Using the principles she teaches, Pragito Dove transformed her fear and grief into joy and inner peace. Her accessible, innovative methods allow you to reap the benefits of meditation in thirty seconds, four minutes, or twenty-four hours, wherever you are and whenever you need a moment of calm. Emphasizing expression, rather than repression, of emotion, these dynamic practices can begin with a variety of movements and sounds, or with silence. Meeting practitioners where they are — in sadness, fear, stress, anger, or joy — the techniques can be done in the midst of work, play, and home life, and either alone or with others. Drawing on such traditions as Sufism and Buddhism and such teachers as the twentieth-century mystics Osho and Gurdjieff, Dove’s synthesis meets the needs of contemporary life with attention to the full range of human experience and reverence for the peace and joy possible in every moment.

Dove's accessible, innovative methods allow readers to reap the benefits of meditation in any situation. Drawing on traditions and teachers, this work synthesizes the needs of contemporary life with attention to the full range of the human experience.

"An absolutely dazzling entertainment. . . . Arousing on every level—political, erotic, intellectual, and above all, humorous." —Newsweek "The Book of Laughter and Forgetting calls itself a novel, although it is part fairy tale, part literary criticism, part political tract, part musicology, and part autobiography. It can call itself whatever it wants to, because the whole is genius." —New York Times Rich in its stories, characters, and imaginative range, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting is the novel that brought Milan Kundera his first big international success in the late 1970s. Like all his work, it is valuable for far more than its historical implications. In seven wonderfully integrated parts, different aspects of human existence are magnified and reduced, reordered and emphasized, newly examined, analyzed, and experienced.

Explores the range and complexity of human emotions and their transmission across cultural traditionsWhat makes us laugh and cry, sometimes at the same time? How do these two primal, seemingly discrete and non-verbal modes of expression intersect in everyday life and ritual, and what range of emotions do they evoke? How may they be voiced, shaped and coloured in literature and liturgy, art and music?Bringing together scholars from diverse periods and disciplines of Hellenic and Byzantine studies, this volume explores the shifting shapes and functions of laughter and tears. With a focus on the tragic, the comic and the tragicomic dimensions of laughter and tears in art, literature and performance, as well as on their emotional, socio-cultural and religious significance, it breaks new ground in the study of ancient and Byzantine affectivity.Key featuresIncludes an international cast of 25 distinguished contributors Prominence is given to performative arts and to interactions with other cultures Transitions from Late Antiquity to Byzantium, and from Byzantium to the Renaissance, form focal points from which contributors look backwards, forwards and sidewaysHighlights the variety, audacity and quality of the finest Byzantine works and the extent to which they anticipated the renaissance

Sarah’s Laughter provides a reflection on suffering that is deeply personal and both theologically and philosophically astute. Vinoth Ramachandra draws on his distinctive positioning as a Sri Lankan Christian theologian – one who has lived and ministered in contexts shaped by the destruction of natural disasters and the violence of human evil – to confront the intellectual, moral, and political challenges posed to faith in the increasingly broken world of the twenty-first century. Yet far from being an abstract discussion of theodicy, this book is intimate and vulnerable, embracing the biblical practice of lament and inviting an authentic response to grief – one that makes space for serious doubt and profound questioning. Sharing his own ongoing journey with suffering and a questing faith, Ramachandra reminds us that lament and joy, faith and protest, clarity and ambiguity, belong together in faithful Christian discipleship. It is not in bypassing the darkness of the world, but in embracing it – in imitation of the incarnate God – that we may glimpse the new creation.

A tragicomic story of bad dates, bad news, bad performances, and one girl's determination to find the funny in high school from the author of Denton Little's Deathdate. Winnie Friedman has been waiting for the world to catch on to what she already knows: she's hilarious. It might be a long wait, though. After bombing a stand-up set at her own bat mitzvah, Winnie has kept her jokes to herself. Well, to herself and her dad, a former comedian and her inspiration. Then, on the second day of tenth grade, the funniest guy in school actually laughs at a comment she makes in the lunch line and asks her to join the improv troupe. Maybe he's even . . . flirting? Just when Winnie's ready to say yes to comedy again, her father reveals that he's been diagnosed with ALS. That is . . . not funny. Her dad's still making jokes, though, which feels like a good thing. And Winnie's prepared to be his straight man if that's what he wants. But is it what he needs? Caught up in a spiral of epically bad dates, bad news, and bad performances, Winnie's struggling to see the humor in it all. But finding a way to laugh is exactly what will see her through. **A Junior Library Guild Selection**

From the winner of the 2015 Man Booker International Prize

Gibran Kahlil Gibran (January 6, 1883-April 10, 1931) usually referred to in English as Kahlil Gibran. He was a Lebanese-American wirter, poet and visual artist. He was also considered as a philosopher. His best book is 'The Prophet'. It was one of the best-selling books of all time. The achievement is that the book has been translated into more than 100-language. The present book 'A Tear and a Smile' is a wonderful bunch of poetry. And a beautiful anthology. Poetry: "I would not exchange the sorrows of my heart. For the joys of the multitude. And I would not have the tears that sadness makes. To flow from my every part turn into laughter. I would that my life remain a tear and a smile." Poetry are filled with great thoughts and also in-depth feelings. Poetry are related to life. So one has to focus on the understanding and in depth message in each poetry. The author has nicely related the value of Tear and Smile in to his poetry. Every poem is admirable. "The cry of your spirit and I am come to comfort it. Open your heart to me and I shall fill it with light." Author has focussed on feelings. Spiritual feelings the author narrates the pain & sorrows in this world. Tears flush out sorrows and grief. Smile always gives confidence and how to face all the situations. When heart is filled with emotions and by the hurt feelings, then tears are there to help you out. Gibran thus narrates how sorrow of the heart & tears of sadness makes like how into joy. So a tear can lead to a smile because happiness and sorrow come hand in hand. Our sorrows purify us and makes us understand the world.