Can a meditative practice assist and promote the healing relationship between psychotherapist and patient? The notable contributors to this practical book draw on a wide range of Eastern and Western disciplines—psychoanalysis, Gestalt, Aikido, and various Christian, Hindu, and Buddhist contemplative traditions—to show that it can. What they propose is a meeting between the Western psychotherapeutic approach—grounded in working with the personal problems and the need to carve out a strong awareness of self—and Eastern tradition, which emphasizes a larger kind of awareness and equanimity as a continuously available source of clarity and health for those who know how to find it. They show that joining psychotherapy with meditation can mutually awaken the hearts of both therapist and client, sparking them both to open more fully. Jacob Needleman, Erich Fromm, Robin Skynner, Ram Dass, Karl Sperber, Roger Walsh, Chögyam Trungpa, and Thomas Hora are among the contributors.

Everyone appreciates kindness. A smile, a few friendly words, a show of concern when we're troubled or feeling unwell, an offer of help - gestures of kindness like these brighten our day and ease whatever sadness we may feel in our hearts. Feeling that "someone cares" fulfills a very deep need that we all have. And just as we appreciate other people being kind to us, others appreciate it when we are kind to them. That is why it is important to learn to be kind, because it will help make our relationships and interactions with others more satisfying and less problematic. But it's not always easy to be kind. Sometimes our hearts are filled with anger, jealousy, or pride, and being kind is the last thing we feel like doing. Or we get so caught up in our work and responsibilities that we find no time to think of others and their needs, no time to be kind and gentle. However, these problems can be remedied. The Buddhist tradition offers a wealth of methods that can be used to overcome whatever prevents us from being kind and gentle. Some of these methods are explored and explained in this book - in a way that will allow you to practice them in your daily life. Awakening the Kind Heart offers powerful and inviting meditation techniques to activate the heart of kindness within us all - a modern and motivating interpretation of traditional and powerful practices.

Grade level: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, p, e, i, s, t.

I invite you to come on a journey with me into one of the most important, yet often most neglected dimension of yourself, namely your heart. I want to help you discover, as I have slowly been discovering, that our hearts not only hold the key to our being able to live a fuller and more meaningful life, but also to our being able to play a part in helping heal our planet.' The change needed is a shift out of our primarily head-focus into becoming increasingly heart-centred, where we are connected to our hearts and are potentially capable of moving mountains. We are only going to be good activists if we have plenty of heart in our lives - if we are big hearted with a well-activated Heart. A culture of Heart is vital if we are to heal the many wounds and splits that exist between different classes, religions, tribes and nations. The book has been written from a place of great hope and joy, based on knowledge that our world is changing and that the planetary heart is at last awakening.

With no means to support herself, Ellie Kilmer agrees to work as a housekeeper for the young widower who lives on Dillon Island, hopeful she can obtain a proper reference. But Jackson Smith quickly realizes that Ellie's presence may solve his own problems--both the rearing of his young boys and the scandal that surrounds his first marriage. When a marriage of convenience is offered, Ellie is initially humiliated. Though she is past the age most women marry, she has more pride than to agree to his outlandish suggestion. Yet what options does she have? To marry would mean a home and stability. So despite the rumors circling Jackson and his first wife, Ellie accepts this unlikely proposal...

Addressing daily concerns, Betty J. Eadie gives readers the keys to an elemental, healing life force. She examines the course of her life source, and reveals the profound power that unites us all.