January Read/2019/2

Title: Nothing Is Hidden: The Psychology of Zen Koans
Author: Magid, Barry
Call Number: 294.3927 M194N 2013
Book Description from amazon.com:
In this inspiring and incisive offering, Barry Magid uses the language of modern psychology and psychotherapy to illuminate one of Buddhism's most powerful and often mysterious technologies: the Zen koan. What's more, Magid also uses the koans to expand upon the insights of psychology (especially self psychology and relational psychotherapy) and open for the reader new perspectives on the functioning of the human mind and heart. Nothing Is Hidden explores many rich themes, including facing impermanence and the inevitability of change, working skillfully with desire and attachment, and discovering when "surrender and submission" can be liberating and when they shade into emotional bypassing. With a sophisticated view of the rituals and teachings of traditional Buddhism, Magid helps us see how we sometimes subvert meditation into just another "curative fantasy" or make compassion into a form of masochism.
My Read:
Page 15--Perfection and change aren't opposites; they turn out to be synonyms. Not only don't we have to change in order to become perfect, our perfection manifests moment after moment in change itself.
Page 16--It was also a revelation that nothing is hidden. Everyone was fully displaying who they were. There was nothing more "behind the scenes" to uncover or decipher, the way my usual psychoanalytic mindset would lead me to think. There was both clarity and acceptance of each person being just who he or she was....For the rest of us, realization is never once and for all, and old doubts and old habits will resurface to be dealt with over and over throughout our life. Yet doubts and old habits are part of how we twinkle like that star. As is sickness, old age, and death. And delusion and joy--the full spectrum of life as it is.
Page 17--The koans that follow can all help us see who really are, especially those parts of ourselves that we have, sadly, for one personal reason or another, tried to turn away from. We have all blinded our self to parts of life we reflexively have felt too painful to behold or face directly.
Like Shakyamuni, we must be able to look up and say, "That's me."
Page 23--You can't answer by somehow standing outside of life, examining it and offering your description. You yourself must become the answer..We have natural human desire to be understood, and feeling understood in itself gives us a kind of strength to face the difficulties life brings.
Page 126--Boundaries must be maintained, differences respected, turns taken, acknowledgements made that, at some very important levels, you are not me. That is one very important meaning of love.
Page 154--To study the Buddha Way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things. When actualized by myriad things, your body and mind as well as the bodies and minds of others drop away. No trace of realization remains, and this no-trace continues endlessly. When you first seek Dharma, you imagine you are far away from its environs. At the moment when Dharma is correctly transmitted, you are immediately your original self.
Page 174--Acceptance can only happen with surrender. 
Page 175--Acceptance feels like a starting point. Killing the ego can not be equivalent to crushing our spirit.
Page 176--True surrender has no goal. True surrender kills completely any expectation or gaining idea.
Page 178--Unless we are prepared to admit that our own good intentions may mask a deeper unconscious need to always be seen as good, as always right, as always clear, we will never be able to acknowledge the ways that we have inadvertently hurt the very people we are trying to help. "We have met our enemy, and he is us."

January Read/2019

Title: Healing From the Inside Out: Overcome Chronic disease and Radically Change Your Life
Author: Naeem, Nauman
Call Number: 616.044 N139H 2017
Book Description from amazon: 
This book takes you on a journey to the very core of your being. This is done through unravelling layers and layers of density that most of us accumulate throughout our lives, and which often initiate and perpetuate chronic disease. Once you touch the light of your being, you illuminate the dark recesses of your thoughts, emotions and your physical body, thus facilitating the healing of any chronic illness. The exercises given in this book allow you to gain more clarity about your life’s mission, heal old emotional wounds, lift subconscious blocks, remove limiting beliefs, enter the natural flow of the Universe and fearlessly embrace uncertainty. Dr. Naeem is a critical care specialist, pulmonologist and palliative care specialist, whose unique insights into healing stem from caring for tens of thousands of critically and chronically ill patients for more than a decade in two countries. This experience, combined with his own search for the meaning of existence and the true nature of ultimate reality, has culminated into the incredible journey which is the subject of this book.
My Read:
Main Point of this book is summarized at page 167:
All chronic diseases have their roots in deeper aspects of our being, and the physical body is simply the final place where they manifest.
Page 165-It is not simply the environment that affects your genetic expression but how you respond to your environment. Your response to your environment is conditioned by your subconscious mind, your emotional self, your vibrational frequency, and, ultimately your spiritual self. The development of illness, thus, ties back to the higher aspects of your being, which is why healing is a more comprehensive and holistic approach to dealing with disease than simply seeking a cure.
Page 172- Awareness is a type of knowing, but it is deeper than simply knowing as it is also involves focused attention. This focused attention can be directed toward anything within ourselves or outside ourselves. Awareness is the key to getting someone to a place where they can start to heal by setting their intention.
Page 176-The beauty of life's journey is that it is always trying to lead you back to your true nature, and your illness is just a signpost to show you that you have deviated away from who you truly are. There are no mistakes, no problems, and nothing to regret in life. Everything that you experience and suffer through in this world is just there to show you the way back to your true self, your whole self, your naturally healed self.
Page 38-The healing process has nine parts:
Intention: Self and Universe
Exploration
Mentation
Emotion
Narration
Vibration
Motion
Realization
Creation

December Read/2018

Title: Verbal Judo: The Gentle Art of Persuasion
Author: Thompson, George J.
Call Number: 153.6 T471V 2013
Book Description from amazon:

Verbal Judo is the martial art of the mind and mouth that can show you how to be better prepared in every verbal encounter. Listen and speak more effectively, engage people through empathy (the most powerful word in the English language), avoid the most common conversational disasters, and use proven strategies that allow you to successfully communicate your point of view and take the upper hand in most disputes.

Verbal Judo offers a creative look at conflict that will help you defuse confrontations and generate cooperation from your spouse, your boss, and even your teenager. As the author says, "when you react, the event controls you. When you respond, you’re in control."

This new edition features a fresh new cover and a foreword demonstrating the legacy of Verbal Judo founder and author George Thompson, as well as a never-before-published final chapter presenting Thompson’s "Five Universal Truths" of human interaction.

My Read:

Page 166--Train yourself to be free of bias, prejudice, and expectation. That's easier said than done, of course, and I'm the first to admit that it isn't something that comes naturally. There is a Chinese word that means both "crisis" and "opportunity." By remembering that, I am now able to like Difficult People, or at least to appreciate where they're coming from and view them as challenges and opportunities rather than obstacles.

Page 167-A whole day of Nice People would be boring, but a whole day of Difficult People makes us work. Difficult customers should be interesting and challenging.

PAVPO stands for:

Perspective

Audience

Voice

Purpose

Organization

LEAPS stands for:

Listen

Empathize

Ask

Paraphrase

Summarize