How do you fight despair and learn to meet the world with a loving heart? How do you overcome shame? Stay faithful in spite of failure? No matter where people live or what their circumstances may be, everyone needs boundless, restorative love. Gorgeous and uplifting, Tattoos on the Heart amply demonstrates the impact unconditional love can have on your life. As a pastor working in a neighborhood with the highest concentration of murderous gang activity in Los Angeles, Gregory Boyle created an organization to provide jobs, job training, and encouragement so that young people could work together and learn the mutual respect that comes from collaboration. Tattoos on the Heart is a breathtaking series of parables distilled from his twenty years in the barrio. Arranged by theme and filled with sparkling humor and glowing generosity, these essays offer a stirring look at how full our lives could be if we could find the joy in loving others and in being loved unconditionally. From giant, tattooed Cesar, shopping at JCPenney fresh out of prison, we learn how to feel worthy of God’s love. From ten-year-old Lula we learn the importance of being known and acknowledged. From Pedro we understand the kind of patience necessary to rescue someone from the darkness. In each chapter we benefit from Boyle’s wonderful, hard-earned wisdom. Inspired by faith but applicable to anyone trying to be good, these personal, unflinching stories are full of surprising revelations and observations of the community in which Boyle works and of the many lives he has helped save. Erudite, down-to-earth, and utterly heartening, these essays about universal kinship and redemption are moving examples of the power of unconditional love in difficult times and the importance of fighting despair. With Gregory Boyle’s guidance, we can recognize our own wounds in the broken lives and daunting struggles of the men and women in these parables and learn to find joy in all of the people around us. Tattoos on the Heart reminds us that no life is less valuable than another.

The secret to a good life is not what you think. Most of us have been raised to believe that we can solve any problem if we think about it hard enough. We spend years honing our intellect, knowing that our brains are our best line of defense against whatever roadblocks life throws us. But each and every one of us has a secret weapon to call upon when brainpower isn’t enough, and that is Heart. Amy Bloch discovered the power of heart quite by accident. An accomplished psychiatrist, fully in control of her professional and family life, Amy was dealt what she thought was a devastating, insurmountable set-back when her daughter Emily was born with a severe brain malformation. Amy tried desperately to “fix” Emily, and exhausted herself in her efforts to deal with the “problem” using her intellect, going at it brain-first—the default way we tend to approach challenges in our society. Emily, on the other hand, lives completely heart-first: she simply doesn’t have the capabilities to approach life brain-first. Yet to Amy’s initial surprise—and ultimately, to her great admiration—Emily is remarkably happy and successful. The Power of Heart is the distillation of what Emily taught Amy—lessons that are applicable to anyone’s life. Learning to be Emily’s mom and observing how Emily approaches life prompted a radical change in Amy’s life. It also transformed her work with patients in her professional practice, where she witnessed over and over again how getting out of brain and into heart made life deeper and richer, less stressful, and more meaningful. While the brain is amazing, powerful, and useful, it does come with limitations. There’s some stuff the brain just doesn’t know, which is where heart comes in. Tapping into heart helps your brain perform better, and makes you stronger and smarter than you will ever be trusting only your brain. Heart will allow you to live with uncertainty; find strength, resilience, courage, and persistence in tough times; cast off self-criticism and doubt, and have a lot more confidence and fun. The Power of Heart is for readers of all ages and walks of life who are ready to move beyond the brain-first strategy, and embrace heart as well.

Rather than attempting to engage the reader in more mental exercises, the wisdom and inspiration in this daily companion book is designed to uncover something far more powerful. Through personal stories infused with honest, bold, and sometimes humorous reflections, the author invites us to awaken and energize our greatest inner resourcethe power of the inner heart. Not only does he draw upon his personal experience, practice, research, and vulnerabilities in crafting these daily pieces of wisdom, he also draws from the well of renowned spiritual teachers and ageless wisdom traditions. Day by day, each writing stands on its own as a love offering created to inspire as well as support the dismantling of our personal fears. When included as part of daily spiritual practice, Heart Power is likely to awaken the sleeping giants of tangible courage, spiritual healing, creative energy, and ongoing loving, compassionate connection with ourselves and our companions. Simple, but potent, heart-centered daily practices are provided to help with this personal and spiritual restoration. In this one-of-a-kind daybook, the power and wisdom of the inner heart comes of age.

2nd Edition. Healing from the Heart takes the reader through the fictional story of Anne, a chronically ill woman, who serendipidously meets a caring healer, Grandmother, who takes Anne through the steps of the mind/body/spirit connection. She illustrates these principles with simple storytelling and guided meditations, which allow Anne to find ways to harness the healing messages within. The book gives the reader opportunities at certain intervals to listen to downloadable meditations, teaching and reinforcing the power points of Grandmother's stories.

Military forces are now confronted, not only with the non-conventional threats of terrorism but the moral dilemmas of humanitarianism, intervention and human rights. Gwyn Prins explores these conflicting impulses using a variety of fascinating examples: the September 11th attacks and the history of 'spectacular' terrorism, humanitarian intervention in Bosnia, Kosovo, West Africa and elsewhere, the extradition of General Pinochet for human rights abuses and the nuclear issue, in the light of ongoing conflict between India and Pakistan. Wide-ranging and challenging, this book will interest all those seeking to understand the enormous recent changes in military strategy and global politics.

A fascinating synthesis of ancient wisdom, modern medicine, scientific research, and personal experiences that proves that the human heart, not the brain, holds the secrets that link body, mind, and spirit. You know that the heart loves and feels, but did you know that the heart also thinks, remembers, communicates with other hearts, helps regulate immunity, and contains stored information that continually pulses through your body? In The Heart's Code, Dr. Paul Pearsall explains the theory and science behind energy cardiology, the emerging field that is uncovering one of the most significant medical, social, and spiritual discoveries of our time: The heart is more than just a pump; it conducts the cellular symphony that is the very essence of our being. Full of amazing anecdotes and data, The Heart's Code presents the latest research on cellular memory and the power of the heart's energy and explores what these breakthroughs mean about how we should live our lives. By unlocking the heart's code we can discover new ways of understanding human healing and consciousness and create a new model for living that leads to better health, happiness, and self-knowledge.

Do you feel distant from God's love? Are you searching for ultimate fulfillment in life? Jesus came so that you may have life and have it more abundantly! He wants to heal all your wounds and fill your heart with his incredible love. In this book, Robert Abel will share with you how to establish a deeper and more passionate relationship with Jesus. The spiritual exercises on these life-giving pages have the power to break all forms of bondage in your life, and bring the Lord's healing power into all your traumatic past experiences. Jesus wants to take you on an exciting adventure deep within the recesses of your soul. He is calling you right now, Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. What are you waiting for? Embark upon the adventure of a lifetime. Open your heart and experience the fullness of God's extravagant love.

This book is a motivational self-help book that has personal testimonial inclusions. The purpose of this book is to inspire individuals to persevere through difficult stages of their lives as well as to provide insight and strategical plans on how to achieve any and all goals one may have for themselves. The book has a constant message of having strength, a good work ethic, and discipline.

An inspiring chronicle of life-changing encounters, personal transformation and a vision of love that transcends the everyday definition, to embrace universal kindness and compassion, based on the knowledge that all beings are one family and that our capacity to love is one of the world's most hidden yet powerful resources. The book is groundbreaking in its affirmation of love as a pathway for people of widely differing viewpoints. Unexpectedly changed by love, Fran Grace went on a journey to learn more about its power to transform and heal. She interviewed renowned spiritual teachers, scientists, activists and artists, all chosen with the help of her spiritual teacher. Each encounter helped her overcome obstacles on her path. The book gives readers a direct encounter with teachers of love in the world today. From diverse faiths and fields of work, they reveal the power of love to be the next frontier of global consciousness, suggesting many ways to uncover it and live it. Includes photographs and unique contributions from: Dr. David R. and Susan Hawkins - H. H. the 17th Karmapa - Father Pavlos of Sinai - Llewellyn and Anat Vaughan-Lee - Mona Polacca and The International Council of the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers - Betty J. Eadie - Belvie Rooks & Dedan Gills - Dr. William and Jean Tiller - Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo - Huston Smith - Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity - Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev - Dr. Viktor Frankl (with grandson Alexander Vesely and Frankl family representative Mary Cimiluca) - Swami Chidatmananda. Fran Grace's personal narrative is pulsed by her encounters with the pioneering teachers of love listed above, each of whom has a chapter that includes a brief biography, excerpts from their dialogue with the author, and her sense of how the encounter helped her to overcome the many obstacles to love. The book takes readers on a journey into Buddhist and Hindu monasteries in India, an Indigenous Grandmothers' fire circle in the Black Hills, Mother Teresa's Homes for the Poor in Rome, Calcutta, and Tijuana, laboratory of a Stanford physicist, home of a Sufi sheikh, largest meditation hall in N. America, and a college classroom in California. She interviews those familiar with the stark Sinai desert, slave dungeons in Ghana, and near-death experiences. In the end, love is found to animate every moment of ordinary life. Inspiring story of personal transformation. Compelling account of how the world is transformed through everyday acts of kindness. A rich resource of teachings on love, healing and compassion from a wide range of spiritual traditions, with a rare inside view of some of the world's most respected teachers. Includes index, biographical profiles, bibliography, endnotes.

This book looks at how heterosexual relationships really work. Author?? argues that the process of falling in love is just a brief holiday from the gender roles which quickly reassert themselves in their old forms. Topics covered include romantic love, the problem of desire and the trouble with love.