Cultivating Stillness

Title: Cultivating Stillness
Author: Eva Wong
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 9780877736875

From the publisher: Equanimity, good health, peace of mind, and long life are the goals of the ancient Taoist tradition known as "internal alchemy," of which Cultivating Stillness is a key text. Written between the second and fifth centuries, the book is attributed to T'ai Shang Lao-chun—the legendary figure more widely known as Lao-Tzu, author of the Tao-te Ching . The accompanying commentary, written in the nineteenth century by Shui-ch'ing Tzu, explains the alchemical symbolism of the text and the methods for cultivating internal stillness of body and mind. A principal part of the Taoist canon for many centuries, Cultivating Stillness is still the first book studied by Taoist initiates today.

The Genesee Diary

Title: The Genesee Diary
Author: Henri J.M. Nouwen
Publisher: Darton, Longman & Todd
ISBN: 9780232527292

From the publisher: This touching observation is central to the probing spiritual journal of Henri Nouwen recorded during his seven-month stay in a Trappist monastery. During this period he had a unique opportunity to explore crucial issues of the spiritual life and discover ‘a quiet stream underneath the fluctuating affirmations and rejections of our little world’.

Henri Nouwen participated fully in the daily life and routine of the Abbey of the Genesee in upstate New York - in work and in prayer. He relates here the typical human experiences and questions that had somehow prevented Christ from being the centre of his existence. From the early weeks in the abbey - dominated by conflicting desires and concerns - to the final days of Advent, when he has found a new sense of calm expectation, Henri Nouwen never loses his critical honesty.

Insightful, compassionate, often humorous, always realistic, The Genesee Diary is both an inspiration and a challenge to those who are in search of themselves.

The Wisdom To Know The Difference

Title: The Wisdom To Know The Difference
Author: Eileen Flanagan
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 9781585428298

From the publisher:
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can change; and wisdom to know the difference.

Millions of people have been moved by these famous last lines from the Serenity Prayer to make important and lasting changes in their lives. But how exactly can we know the difference? How can we acknowledge the real limits that we face without negating the possibility for dramatic change? In this wise book, Eileen Flanagan guides readers in determining what they can - or perhaps should - change in their lives, accepting what they cannot, and discovering the "wisdom to know the difference."

Drawing on her own Quaker faith as well as a range of other religious and spiritual traditions, Flanagan shows readers how such practices as sifting through culturally preconceived notions and listening to our own inner voice can help us determine when a change is needed in our lives or when instead acceptance is the answer.