5 Lives to Live

This year I am engaged in a modified version of Chris Brogan's three book diet (which, incidentally, he has already given up on), in that I have selected three self-help books that I am reading repeatedly and doing my best to apply practically. Read more about how Walter Mason will re-reading self-help books all  through 2013.

One of the books I have chosen to engage with intensively all year is Barbara Sher's classic Wishcraft, a book I have never previously read all the way through.

One of the practical exercises in this book is Five Lives. In it, Sher asks us to imagine we have five simultaneous lives, and to record what we would actually be in each one. Here's what I wrote:

1. A writer
2. An academic
3. A New Thought minister
4. A Buddhist monk
5. A film maker

Walter Mason as academic

The purpose of this exercise? Sher writes: "In each of your "lives" is something you love very, very dearly and need to get into your one life - and you can."

You must have five things you'd like to be if you had five separate lives? Would you like to share them in the comments?

This day could be your last

I am reading a really exceptional book at the moment, called 20,000 Days and Counting.

It's a work of Christian self-help, and is constructed in quite a post-modern way, but it's a terrific read, and really quite incredibly inspiring.
I discovered in it a quote from Emerson that I hadn't encountered before, and I thought I'd share it with you:

Ralph Waldo Emerson

"One of the illusions [of life] is that the present hour is not the critical , decisive hour. Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year. No man has learned anything rightly until he knows that every day is Doomsday."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Monday Blogcrawl

I have been absolutely immersed in a self-help book in recent days, y ou won't be surprised to hear. And what is the book? Dancer and choreographer Twyla Tharp's simply brilliant The Creative Habit. You really must read it. And in the meantime, here is some more self-helpey stuff from the net this past week:

Do we want the answer or the solution?

• A Letter to those who feel hopeless about life 
• Why kindness has repurcussions
• David Harman does a  video review of Rob Yeung's E is for Exceptional!
• A review of Pragmatism: A Reader, which is edited by Louis Menand, who wrote the quintessential history of the Metaphysical Club
• The Prosperity Gospel is taking Zimbabwe by storm
• Self-help writer Alison Patton joins the anti-optimism bandwagon
• Simple Mindfulness urges us not to let our passions die 
• Cheryl Richardson offers some advice on how to start the day
• A fabulous affirmation from Louise Hay 
• A blogger writes about studying self-help books 
• A sculptor is inspired by Tama Kieves

Liberace sings THE MAGIC OF BELIEVING

This is gold! Liberace composed, sang and recorded a song based on the self-help message of Claude Bristol's The Magic of Believing. There are so many parts of fabulous about this that I really cannot begin. Just listen and enjoy:

Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Teasers:

"Infinite and Eternal Spirit of Good, give us renewed power to overcome all our defects. Give us renewed spirit of good-will to all our fellow beings. Give us faith, and make us see more and more clearly the law, the ways, the means, the methods, that shall bring us lasting health, peace, happiness and prosperity. Give us perfect trust in the law of eternal life." 

~ p. 16, "Thought Forces" by Prentice Mulford

Prentice Mulford was an early self-help writer who helped popularise the idea of  "mental science," a term still being used when I was working in a New Age bookstore in the 1990s. This is a specific prayer he suggests for individuals and groups interested in undertaking systematic silent prayer.



PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own Teaser Tuesdays post, or share your ‘teasers’ in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks! 

Swedenborgian Talk in Sydney, Friday 23rd November

One of the most formative philosophies in the self-help movement is that of Swedenborgianism. Many of the earliest writers in self-help were interested in the writings of Swedenborg or had direct links to the Swedenborgian New Church.
On the 23rd of November my dear friend Julian Duckworth, himself a Swedenborgian New Church Minister, is giving a really fascinating talk at the Swedenborg Centre in North Ryde. Here are the details:

Can we change who we are and if so, how?
Speaker: Julian Duckworth
FRIDAY 23TH NOVEMBER 2012 at 7.45pm
1 Avon Road, North Ryde
Cost: $7; concession $5 (including refreshments)

One of the great questions of all time is whether or not we human beings can change. That question throws up many others... What do we mean by "change"? Are we perhaps predisposed to be who we are by nature? And what exactly might that be? Is the fact that trying to change is so difficult pointing out that we can't or maybe that we are not trying hard enough? And why should we think about changing ourselves anyway? Can't I just be me?
We will take a good hard long look at this whole idea of us changing and try and keep a balance between reality and wishful thinking. We will draw in some spiritual points and also look at a few case-histories. And if we come to the point of thinking that we can change, we'll try and open up some possible ways.



Julian Duckworth is the Minister at the New Church in Roseville, a Swedenborgian-based church which sees the Bible and Christian teachings through Swedenborg’s spiritual writings. He has regularly presented talks at both the Swedenborg Centre and around New South Wales and further afield, and he enjoys spreading out to come into contact with many other rich and wholesome spiritual approaches, while valuing the Swedenborg base he feels privileged to have received.










Swedenborg Association of Australia Inc.
North Ryde Group - Telephone: (02) 9888 1066
website: www.swedenborg.com.au

Monday Blogcrawl

I have had a busy time recently talking about self-help, so I am feeling particularly reconnected to my research at the moment. Some interesting self-help stuff rom around the net this past week:

• A wonderful video of Iyanla Vanzant speaking about her difficult family with Tavis Smiley
• Blogger Georges Bayardelle talks about embracing greatness 
• Seth Godin thinks we need to redefine productivity
• Mark Nepo recommends reverence and listening
• A video interview with Law of Attraction guru Joe Vitale
• The Institute of Noetic Sciences gives us an update on their study into mediumship