December Read/2

Title: The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It
Author: McGonigal, Kelly, Ph.D.
Call Number: 153.8 M146W 2012
Book Description from amazon.com:
Informed by the latest research and combining cutting-edge insights from psychology, economics, neuroscience, and medicine, The Willpower Instinct explains exactly what willpower is, how it works, and why it matters. For example, readers will learn:

• Willpower is a mind-body response, not a virtue. It is a biological function that can be improved through mindfulness, exercise, nutrition, and sleep.
• Willpower is not an unlimited resource. Too much self-control can actually be bad for your health.
• Temptation and stress hijack the brain's systems of self-control, but the brain can be trained for greater willpower
• Guilt and shame over your setbacks lead to giving in again, but self-forgiveness and self-compassion boost self-control.
• Giving up control is sometimes the only way to gain self-control.
• Willpower failures are contagious—you can catch the desire to overspend or overeat from your friends­­—but you can also catch self-control from the right role models.

In the groundbreaking tradition of Getting Things Done, The Willpower Instinct combines life-changing prescriptive advice and complementary exercises to help readers with goals ranging from losing weight to more patient parenting, less procrastination, better health, and greater productivity at work.
My Read:
It took me weeks to finish this book. It's not that my reading speed was slow; it's that I got more than one book at hand these past few weeks. What I got the most from this book came from page 206. It says: E-mail check-ins keep a goal alive. The following page is a story about how email check-ins helped a student keep her word even though she sent the emails to another student who is a stranger to her. The email check-ins program turned into a true buddy system of support. They kept the weekly check-ins going for some time, despite the fact that they had no relationship outside of the class. By the time they stopped, the changes were a part of her life, and she no longer needed the extra accountability and support (page 207).
Another helpful tip I got from this book is the title of chapter three: Too Tired to Resist: Why Self-Control Is Like a Muscle. Our will is always on testing mode; discomfort and illness weaken our will muscle. Bad weather could be a good excuse not to get out to walk or jog. I had a bad day and I deserved a good piece of cheesecake. Lots of thoughts and feelings take us away from the rational mind and we do things we regret later.
To me, the difficult part for my walking routine was to put on my sneakers and pushed that door to get out. Once I was out I was out. Willpower is, to me, having a conversation with the self. And sometimes, silence the talk also helps. Willing the will, it's not that hard.

December Read

Title: The 100 Simple Secrets of the Best Half of Life
Author: Niven, David, Ph.D
Call Number: 158.1 N734O 2005
Book Description from amazon:

Practical advice on how to thrive in the second half of your life, based on scientific studies. The sixth book in the bestselling 100 Simple Secrets series.

What do people who relish the second half of their lives do differently than those who dread getting older? Sociologists, therapists and psychiatrists have spent entire careers investigating the ins and outs of successful aging, yet their findings are inaccessible to ordinary people, hidden in obscure journals to be shared with other experts.

Now the international bestselling author of The 100 Simple Secrets series has collected the most current and significant data from more than a thousand of the best scientific studies on the second half of life. These findings have been boiled down to one hundred essential ways to find and maintain joy, health, and satisfaction every day of your life. Each one is accompanied by a true story showing the results in action.

The Baby Boomers are hitting retirement age. This upbeat, light approach will appeal to the enormous market of citizens grappling with the effects of becoming 'senior', looking to discover the positive benefits of aging beyond discount tickets at the movie theatre. Books about aging well continue to sell year in and year out. The Simple Secrets approach will stand out among the heavier self-help/psychology titles and will without a doubt become an affordable impulse and gifty mainstay in this category.

My Read:

Chapter 4-Try Something New

Chapter 5-You Still Are Who You Were

Chapter 11-Have Time for Thoughts

Chapter 17-Keep Your Fears in Line

Chapter 20-Believe You Can

Chapter 21-See the Real Pay in Work

Chapter 29- See Beyond You

Chapter 36-Never Give up

Chapter 60-Remember to Care for Yourself When caring for Others

Chapter 65-Let Old Secrets Stay Secrets

Chapter 81-Seek Meaning

Chapter 91-Redefine Career

Chapter 96-View Your Life as a Choice

Chapter 100-Do it Now

Page 25-Express yourself in what you do, do something that reflects you.

Page 36-If you sit around, you have time to think about your problems.

Page 38-Be decisive. The task is to make the best decision we can and then stop questioning it.

November Read/2

Title: The Second Book of the Tao
Author: Mitchell, Stephen
Call Number: 299.51482 M682S 2009
Book Description from amazon.com:
The most widely translated book in world literature after the Bible, Lao-tzu's Tao Te Ching, or Book of the Way, is the classic manual on the art of living. Following the phenomenal success of his own version of the Tao Te Ching, renowned scholar and translator Stephen Mitchell has composed the innovative The Second Book of the Tao. Drawn from the work of Lao-tzu's disciple Chuang- tzu and Confucius's grandson Tzu-ssu, The Second Book of the Tao collects the freshest, most profound teachings from these two great students of the Tao to offer Western readers a path into reality that has nothing to do with east or west, but everything to do with truth. With his own illuminating commentary alongside each adapta­tion, at once explicating and complementing the text, Mitchell makes the ancient teachings at once modern, relevant, and timeless. 
My Read:
Notes from the book--
Page 12-Nothing is absolute.
Page 13-Mind can only create the qualities of good and bad by comparing. Remove the comparison, and there go the qualities. The pivot of the Tao is the mind free of its thoughts.
Page 15-It's all a question of perspective. The fastest thing in the universe isn't light; it's mind.
Page 49-In dealing with people, you're always dealing with yourself.
Page 56-Don't believe what you think. The Master's mind is like a mirror; it responds but doesn't store, contains nothing, excludes nothing and reflects things exactly as they are. Thus she has what she wants and wants only what she has.
Page 61-What happened is always the best thing that could have happened, because it's the thing that did happen.
Page 63-Wisdom is the art of cloudlessness.
Page 71- What is most valuable can't be taught; it can only be learned.
Page 79-Besides, entrepreneurship is less exciting than the adventure of discovering what is enough. How fine life becomes when what you want is exactly what you have.
Page 90-You can't reach for the positive and not create the negative by the very act of your reaching.
Page 94-You can't talk about the Tao with a person who thinks he knows something; he is bounded by his own beliefs. The Tao is vast and fathomless. You can understand only by stepping beyond the limits of yourself.
Page 96-Walk through life as though you didn't exist. When nothing is left to argue with and there is nothing to oppose. You will find yourself at peace and in harmony with all things.
-------Personally, I like the saying of "The Master's mind is like a mirror..." Encountering and interacting with people on a daily basis I found it hard to be at peace when the other party was in bad mood. The teachings in this book help me to be more aware and alert at dealing with people.

November Read

Title: It's Not About the Shark: How to Solve Unsolvable Problems
Author: Nevin, David Ph. D
Call Number: 153.43 N734I 2014
Book Description from amazon.com:

It's Not About the Shark opens the door to the groundbreaking science of solutions by turning problems―and how we solve them―upside down. When we have a problem, most of us zero in, take it apart, and focus until we have it solved. David Niven shows us that focusing on the problem is exactly the wrong way to find an answer. Putting problems at the center of our thoughts shuts down our creative abilities, depletes stamina, and feeds insecurities. It's Not About the Shark shows us how to transform our daily lives, our work lives, and our family lives with a simple, but rock-solid principle: If you start by thinking about your problems, you'll never make it to a solution. If you start by thinking about a solution, you'll never worry about your problems again.

Through real-life examples and psychology research, David Niven shows us why:

*Focusing on the problem first makes us 17 times less likely to find an answer
*Being afraid of a problem is natural: we're biologically primed to be afraid
*Finding a problem creates power – which keeps you from finding a solution
*Working harder actually hides answers
*Absolute confidence makes you less likely to find the answer
*Looking away from a problem helps to see a solution
*Listening only to yourself is one of the best ways to find an answer

Combining hard facts, good sense, and a strong dose of encouragement, David Niven provides fresh and positive ways to think about problem solving.

My Read:

This is one of the books that I was able to read and remember some cases in the book after I closed the book. It's a fairly good read.

Page 208-"We tend to write ourselves off and think that only some small, select number of people can come up with extraordinary ideas. But you can solve anything if you refuse to view it as a problem-if you refuse to let the problem define your options."

Page 22-"When you are stuck, find a good distraction that takes you away from your problems and sets your mind free."

Page 36-"In any walk of life, having the guts to get past negative reactions, to get past bad news, to get past fear-it opens up a world of opportunities. Indeed, overcoming fear makes it possible to redefine a problem, or even the entire universe."

Page 33-"Good makes other things seem boring. Bad things, on the other hand, are always compelling to us. Bad is so compelling to us that even when we have every incentive to value good over bad, we value bad over good."

Page 104-"When confidence gets in the way of asking questions, then it no longer propels us forward, it chains us down."

Page 165-"When you are stumped by a problem-when the only thought you can abide is that this is a problem that can not be solved-you have to open your mind to opposites. Flip the situation on its ahead consider the possibility that the obvious negative is really a positive. Within opposites we find our most creative selves."

Page 84-"No one ever told us that the way to solve something is to put fewer people on the case."

October Read/2

Title: The Best Buddhist Writing 2013
Call Number: 294.3 B561 2013
Book Description from amazon.com:
An eclectic and thought-provoking collection of Buddhist and Buddhist-inspired writings on a wide range of issues published in North America during 2012.
The collection includes writings by Pema Chödrön, Thich Nhat Hanh, Joseph Goldstein, Natalie Goldberg, Sylvia Boorstein, Dzongsar Khyentse, Sakyong Mipham, Norman Fischer, Philip Moffitt, Karen Miller, Tsoknyi Rinpoche, Kay Larson, and Lodro Rinzler, among others.  Selected by the editors of the Shambhala Sun, North America's leading Buddhist-inspired magazine, this anthology offers an entertaining mix of writing styles and reflects on a wide range of issues from a Buddhist point of view.
My Read:
Page 72-"The Three Marks of Existence: impermanence, suffering, and emptiness"
Page 168-"There is an old Chinese saying that describes the Buddhist path: First there is a mountain; then there is no mountain; then there is a mountain again."
Page 176-"We can't really understand that there are no mountains and no rivers until we understand mountains and rivers. We can't really understand mountains and rivers until we understand that there are no mountains and rivers."
Page 33-"Q: What is Tao?
                A: It is one's everyday mind.
                Q: What is one's everyday mind?
                A: When tired, you sleep; when hungry, you eat."
Page 115-"The less you try to hold onto whatever virtue you have as your little treasure, the more there seems to be."
Page 117-"Instead of looking for recognition from outside, we develop the confidence to trust the action itself for feedback."
Page 187-"Laughing at others' misfortune is a kind of expression of our own anger."
Page 188-"All we need is the space between trigger and reaction to mindfully look within."
Page 190-"When anger arises, it is pointing to something. Our anger is a clue to our underlying beliefs about ourselves. It can help to reveal our constructed sense of self-identity."
I like the following saying about practice on page 192:
We're going to keep getting angry. It's going to come up. It has come up in our lives before, and it will come up again. this practice is about becoming more mindful, becoming aware of how we are getting stuck. With care and work, we find ways to get unstuck. But we also know that the moment we get unstuck, we're going to get stuck again. That's why it's called a practice--we never arrive.
Also, somewhere in the book it says: Life is just as it is. Well, yes life is just as it is.

October Read

Title: The Sage's Tao Te Ching: Ancient Advice for the Second Half of Life
Author: Martin, William
Call Number: 299.51482 M383S 2010
Book Description from amazon.com:
Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, one of the world’s most widely read books of wisdom, reminds its readers that the sage has been venerated in China for thousands of years. In this free-verse interpretation of theTao, William Martin subtly and powerfully captures the complex emotions connected with growing older. He encourages today’s sages to recognize their inestimable worth in a youth-centric world that often goes astray: “Will I be able to harvest my life in compassion and love for the world? Will I find in my own heart the wisdom for which I long? This question trumps all others for me. I suspect it is the same for you.”
My Read: 
Page 52-Chapter 33: Gifts of  Beauty
               We have embraced those things which others shun. Embracing death, we find life.
               Embracing uncertainty, we find awe.
               Embracing limitations, we find the path of effective actions.
               Life is sweetest only when we know that we will die.
               Breathtaking wonder comes only in the presence of indescribable mystery.
               Correct actions emerge only when we understand what we can and cannot do.
               The thing you have feared the most will be your greatest friends.
               When they knock on your door, welcome them with graciousness.
               They seem unattractive but they bear gifts of greatest beauty.
Page 75-Chapter 48: What Will Be Left Is Life Itself
               Each day that passes, the sage discards another useless weight.
               Finally all the accumulated burden of a life spent seeking something is gone.
               In its place is a lightness of being and a clarity of seeing that makes a heaven of each moment
               Make it your daily discipline to lay aside one little thing; a tiny fear, a simple preconception, a 
               useless book, a piece of household clutter, a habit of avoidance, a bit of shame or guilt, a 
               desire that distracts, even a good intention.
               What will be left is Life itself.
Page 87-Chapter 56: The Power in Our Later Life
              How refreshing not to have to strut about like a Bantam rooster in a coop.
              We have nothing to prove anymore
              Disgrace and honor mean the same to us-nothing
              Our power in our later life will give birth to many wonders.
I like the following saying in this book:
Page 102-Chapter 66: It Is Time to Really Live
              The sage, with arms open wide, lets life flow through, like a river on its way to the sea.

September Read-3

Title: Mindfulness
Author: HBR Emotional Intelligence Series
Call Number: 152.4 M663 2017
Book Description from amazon:

The benefits of mindfulness include better performance, heightened creativity, deeper self-awareness, and increased charisma―not to mention greater peace of mind.

This book gives you practical steps for building a sense of presence into your daily work routine. It also explains the science behind mindfulness and why it works and gives clear-eyed warnings about the pitfalls of the fad.

This volume includes the work of:

Daniel Goleman

Ellen Langer

Susan David

Christina Congleton

This collection of articles includes “Mindfulness in the Age of Complexity,” an interview with Ellen Langer by Alison Beard; “Mindfulness Can Literally Change Your Brain,” by Christina Congleton, Britta K. Hölzel, and Sara W. Lazar; “How to Practice Mindfulness Throughout Your Work Day,” by Rasmus Hougaard and Jacqueline Carter; “Resilience for the Rest of Us,” by Daniel Goleman; “Emotional Agility: How Effective Leaders Manage Their Thoughts and Feelings,” by Susan David and Christina Congleton; “Don’t Let Power Corrupt You,” by Dacher Keltner; “Mindfulness for People Who Are Too Busy to Meditate,” by Maria Gonzalez; “Is Something Lost When We Use Mindfulness as a Productivity Tool?” by Charlotte Lieberman; and “There Are Risks to Mindfulness at Work,” by David Brendel.

How to be human at work. The HBR Emotional Intelligence Series features smart, essential reading on the human side of professional life from the pages of Harvard Business Review. Each book in the series offers proven research showing how our emotions impact our work lives, practical advice for managing difficult people and situations, and inspiring essays on what it means to tend to our emotional well-being at work. Uplifting and practical, these books describe the social skills that are critical for ambitious professionals to master.

My Read:

I usually practice mindfulness while driving. Since I was confined in the car I found it helpful if I was  able to make the connection between traffic lights and focus on deep breathing. When I stopped at a red light I would look at the traffic light and slow down my breathing. The practice calmed me and helped me to begin the day with a clearer mind.

October Read

Title: Straight to the Heart of Zen
Author: Kapleau, Philip
Call Number: 294.384 K17S 2001
Book Description from amazon.com:
Koans are at the very heart of Zen practice; this collection of informal koan talks will bring the Zen student into the presence of Roshi Philip Kapleau, the famous author of The Three Pillars of Zen . The talks in this collection came directly from the zendo (training hall) and from the intense form of practice known as sesshin, a Japanese word meaning "to train the mind." These are direct presentations of the practice and understanding of one of the century's greatest American masters. 

These Zen talks focus on koans that illuminate fundamental issues of the spiritual life. While koans may be said to be uniquely Zen, in Roshi Kapleau's talks they become as familiar, everyday, and relevant as the questions we ponder—in one form or another—all our lives. Why was I born? Why must I die? How can I find an end to suffering? 

The book has three main sections. As Zen begins with the Buddha's life and enlightenment, the threeteishos (talks) in Part One are each drawn from an incident in the life of the Buddha. Since Zen in the West is a lay movement, not a monastic one as it is in Japan, Part Two presents koans and commentary drawn from the lives of three great lay figures in Zen. Part Three contains five teishos on traditional koans that reflect fundamental concerns common to all of us, man or woman, monastic or lay, Buddhist or otherwise: What is the road to enlightenment? What will happen to me when I die?
My Read:
Page 92-"Foor the rich man a thousand mouths are too few and for the poor man one body is too much."
Page 93-"If you try to be a good person, a loving person, the very effort will undermine the result. To be truly good and loving is the outcome of a certain mind-quality, a certain harmony, poise, and equilibrim, a certain inner purity, if you will. In other words, when you remove the hindrances to the natural outflow of these qualities, which are your birthright, everyone's birthright, then you naturally become what the world would call good and loving and compassionate. People in our society are constantly told to be good and loving-to love their neighbors as they love themselves. Perhaps from a purely ethical point of view, this has value, but it's a superficial approach to the matter. And it is most difficult to achieve. In as sense it is looking backward. Analogously, if you try to find a buddha, you can never see one. If you search for a dharma ancestor, you will never meet one. The very effort clouds your vision."
Page 115-" Having nothing, such a person has everything."
Page 122-"Our whole life is nothing but cause and effect, our own thoughts and deeds."
Page 125-"Having the freedom means being free of attachments, free of the addictive need to grasp at people, things, or even concepts."
Page 126-"We can get so taken up with work we have to learn to take one thing at a time, to be fully one with it and then when it's over, to be fully one with whatever's next."
Page 127-"As long as we are separated from life we think about life and death."
Page 132-"To work physically is to rediscover one's body and to empower it."
Page 150-"But as long as there is a thought in the mind of wanting to do this or to achieve that, there is limitation."
Page unknown-"We walk the road asking "Where is the road?"
Last night as I was closing the book one question popped up in my head:If nothing is allowed to carry away with me then what can I leave behind as I am leaving this world? My answer is "my hardworking."
At least, that's what for now.

September Read-2

Title: The Secret Life of the Mind: How Your Brain Thinks, Feels, and Decides
Author: Sigman, Mariano
Call Number: 612.82 S577S 2017
Book Description from amazon
From an: world-renowned leader in neuroscience, a provocative, enthralling journey into the depths of the human mind.

Where do our thoughts come from? How do we make choices and trust our judgments? What is the role of the unconscious? Can we manipulate our dreams? In this mind-bending international bestseller, award-winning neuroscientist Mariano Sigman explores the complex answers to these and many other age-old questions. 

Over the course of his 20-year career investigating the inner workings of the human brain, Dr. Sigman has cultivated a remarkable interdisciplinary vision. He draws on research in physics, linguistics, psychology, education, and beyond to explain why people who speak more than one language are less prone to dementia; how infants can recognize by sight objects they've previously only touched; how babies, even before they utter their first word, have an innate sense of right and wrong; and how we can "read" the thoughts of vegetative patients by decoding patterns in their brain activity. 

Building on the author's awe-inspiring TED talk, the cutting-edge research presented in The Secret Life of the Mind revolutionizes how we understand the role that neuroscience plays in our lives, unlocking the mysterious cerebral processes that control the ways in which we learn, reason, feel, think, and dream.
My Read:
I didn't finish this book, yet. But I found the following paragraphs interesting:
Page-140-141
"An American psychologist, Dan Gilbert, gave this idea physical substance with a cell phone app that every once in a while asks users:"What are you doing?';"What are you thinking about?';"How are you  feeling?' The answer, gathered from people throughout the world, comprise a sort of chronology and demographics of happiness. In general, the states of greatest happiness correspond to having sex, talking with friends, sports, and playing and listening to music, in that order. Those of least happiness are work, being at home at the computer or on public transportation in the city.
Obviously, these are averages and do not imply that working makes everyone unhappy. And, naturally, these results depend on social and cultural idiosyncrasies. But the most interesting part of this experiment is how happiness changes according to what we are thinking about. During a daydream, almost all of us feel worse than when our brain isn't wandering freely. This doesn't mean that we shouldn't have daydreams but rather just that we should understand that they entail-like so many other trips-a complicated mix of discoveries and emotional ups and downs."
Contrast to the answers listed in that experiment in this book I found thinking about work make me happy. So is being at home at the computer. I don't like to chat after work; I found chatting energy consuming. The gathered answers in the book and mine got me wonder "What's wrong with me?" It's a question I asked myself in the shower stall.

September Read

Title: Koan: The Lessons of Zen
Author: Manuela Dunn
Call Number: 294.3443 K75 1996
Book Description from amazon.com
This beautifully illustrated small book contains some of the most profound and inspiring koans excerpted from two of the classics of Zen literature: "The Gateless Gate", and "The Blue Cliff Records", along with dozens of full-color reproductions of classic Eastern paintings and a comprehensive introduction.
My Read: 
Reading this small book brings back memory of a time when I read books of koans in Chinese. Allow me to share Case 40-Tipping Over a Vase from "The Gateless Gate"-page 35: 
Hyakujo wished to send a monk to open a new monastery. He told his disciples that whoever answered a question mostly ably would be appointed. Placing a water vase on the ground, he asked, "Who can say what this is without calling its name?" The chief monk said, "No one can call it a wooden shoe." Isan, the cooking monk, tipped over the vase with his food and went out. Hyakujo smiled and said, " The chief monk loses." And Isan became the master of the new monastery.
Footnote: The truth, her symbolized by the water vase, can not either be told nor not be told. It can only be shown. Isan, a monk who studied with Hyakujo for twenty years, made a striking demonstration of this teaching. 
Reading Koans also reminds me of Aesop's Fables. We love stories. Reading abstract ideas or concepts bores us sometimes. But teaching with story telling interests us and interesting things stay with us and last longer. Case study books intrigue me more than contexts of explanations and descriptions. 

August Read

Title: Head Cases: Stories of Brain Injuries and Its Aftermath
Author: Mason, Michael Paul
Call Number: 617.48104 M411H 2008
Book Description from amazon.com:

Head Cases takes us into the dark side of the brain in an astonishing sequence of stories, at once true and strange, from the world of brain damage. Michael Paul Mason is one of an elite group of experts who coordinate care in the complicated aftermath of tragic injuries that can last a lifetime. On the road with Mason, we encounter survivors of brain injuries as they struggle to map and make sense of the new worlds they inhabit.

Underlying each of these survivors' stories is an exploration of the brain and its mysteries. When injured, the brain must figure out how to heal itself, reorganizing its physiology in order to do the job. Mason gives us a series of vivid glimpses into brain science, the last frontier of medicine, and we come away in awe of the miracles of the brain's workings and astonished at the fragility of the brain and the sense of self, life, and order that resides there. Head Cases "[achieves] through sympathy and curiosity insight like that which pulses through genuine literature" (The New York Sun); it is at once illuminating and deeply affecting.

My Read:

The following are takeaways from pages in the book:

"The most spiritual question in the world is not whether there is a god, or how we came to be in the universe. The most spiritual question in the world does not concern itself with knowing why there is suffering or why we are here; those ponderings stem from the most spiritual question. The aim of every mystical tradition in any religion is a sincere and relentless pursuit of the answer to the most spiritual question. The most spiritual question is about you. The question is: Who am I, really? Brain injury, above all other anguishes known to man, perpetually invites us to embark on the search for our selves. Who are we, other than our brains, really?"--Page 212-213

'Who are you, really?" I ask.

"I love myself the way I am now," she says. "I appreciate that I am not my brain injury

. It was a traumatic experience, to be sure, but it deepened my relationship to myself and to others. I have become a more loving person. I am a lot more empathetic, and I know what compassion is now."-page 223

A verse in Case 19 in the book "The Gateless Gate":

The spring flowers, the moon in autumn

The cool breeze of summer, the winter's snow;

If idle concerns do not cloud the mind,

This is man's happiest season.

A conversation in the koan in Case 19:

"What is the Way?"

"The ordinary mind is the Way."

"Should I direct myself toward it or not?"

"If you try to turn toward it, you go against it."

"If I do not try to turn toward it, how can I know it is the Way?"

"The Way does not belong to knowing or not-knowing. Knowing is delusion, not-knowing is blank consciousness. When you have really reached the true Way beyond all doubt, you will find it vast and boundless as the great empty firmament. How can it be talked about on a level of right and wrong?"

At these words, Joshu was suddenly enlightened.--page 219

July Read

Title: Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't
Author: Sinek, Simon
Call Number: 658.4092 S616L 2014
Book Description from amazon.com:
Imagine a world where almost everyone wakes up inspired to go to work, feels trusted and valued during the day, then returns home feeling fulfilled. This is not a crazy, idealized notion. Today, in many successful organizations, great leaders create environments in which people naturally work together to do remarkable things. 

In his work with organizations around the world, Simon Sinek noticed that some teams trust each other so deeply that they would literally put their lives on the line for each other. Other teams, no matter what incentives are offered, are doomed to infighting, fragmentation and failure. Why?

The answer became clear during a conversation with a Marine Corps general. "Officers eat last," he said. Sinek watched as the most junior Marines ate first while the most senior Marines took their place at the back of the line. What's symbolic in the chow hall is deadly serious on the battlefield: Great leaders sacrifice their own comfort--even their own survival--for the good of those in their care.
     
Too many workplaces are driven by cynicism, paranoia, and self-interest. But the best ones foster trust and cooperation because their leaders build what Sinek calls a "Circle of Safety" that separates the security inside the team from the challenges outside.

Sinek illustrates his ideas with fascinating true stories that range from the military to big business, from government to investment banking.
My Read:
Leaders set the tone, no doubt.
I like the Leadership Lessons in this book. Some are:
-So goes the culture, so goes the company
-So goes the leader, so goes the culture
-Lead the people, no the numbers
I also like the three things Captain Marquet points out he can't delegate:
"I can't delegate my legal responsibilities.
I can't delegate my relationships.
I can't delegate my knowledge.
everything else, however, I can ask others to take responsibility for."--page 145

June Read/2

Title: Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness

Author: Kabat-Zinn Jon

Call Number: 155.9042 K11F 2013

Book Description from amazon.com:

Stress. It can sap our energy, undermine  our health if we let it, even shorten our lives. It makes us more vulnerable to anxiety and depression, disconnection and disease. Based on Jon Kabat-Zinn’s renowned mindfulness-based stress reduction program, this classic, groundbreaking work—which gave rise to a whole new field in medicine and psychology—shows you how to use medically proven mind-body approaches derived from meditation and yoga to counteract stress, establish greater balance of body and mind, and stimulate well-being and healing. By engaging in these mindfulness practices and integrating them into your life from moment to moment and from day to day, you can learn to manage chronic pain, promote optimal healing, reduce anxiety and feelings of panic, and improve the overall quality of your life, relationships, and social networks. This second edition features results from recent studies on the science of mindfulness, a new Introduction, up-to-date statistics, and an extensive updated reading list. Full Catastrophe Living is a book for the young and the old, the well and the ill, and anyone trying to live a healthier and saner life in our fast-paced world.
My Read: 

This is a book of the landmark work on mindfulness, meditation, and healing. What I take away is pretty simple. It’s one of the subtitles in chapter one. It states: You Have Only Moments to Live. In addition I found the chapter titled “Yoga Is Meditation” helpful. Meditation comes with different forms and activities. With mindfulness and paying attention one can practice meditation through 1)sitting, 2) walking, 3)body scan, or 4)yoga. Breathing, specially deep breathing(below belly button) not only can calm you down it is also your ally in the healing process.

When you are mindful take a deep breath!

June Read

Title: The Surrender Experiment: My Journey into Life's Perfection
Author: Michael, A. Singer
Call Number: 204 S617S 2015
Book Description from amazon.com:
• A thriving spiritual community on over six hundred acres of pristine forest and meadows in Florida
• A cutting-edge software package that transformed the medical practice management industry
• A billion-dollar public company whose achievements are archived in the Smithsonian Institution
• A book that became a New York Times bestseller and an Oprah favorite
• A massive raid by the FBI that would lead to unfounded accusations by the U.S. government

How could all of this spring from a man who had decided to live alone in the middle of the woods, let go of himself, and embrace a life of solitude? 

Michael A. Singer, author of The Untethered Soul, tells the extraordinary story of what happened when, after a deep spiritual awakening, he decided to let go of his personal preferences and simply let life call the shots. As Singer takes you on this great experiment and journey into life’s perfection, the events that transpire will both challenge your deepest assumptions about life and inspire you to look at your own life in a radically different way.
My Read:
Page 4: We have been gifted with the power of will. From deep inside, we can determine how we want something to be and apply the power of our minds, hearts, and bodies in an attempt to make the outside world conform.
Page 34: I would eventually learn that everything in life has something to teach you and that it is all for your growth.
Page 54: I didn't want to be in charge of my life; I wanted to be free to soar far beyond myself. What would happen to me if I just inwardly surrendered my resistance and let the flow of life be in charge?
The author described how he let go of his own personal preferences and instead, allowed the flow of life to be in charge in his life.
To me, it feels like when things happened in a timely manner or coincided with each other I had better pay attention to events that unfolded in front of me. Sometimes things would not make sense in the beginning. But as time would tell that things usually happened with certain reasons known or unknown at the moment. I like the term "flow of life" the author used repetitively in this book.

May Read-2

Title: Reclaim Your Brain: How to Calm Your Thoughts, Heal Your Mind, and Bring Your Life Back Under Control.
Author: Joseph A. Annibali, M.D.
Call Number: 158.1 A615R 2015
Subjects: Calmness; Brain; Stress Management; Mindfulness
Book Description from amazon:
A prescriptive guide to restoring cognitive calm, based on Amen Clinics chief psychiatrist Dr. Joseph Annibali’s three decades of treating patients who suffer from overloaded, overstimulated brains.
 
Dr. Joseph Annibali has treated thousands of people with overloaded, overstimulated brains. Some people describe their brain as being “in chaos”; others feel that their brain is “on fire.” But whether they are ultimately diagnosed with anxiety, disabling OCD, depression, bipolar disorder, or even substance abuse, the underlying problem is a Too-Busy Brain, a great irritant that interferes with attention, concentration, focus, mood, and often much more. It may even be a sign of undetected damage to either the brain or the body itself. But through practical strategies, understandable explanations, and prescriptive mind-management techniques, Dr. Annibali will help readers finally reclaim their brains and get back in control of their lives.
My Read:
Takeaways from the chapters:
page 7-Many are quick to believe that their too-busy brains result from today's rapid-fire media culture, digital technology, and modern-world megadistractions. These ever-present distractions have a negative impact, no doubt. But an overactive brain is not strictly the result of our modern 24/7 device-driven culture. Hidden contributors to a busy brain can include genetics, vitamin deficiencies, dysfunctional thyroids, heavy metal toxicity, infections, and even physical brain trauma.
page 43-The healthiest stories about ourselves emerge from our ability to engage in self-reflection.
page 66-Rather, when you experience tension in the interaction, take a few moments to reflect before responding. A few seconds is all you need. Get ahold of yourself. Be calm, centered. Don't struggle to be in control of the experience. Instead, focus on first being aware of what is going on in your mind. Notice what you are experiencing. What do you feel? What are you thinking? Does this reaction seem familiar to you? Perhaps your reaction is rooted more in another relationship than in the current one.
page 128-The heart can be at the core of our being, if we know how to use it.

May Read

Title: Two Weeks to A Younger Brain
Author: Small, Gary and Vorgan, Gigi
Call Number: 616.8 S635T 2015
Book Description(from amazon.com):
Misplacing your keys, forgetting someone’s name at a party, or coming home from the market without the most important item — these are just some of the many common memory slips we all experience from time to time. But such cognitive lapses don’t just plague middle-agers and seniors; UCLA studies indicate that forgetfulness begins much earlier in life. Scientists can detect subtle changes in the brain that coincide with mental decline by the time we reach age 40, and our findings show that people as young as 20 already have memory problems.
Dr. Gary Small and Gigi Vorgan’s 2 Weeks To A Younger Brain translates the latest brain science into practical strategies and exercises that yield quick and long- lasting benefits. It will not only improve your memory, but will also strengthen your physical health by reducing your risk for diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. The latest research confirms that there is a lot we can do to boost our memory and keep our brains young. After three decades of helping thousands of patients improve their memory and mental acuity, Dr. Small and Gorgan are convinced that our daily lifestyle habits are directly linked to our brain health. This book will show that it only takes two weeks to form new habits that bolster cognitive abilities and help stave off, or even reverse, brain aging.
If you commit only 14 days to 2 Weeks To A Younger Brain, you will reap noticeable results. During that brief period, you will have learned the secrets to keeping your brain young for the rest of your life.
My Read: 
At page 66, it states: to help keep your brain young and healthy, try some or all of the top 10 stress-busting strategies(from the chapter named Cut Stress to Sharpen Your Mind):
1-Meditation
2-Yoga and Tai Chi
3-Exercise
4-Cutting back on Multitasking
5-Lighten Your Load and Laugh
6-Restful Sleep
7-Get Organized
8-Acupuncture
9-Positive Attitude and Relationships
10-Asking for Help
At page 154, it says: They(scientists) found that emotional support of holding a spouse's hand turned off the frontal lobe brain area that manages pain anticipation..The researchers also found that holding hands had a greater antianxiety effect on volunteers from strong marriages. The findings suggest that holding hands with someone you love can have a profound effect on the deepest parts of your brain that controls stress.
At page 151, the author points that "Maintaining close relationships with other people is a basic human need. Interacting with family and friends not only increase our life expectancy, it lowers our risk for future cognitive decline by keeping our brain engaged and young." "Live longer and smarter with friends. But connection with the right people is also crucial, the author points it out at page 157 to page 160.
At the end of this book the author lists the two-week younger brain program. It includes physical fitness, brain training, stress management in the morning, afternoon and the evening.
At page 135 there is this case the author shares with his readers. Here it is:
World's Oldest Marathon Runner: On October 16, 2011, Fauja Singh became the oldest person to complete a marathon. At 100 years of age, Singh completed the 26-mile Toronto Waterfront Marathon in eight hours. It's never too late to start running marathon. Singh ran his first one at age 89. How inspiring this story is!