Touching. Inspiring. Real. Craig stops making jokes (nearly) and gets personal, and kind.
via Craig Ferguson: an Alcoholic Christmas. | elephant journal.
Where Are the People?
Interesting data:
The Barna Group, an evangelical market research organization, has been issuing a steady stream of books and white papers documenting the erosion of support for evangelicalism, especially among young people. Contributions from worshippers 55 and older now account for almost two-thirds of evangelical churches’ income in the United States. A mere three percent of non-Christian Americans under 30 have a positive impression of evangelical Christianity, according to David Kinnaman, the Barna Group’s president. That’s down from 25 percent of baby boomers at a similar age. At present rates of attrition, two-thirds of evangelicals in their 20s will abandon church before they turn 30. “It’s the melting of the icebergs,” Kinnaman told me. Young people’s most common complaint, he said, is that churches are too focused on sexual issues and preoccupied with their own institutional development — in other words, he explained, “Christianity no longer looks like Jesus.”
Go to the source: The American Scholar: Where Are the People? – Jim Hinch.
h/t to David Kanigan and Philip Lima
Remembering Love
Remembering Love (from IMCW Spring Retreat) – The habit of self-judgment not only causes emotional pain, it creates a trance that obscures the purity and vastness of our Being. This talk explores how a wakeful and forgiving heart can heal and free us…
Tara Brach : Remembering Love (Retreat Talk).
Your best year ever…
I’m looking forward to the week AFTER Christmas — the quiet period when I focus on my business and preparing for the year to come. If you’re like me, then Michael Hyatt has a video series that might be interesting to you…
You can find the other two videos in this new ‘series’ at his microsite Best Year Ever. Also, in the past I have used this book as well…
What are some of your favorite resources? What do you do to prepare for the new year?
Boyd Varty: What I learned from Nelson Mandela
There are many excellent tributes to Madiba in every corner of the internet today. Here’s one of them from a man who knew Nelson Mandela as a boy and delivered a TED talk moments after learning of his death…
What Would Joshua Do?
Joshua Fields Millburn writes:
No, I don’t expect, or even want, anyone to walk around asking themselves What would Joshua do? Please don’t. At least not aloud. Rather, it’s a question I should ask myself: What would the best version of me do in this situation? Likewise, what would the best version of you do? What would Chris do? What would Katie do? Would would your best self do?
Would the best version of me put off writing until tomorrow? Would the best version of you sleep an extra hour and avoid the gym? Would the best version of me eat the frosted donut on the other side of the pastry counter’s glass? Would the best version of you lie to your boss? Would the best version of me procrastinate or buy things I don’t need or ignore a friend in need?
Gp to the source: WWJD: What Would Joshua Do? | The Minimalists.
Gratitude and generosity
Today, many people in these United States will be feasting on thoughts of gratitude. I have already been filled by these thoughts from teacher Tara Brach…
Namaste and Happy Thanksgiving!
I’ve been waiting for this day for quite some time…
The day that Gemma Stone’s TEDx talk would appear in my feed reader. Today’s the day…
I’ve been blessed to work with quite a few TED talkers and I have watched a lot of great TED talks as well but there are few TED talkers or TED talks that I have enjoyed more than Gemma and her message…
Stop beating yourself up…
I love Kute Blackson’s videos; so much wisdom delivered with so much energy…
Bonus video:
Morning meditation via @notsalmon
I love Sunday mornings! If it’s true that the first hour is the rudder of the day, then Sunday morning is the rudder of the week. I cherish this time right now for the opportunity to find the good in the week that has passed and leave the rest behind while looking forward to more good things to come in the days ahead…
The Barriers to Loving Presence via @tarabrach
You might reflect on someone important to you, and ask: “What is between me and loving fully?” Notice what happens. This talk explores the ways we create separations from others, and the power of inquiry and presence to awaken an unconditionally loving heart…
Janis Joplin’s final interview…
…presented in a unique way.
Janis sounded like a person who deeply understood some of the important lessons of life. Why then did she overdose on heroin and alcohol 4 days later? The wikipedia indicates that her manager believes “that Joplin had accidentally been given heroin that was much more potent than normal, as several of her dealer’s other customers also overdosed that week.” Who knows? I still love Janis and her amazing vocals…
9 Thoughts You Need Out of Your Mind
The human mind is wonderful and powerful, but it’s far from perfect. Too often we are addicted to our thoughts, and we can’t change anything in our lives if we cannot change our thinking. If you want to move forward with your life, you must change your mind and get these thoughts OUT of it…
Go to the source to see the 9 thoughts… 9 Thoughts You Need Out of Your Mind.
Related articles
- Change your mind, Change your life! (thesisterhoodsociety.wordpress.com)
- Still Your Mind (lightlivingblog.wordpress.com)
- Moving Past The Fear (jonathanhilton.com)
- What is awareness? (psychologytoday.com)
- You can’t live a positive life with a negative mind. (teleidoscope360.wordpress.com)
7 Life Lessons We Learned From Don Ward, New York’s Most Charismatic Shoeshiner…
Here’s something to put a little pep in your step this fine Monday morning:
Listen to his arsenal of zingy one-liners, and its clear that Dons figured out pretty much everything about life.
Go to the source to get the 7 life lessons: 7 Life Lessons We Learned From Don Ward, New Yorks Most Charismatic Shoeshiner VIDEO.
Craig Ferguson…
…like you’ve never seen him before. Funny AND classy as well…
The freedom of yes…
I listened to this meditation this morning while out on a walk. While all of @tarabrach ‘s dharma talks are excellent; this one struck me as being even more so…
Life goes better…
…when I take care of me! I love to wake up in the morning, make a pot of coffee and sit down at the computer for an hour while listening to a meditation from Tara Brach. However, I find that if I don’t exercise first thing in the day the chances that I’ll do it later decrease rapidly throughout the day so lately I’ve been making a few changes that seem to work well for me…
Instead of sitting down at the computer I put on my walking clothes, spend 5 minutes stretching and walk for 30 minutes while listening to my meditation. Then when I return home, I have a big glass of water before drinking coffee and I seem to need less to do more. I like eggs for breakfast but instead of eating them with butter and cheese I’m finding that hard-boiled along with some vegetables is a good way to go!
These are relatively minor changes but they make a massive difference in how much energy I have the rest of the day. How about you? What one positive thing could you do that would make a major impact in your life if you started doing it now? What one negative thing could you drop that would have a positive impact in your life?
Related articles
- 1000 Serious Moves (toddlohenry.com)
- From Story to Presence… (toddlohenry.com)
- The phases are going through me… (toddlohenry.com)
- Tara Brach – Radical (Self) Acceptance. (prodigal.typepad.com)
WordPress.com gets Google+ integration!
Could it be that WordPress.com is the ultimate thought leadership platform? Possibly! Especially with the addition of Google+ to publicize. Watch this…
Bright, shiny objects! 
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