Recommended by Franis Engel: Toward Spiral Journey challenge 16, following and finding your calling/talents and working on the issues bringing out deepest love, I recommend the grandmother of the coaching field, Barbara Sher, who’s book called “Wishcraft” is still in print after 35 years, and multiple later books won awards.

Wishcraft 
How to Get What You Really Want

By Barbara Sher — with Annie Goldman

Cindy Fox was a waitress. Now she’s a pilot. Peter Johnson was a truck driver. Now he’s a dairy farmer. Tina Forbes was a struggling artist. Now she’s a successful one. Alan Rizzo was an editor. Now he’s a bookstore owner.

What they have in common—and what you can share—are Barbara Sher’s effective strategies for making real changes in your life. This human, practical program puts your vague yearnings and dreams to work for you—with concrete results. You’ll learn how to:

• Discover your strengths and skills
• Turn your fears and negative feelings into positive tools
• Diagram the path to your goal—and map out target dates for meeting it
• Chart your progress—day by day
• Create a support network of contacts and sources
• Use a buddy system to keep you on track

No field name provided.

From the Work That Reconnects Training DVD with Joanna Macy.
Recorded at a 2005 Intensive and 2006 Palo Alto Workshop.   


 

Gratefulness, The Heart of Prayer
An Approach to Life in Fullness

Brother David Steindl-Rast

Brother David Steindl-Rast explores the many meanings and benefits of the spiritual practice of gratitude. Here is an excerpt that explains the link between joy and gratefulness.

“Ordinary happiness depends on happenstance. Joy is that extraordinary happiness that is independent of what happens to us. Good luck can make us happy, but it cannot give us lasting joy. The root of joy is gratefulness. We tend to misunderstand the link between joy and gratefulness. We notice that joyful people are grateful and suppose that they are grateful for their joy. But the reverse is true: their joy springs from gratefulness. If one has all the good luck in the world, but takes it for granted, it will not give one joy. Yet even bad luck will give joy to those who manage to be grateful for it. We hold the key to lasting happiness in our own hands. For it is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful.”

Look for this book in your local library, order from your local bookstore (ISBN=9780809126286), or click the button below to see online bookstore links.

I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought,   
and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.   
~ Gilbert Keith Chesterton 

Performed February 10, 2012 at Tsunami Books, Eugene OR. Accompanied by Rob Tobias on harmonica and Brook Adams on guitar. First public performance of this song reflecting on the Occupy movement, from the final set of a “Songwriter Showcase” organized by Rob Tobias. Bochner is a singer-songwriter based in Eugene. Rob Tobias performs solo and with the Northwest Express; Brook Adams is bandleader for the Swingin’ Marmalukeys. Video by Randy Prince. More Ben Bochner songs on MySpace .

  From Melanie Greenberg’s article on PsychologyToday.com .

1.  “Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”  — Marcel Proust

     

2. “We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.”   — Thornton Wilder

     

3. “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”  — John F. Kennedy 

     

4. “At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.”  — Albert Schweitzer 

     

5. “The deepest craving of human  nature  is the need to be appreciated.”   — William James

     

6. “Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.”  — Oprah Winfrey

     

7. “He is a  wise  man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”  — Epictetus