"The way Kelly unfolds our interior experience is so rich, so insightful, so revealing, it brought a lump to my throat. I found myself saying 'YES - that's it!'" - From the Foreword by Christopher West, author of Fill These Hearts: God, Sex, and the Universal Longing "This book is a must-read for everyone who aches to live with meaning." - Richard Rohr, OFM, author of Falling Upward Spiritual Wanderlust is a field guide for anyone who's experienced undefinable longing. You know-that ache for something authentic and REAL, crackling with life. Perhaps, like many of us, you have spent hours meditating, devouring books, or traveling the world in the hopes of tasting it. In this book, spiritual coach Kelly Deutsch invites you to venture deeper than you've ever gone before. Calling on the wisdom of two mystics, Augustine and John of the Cross, she'll help you locate the path to the Great Unknown we so desperately desire. With refreshing spark, wit, and vulnerability, she'll show you: Where this longing comes from How to hear what it is saying Why desire teases us with the already-but-not-yet How it opens us up to receive the divine What to do with your desires "in the meantime" Caution: only embark on this journey if you're prepared for some sore spiritual muscles, amazing vistas, and real interior challenge. Recommended gear: curiosity, loose limbs, and above all, unquenchable desire.

A passionate, thought-provoking exploration of walking as a political and cultural activity, from the author of Orwell's Roses Drawing together many histories--of anatomical evolution and city design, of treadmills and labyrinths, of walking clubs and sexual mores--Rebecca Solnit creates a fascinating portrait of the range of possibilities presented by walking. Arguing that the history of walking includes walking for pleasure as well as for political, aesthetic, and social meaning, Solnit focuses on the walkers whose everyday and extreme acts have shaped our culture, from philosophers to poets to mountaineers. She profiles some of the most significant walkers in history and fiction--from Wordsworth to Gary Snyder, from Jane Austen's Elizabeth Bennet to Andre Breton's Nadja--finding a profound relationship between walking and thinking and walking and culture. Solnit argues for the necessity of preserving the time and space in which to walk in our ever more car-dependent and accelerated world.

In A Journey of Sea and Stone, spiritual director Tracy Balzer takes us along as she journeys to the revered Isle of Iona in Scotland. She carries with her key questions of the spiritual life: Where is God? Who am I? What can I offer the world? With Balzer as our guide, and through the storied history of Iona, we see that all sacred spaces can offer us a unique path to God.

A Field Guide To Now is a reference manual for creating an extraordinary life out of ordinary moments. This collection of illustrated essays and field notes explores the tenuous line between survival and thriving; between wanderlust and making a home; between being and becoming; and about how these things inevitably converge in the scarce, haphazard, simple moments of right now. It is both an invitation to create whatever opportunity your heart yearns for, and proof that it is possible. Reinvent the way you engage with the moment and explore the texture of your present tense. Imagine if you could look for the present moment in a field guide, the way you might look up the name of a tree you see outside your window? For as long as you can remember, the tree has just been a tree. But when you look it up, it becomes something more—a sassafras maybe, or a tulip maple—and suddenly you can feel the way your attention toward it shifts. You recognize the way its pollen gathers fine and yellow in the weft of your bedroom screen in May, or the way its shade freckles the dying grass at the end of summer. In the act of naming it, in discovering its traits and marks, the tree becomes something more to you. What if you could do this for all the moments that fill your life? That is what this book is about. Begin. Take note. Be right here.

The bestselling author, speaker, and teacher of John Paul II's Theology of the Body explores the yearning we all have for God and each other. Fill These Hearts is a book about desire. Not trivial wants or superficial cravings, but the most vital powers of body and soul, sexuality and spirituality, that haunt us and compel us on our search for something. Weaving life-altering lessons together from classical and contemporary art, pop music, movies, and the Christian mystical tradition, popular theologian Christopher West explores the ancient but largely forgotten idea that the restless, erotic yearnings we feel in both our bodies and our spirits reveal the cry of our hearts for God. Along the way, West blows the lid off the idea of Christianity as a repressive, anti-sex religion by demonstrating that Christ came to stretch and inflame our desire for love and union to the point of infinity.

Prayers to guide your journey of raising kids in a complicated world. In an age of distraction and overwhelm, finding the words to meaningfully pray for our children--and for our journey as parents--can feel impossible. Written with warmth and welcome, To Light Their Way gives voice to your prayers when words won't come. Filled with more than 100 modern liturgies, this book guides you into an intentional conversation with God for your children and the world they live in. From everyday struggles like helping your child find friends or thrive in school to larger issues like praying for a brighter world rooted in peace and truth, these pleas and petitions act as a gentle guide, reminding us that while our words may fail, God never does. At the core of To Light Their Way is the deepest of prayers: that our children will experience the love of God so deeply that their lives will be an outpouring of love that lights up the world.

Discover the forty-four laws of life that are the missing link between the desire to meditate and the motivation needed to maintain a regular meditation practice, process the emotional fallout of meditative experiences, and find spiritual fulfillment. Biet Simkin knows from personal experience that finding your way to transformation and mindfulness isn’t always easy. Drawing on hard-won wisdom from her journey through addiction, personal tragedy, and the New York rock-n-roll scene, Biet shares the guidance you’ll need to move from meltdowns to miracles. Don’t Just Sit There! is a guidebook that will empower you to dive into meditation by helping you work through the not-so-peaceful side of achieving peace. With insights on forty-four laws of human experience, it provides week-by-week instructions to process each one. From the Law of Focus to the Law of Desire, these aspects of spiritual life can become obstacles without the tools to properly face them. Experienced and novice meditators alike can benefit from Biet’s frank, freeing advice on how to establish a lifelong practice in an often chaotic modern world. By confronting the disruptive quality of spiritual life, you can motivate yourself to realize the meditative practice of your dreams.

"All around the world a resurgence of Christian contemplative living is creating a new framework for spirituality inside and outside of formal religion. Building on and expanding from the thoughts and works of such as Richard Rohr, Thomas Keating, Tilden Edwards, Laurence Freeman, and other founding members of the modern contemplative movement, a new movement carries on the work of their mentors. This collection brings together the diverse voices who have emerged as new leaders of the contemplative movement. Exploring a multitude of themes, such as silence, imagination, meditation, embodiment, community and social action, this volume introduces the new voices who reflect globally on the gifts, challenges, differences and commonalities of Christian contemplation today for communities and people of faith."

From a recovering addict, musician, and tattooed indie culturist: a guidebook for today’s generation of spiritual misfits who crave a dogma-free path. Brutally honest and radically unconventional, Chris Grosso’s collection of stories and musings about his meandering journey of self-inquiry, recovery, and acceptance shows what it means to live a truly authentic spiritual life. Set amongst the backdrop of Grosso’s original music (includ­ed for download via QR codes in the text), Indie Spiritualist encourages you to accept yourself just as you are, in all your humanity and imperfect perfection.

A landmark book by marine biologist Wallace J. Nichols on the remarkable effects of water on our health and well-being. Why are we drawn to the ocean each summer? Why does being near water set our minds and bodies at ease? In Blue Mind, Wallace J. Nichols revolutionizes how we think about these questions, revealing the remarkable truth about the benefits of being in, on, under, or simply near water. Combining cutting-edge neuroscience with compelling personal stories from top athletes, leading scientists, military veterans, and gifted artists, he shows how proximity to water can improve performance, increase calm, diminish anxiety, and increase professional success. Blue Mind not only illustrates the crucial importance of our connection to water; it provides a paradigm shifting "blueprint" for a better life on this Blue Marble we call home.