture and various other sources; reflection question with space for notes; affirmation; prayer; and mantra. For example, Stage Five, Understanding Struggle, begins with a discussion of plateaus on Day 37. The day's topic, When Nothing Is Happening, opens with a quote from author Kathleen Norris who writes of the need to "wrestle" with the high plains region of the Dakotas "before it bestows a blessing." Woelfel's theme is "one of those blasé, it's-hard-to-get-up-off-the-couch type days when motivation has gone on vacation." She offers several suggestions, including visiting a friend and undertaking a craft project. The reflection question addresses physical and spiritual plans for dealing with plateaus. The daily affirmation reads: "Becoming despondent over a period where exercise and diet don't appear to be working ignores the greater reason for the journey in the first place." In her closing prayer, Woelfel asks God's help in grasping lessons and insights that arise from waiting. The daily mantra is "I will value the experience of "just being."
   
   Woelfel's journal also reports on progress of a fascinating wall-building project inspired by her desire to "visually portray the spiritual interconnectedness we receive as we enter the fullness of God."



3. Hey, I'll take all the help I can get with my personal weight loss journey - and this is exactly what Woelfel's book is all about. This book provides extra motivation and makes you think about your emotional and spiritual state. I love the daily reflection questions and that fact that there is room in the book to write down your thoughts every day. I have tried many diets and know what I should & shouldn't be doing regarding diet and exercise. The problem is that you have to be mentally and spiritually ready to make the commitment, and more importantly, to stay with it. Woefel's book has been helping me and it will help you too!

5 comments about Everything Happens for a Reason.

1. Suzane Northrop's book "Everything Happens for a Reason" takes you deep into your soul, in a manner that is easy to understand, as well as make sense of why certain things happen, and how we can come to the other side of those experiences with greater clarity, a fresher perspective and true understanding.
   
   I highly recommend her wonderful book to anyone who has wanted to make more sense out of life, the hereafter, and how it is all intertwined. A beautiful, insightful read!
   
   Barbara Rose, Ph.D. author of If God Hears Me, I Want an Answer! and Stop Being the String Along



2. To know the reason why- the questions are indeed the answers. This book won't/can't answer the questions, but instead gives you a tool to begin reasoning for yourself. Everything does happen for a reason and we often won't know until long after the event. Beginning the questions gives one the opportunity to start realizing some of the reasons, and can be comforting to those who are lost in the chaos.
   
   Rayna Gangi, author, "Forget The Cures, Find The Cause."



3. I went to one of her presentations as a skeptic but now I am a believer. There were no cameras or props - just unbelievable evidence that DP's (or dead people) were speaking through her. It was very electrified and emotional and heartfelt. Private but heartwarming. Unbelievable.



4. Though I believe the author offers points in which to ponder about soul progression and the afterlife, I hardly believe that she's entirely got the plan figured out. When one trudges through the chapters, it's as if she's actually interviewed God - too absolute in thinking. It would have been more enlightening if she would have presented her experiences and views as a perspective, not the law. Additionally, I believe she threw in too many client experiences that had no merit, except to show how helpful she's been to others. Mediocre read...buy it only if you find it at a garage sale.



5. Suzane Northrop shares a wealth of her experiences as a channeler, presenting arguments and anecdotes to show that:
   
   · We choose lessons in our incarnations and that every experience we have in life is another lesson.
   
   · Issues that arise in our relationships are particularly important, because we choose our parents and attract to ourselves those people who resonate with the life lessons we have agreed to take on.
   
   · Dead People (DP) continue to care about us often reach out with messages and respectful interventions (such as bringing us into contact with people we might benefit from, if we choose to interact with them).
   
   · Synchronicities - those unusual coincidences that are deeply meaningful in our lives - are arranged by DP to alert us that there is more to life than we often acknowledge.
   
   This is a helpful book to those who have a wish or feel a need to communicate with DP through a person who channels these communications. Northrop also provides helpful suggestions on how we can facilitate direct communications between DP and ourselves through methods such as meditation and holding the intent for such messages to come through. Again, Northrop provides lovely anecdotes to illustrate such communications - that occur often through dreams or physical manifestations (such as the movement of an object or activation of an electronic device).
   
   What I see as most important is the responsibility Northrop puts upon each of us for what happens in our relationships with others. For instance, Northrup teaches that DP only hold us in love, and release all other feelings they may have experienced or held in our relationships with them. If we were hurt or angry in our experiences with a DP, we can know that once they are dead, it is up to us to clear our feelings towards them. My personal experience as a therapist is that this is some of the best advice we can take on board, in relating to the living and to DP.
   
   Some of what Northrop shares is at variance with the experiences and observations of other channelers and students of these subjects. For instance, Northrop states that our relationships with DP never end. Other channelers indicate that DP may often move on to further levels of existence, severing the relationship and becoming unavailable to us. Other channelers and intuitives report that DP may hold resentments towards us and may sometimes even interfere in our lives maliciously because of these feelings. Synchronicities are attributed, by many other students of these magical coincidences, to our own unconscious wishes and expectations, manifested through the collective consciousness.
   
   Having cautioned the reader that this book is about Northrop's views and experiences, I still warmly recommend it for its practical and spiritual orientation to what others often call spirit communications. Many examples illustrate how the information communicated consoles those still living and reassures them that physical death is not the end of existence. This is an important message in our society, which in many aspects is afraid of death and skeptical about an afterlife.

No comments about Questions for the Possibilities.

No comments about Getting Real.

4 comments about Empower Your Soul: Create Balance in Your Life by Trusting Your Intuition.

1. I found reading Empowering your soul a different kind of self-help book that serves as both a tool and a coach to help someone improve their confidence and make better use of our innate intuition. It provides a lot of insight on how other people have approached getting in tune with their intuition too. I found I could use the book content like a personal trainer of the mind. The author seems to convey many years of experience working with people and condenses that knowledge into the must know aspects of how to get a better balance in life.



2. This book by Melissa Perry Moraja is very concise and full of useful, relevant information about personal empowerment. By using examples of her own journey of personal growth and awareness she enables the average person to become more aware of their own intuitive abilities and offers tools to improve upon this newfound awareness. Every chapter in this book is useful and there is no psychological jargon to decipher. I read the book twice because it is so concise and relevant that I found reading it the second time allowed me to better absorb and assimilate the information presented.
   I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in personal growth and desire to improve their life.



3. Empower Your Soul is a great book for anyone looking to develop and trust their own intuition. It takes the reader through exercises to examine areas in their life in need of balance and helps the reader to identify what they truely want out of life. I found this book very empowering!



4. To begin, the author takes you on a journey of self reflection while at the same time, expressing her journey. She gives plenty of clear, easy to follow guidance and uses examples to get us comfortable in applying the techniques into our own lives.
   
   If you find that you are feeling lost and do not know where to start in manifesting what you want in all areas of your life, then you must read this book. A year ago in February of 2007, I lost my apartment to a fire. So, I decided to try to buy my own home. However, I had no idea where to start or what I wanted. Worst of all, I did not believe that I could achieve this blessing. Despite the hard work and determination of my real estate person, I was facing many road blocks.
   
   Finally in December of 2007, I read this book from cover to cover and "woke up". One of the sections asks you to complete a chart to evaluate the different aspects of your life. From there, my focus was on improving the financial area of my life; hence, my goal was to buy my own home. I followed the steps given which were to state smaller goals (stepping stones) that will lead to achieving the bigger goal, and to mark on the calendar by when each goal would be accomplished. I then listened to my gut feeling and marked my calendar on March 27, 2008 that I signed my contract to my new home (past tense). From then on, with my enthusiasm high, things started to flow smoother. My real estate wanted to close on the 21st of that month, but complications came up that I ended up closing exactly on March 27th.
   
   This book was empowering in so many ways. I just mentioned one way it helped me, but there are many others.
   --Ana

1 comments about Vivir sin mascaras: Metodo Pathwork para enfrentar los patrones destructivos que limitan tu realizacion personal.

1. ¿Qué es el método Pathwork? Una disciplina espiritual contemporánea que promueve nuestro crecimiento personal, encaminando al conocimiento e integración de nuestra vasta realidad interior.
   Una profunda comprensión de la naturaleza del mal, de la Máscara, del ser inferior personal y el ser superior, así como un proceso eficaz para transformar el lado oscuro de nuestra naturaleza.