Practices of Love


Book Description

Spiritual disciplines are often viewed primarily as a means to draw us closer to God. While these practices do deepen and enrich our "vertical" relationship with God, Kyle David Bennett argues that they were originally designed to positively impact our "horizontal" relationships--with neighbors, strangers, enemies, friends, family, animals, and even the earth. Bennett explains that this "horizontal" dimension has often been overlooked or forgotten in contemporary discussions of the spiritual disciplines. This book offers an alternative way of understanding the classic spiritual disciplines that makes them relevant, doable, and meaningful for everyday Christians. Bennett shows how the disciplines are remedial practices that correct the malformed ways we do everyday things, such as think, eat, talk, own, work, and rest. Through personal anecdotes, engagement with Scripture, and vivid cultural references, he invites us to practice the spiritual disciplines wholesale and shows how changing the way we do basic human activities can bring healing, renewal, and transformation to our day-to-day lives and the world around us.




Living Love


Book Description

Be the person you long to be -- someone overflowing with immense joy, experiencing deep connection, expressing your creativity, and feeling profound peace. In this spiritual self-help book, Victoria Price shows you how to turn aside the fears that stand between you and self-fulfillment and to embrace the healing power of love, permitting it to transform every aspect of your life. From creating a daily routine of joy and gratitude to developing a practice of presence and forgiveness, she provides the tools for taking delight in being alive, countering fear, and developing compassion and openness. Victoria Price is the author of the critically acclaimed Vincent Price: A Daughter's Biography and The Way of Being Lost: A Road Trip to My Truest Self. She is a popular inspirational speaker on topics ranging from the daily practice of joy, living your legacy of yes, and making peace with your past stories to expand your creative future. Price has appeared on Good Morning America and NPR's "Fresh Air" and "Morning Edition," and her work has been featured in USA Today, People, and The New York Times.




The Love Principle


Book Description

Your journey toward long-lasting happiness begins here. In just ten steps, Dr. Michael B. Brown provides a clear path through a discipline of daily loving that will lead you to purpose and joy in life. Follow these steps to bring meaning to your home, romantic relationships, workplace, personal friendships, and your own sense of self.




Walk in Love


Book Description

Take a journey through The Book of Common Prayer, the Christian life, and basic beliefs of our faith, guided by two Episcopal priests - Scott Gunn and Melody Wilson Shobe. Walk through the liturgical year, the sacraments of the church, habits of daily prayer, and the teachings of Anglican Christianity. See how our prayer shapes our belief and our lives and how our beliefs lead us into a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ.




Momentum: Letting Love Lead


Book Description

The simplicity of this book's approach communicates a profound message: One can live a fulfilling life, not by trying harder, working more, or sleeping less, but by letting love lead the way to serenity and contentment.




Love as a Collective Action


Book Description

This book makes evident how love, as an interstitial practice, produces a set of collective practices and how, through a mapping of these practices, it is possible to observe the connection between the politics of sensibilities and social conflict. The book provides – in the face of a global normalization of immediate enjoyment through consumption, the internationalization of fear and anxiety, the rise of "post-truth" and a distrust regarding politics – a systematic analysis of love as an interstitial practice. This book follows a sociology of body/emotions approaches within which sensations, emotions and sensibilities are part of dialectical social structuration process. The book proposes love not only as an effect or trait of a society, but also as an analytical tool for better understanding the processes of social structuring. It connects a sociology of bodies/emotions with a specific perspective on collective action and links conflictual structures and the politics of sensibilities in six Latin American countries by using a strategy of inquiry attuned to current patterns of social transformation, that of digital ethnography. This work is of interest to a wide public, those who want to know which emotions are the prevailing in Latin America, as well as specialists such as sociologists, political scientists, anthropologists and all researchers and graduate students who are interested in the connections between conflict, society and emotions.




The Practice of Love


Book Description

A master class in relationship repair and connection. At its core, this book delivers an inconvenient truth. Our relationships have to be a daily practice if we want them to thrive. We should treat them like we treat anything that we want to succeed, by giving them time and attention. For far too long it has been assumed that we should innately understand how to love one another. Relationships have fallen into the category of things we should know how to do. But we are not born knowing how to make a relationship work, any more than we are born knowing how to file taxes or buy insurance, and there are no classes in high school or college that teach us how to do this. The Practice of Love is that class. In his work, Lair Torrent, a licensed marriage and family therapist, brings together concepts and tools that can actually help couples heal for the long haul. Diving beneath the symptoms most therapies focus on, he helps couples develop a deeper understanding of the wounds that brought them together and how they show up in their relationships. The 5 Practices gives the reader an opportunity to weed out and take responsibility for limiting or negative habits while allowing them to learn and adopt new and healthier practices with their partner. These are not short-term solutions, but rather a path to profound healing, deeper connection, and stronger, happier relationships.




The Way of Love


Book Description

As followers of Jesus, we are called to draw ever closer to our Savior. One path to the Way of Love is through seven key actions: Turn. Learn. Pray. Worship. Bless. Go. Rest. Includes questions, journal prompts, a guide for a personal rule of life.




How to Love


Book Description

Thich Nhat Hanh shares timeless wisdom and mindfulness meditation practices in this pocket-sized, illustrated guide about cherishing the many ways love manifests in our lives. How to Love is the third title in Thich Nhat Hanh’s series of mindfulness books for beginners and seasoned practitioners. This time, he brings his signature clarity, compassion, and humor to the thorny question of how to love. He distills one of our strongest emotions down to 4 essentials: • You can only love another when you feel true love for yourself • Love is understanding • Understanding brings compassion • Deep listening and loving speech are key ways of showing our love How to Love shows that when we feel closer to our loved ones, we are also more connected to the world as a whole. Thich Nhat Hanh applies this timeless wisdom to the core areas and relationships of our lives, including: • Love vs. Need • Being in Love • Reverence • Intimacy • Children and Family • Reconciling with Parents With meditations you can do alone or with your partner, How to Love is a unique gift for those who want a comprehensive yet simple guide to understanding the many different kinds of love, perfect for those practicing in any spiritual tradition, whether seasoned practitioners or new to meditation.




Mindful Relationship Habits: 25 Practices for Couples to Enhance Intimacy, Nurture Closeness, and Grow a Deeper Connection


Book Description

It’s easy to fall in love. The challenging part is keeping that spark alive while you and your partner deal with “the real world”. Your relationship can often seem less urgent than the day-to-day emergencies that you deal with—your job, finances, children, and that to-do list full of chores. They all demand your immediate attention. What often gets lost in the shuffle is the love you share with your partner. If you want to build a deeper connection with your spouse or partner, then one solution is to build mindful relationship habits. In a mindful relationship, you are intentional about all your choices and interactions with your partner. You become more proactive in responding to each other’s needs and less reactive to the challenges that often arise. You evolve to a higher level of interaction with one another. The Wall Street Journal bestselling authors S.J. Scott and Barrie Davenport show you how to have a better relationship by applying 25 specific practices. These habits will help you be more present with one another, communicate better, avoid divisive arguments, and understand how to respond to one another’s needs in a more loving, empathic, and conscious way.