Conari Press
ISBN: 97815732436054
From the Publisher:
Following on the success of
Quiet Mind, Awakened Mind is David Kundtz's newest book of meditations for living effectively and mindfully in a busy world.
As a Navajo proverb says, "When we are pretending to be asleep, no one can awaken us." We must stop the pretending and "awaken" ourselves. The book contains more than a hundred reflections on life, gratitude, creativity, diversity, and spirituality, each with an inspiring quotation and an idea for putting that meditation to use in daily life.
---NEW---
A reflection taken from the pages of
Awakened Mind entitled "A Call to Now"
A Call to Now
“You are in a beautiful city and you are safe.”
--Shoe shine lady
I was wandering around the Vancouver Airport feeling annoyed. I just learned that my flight was delayed five hours, maybe more, due to bad weather on the California coast. Uggh! Disrupted plans.
I decided to take advantage of the moment and get a shoe-shine. The woman had a smile on her face as she invited me to take a seat, and she spoke with a strong accent; I guessed she was from Africa. She asked me where I was traveling and when I told her, I added, “but my flight is delayed at least five hours and it will probably be a lot longer than that; it may even be cancelled.” I’m sure she noted my frustration.
She was silent for fully two or three minutes as she polished my shoes. Then she looked up at me: “But you are in a beautiful city; and you are safe,” she said softly, and resumed her work.
It took me a few seconds to identify her words as a response to mine. When I did, I too smiled.
Her words transformed my airport-delay experience from one of stress-producing frustration to one of simply living in the moment and accepting whatever happens simply as whatever happens.
A gift from a woman poor in the world’s goods and services, rich in the inner life; freely, thoughtfully given to a stranger passing through who, by comparison, probably lives in a world of privilege; generous too.
I have since wondered what was going on in her mind and heart during the two or three minutes between the end of my remarks and the beginning of hers. What prompted her to respond as she did? I can only conclude that it was simply an expression of the mindfulness that has become a way of life for her, an articulation of who she was.
When I paid her and was leaving, I said, “Thanks very much – and not just for the shoe shine.” She smiled.
Live for now – no matter what it is.
A pioneer in the sphere of men's mental health In the popular book Nothing's Wrong: A Man's Guide to Managing His Feelings, dynamic author and speaker David Kundtz sheds light on three steps men can take to achieve emotional fitness. Written exclusively for male audiences, Kundtz's entertaining journey through "Feelings 101" encourages men to be comfortable with experiencing, identifying and expressing emotions. --from comments on Hazeldon Books Web site: hazelden.org
David Kundtz offers a soothing, experienced and wise helping hand to readers in desperate need of a break! More than just a meditation book, Quiet Mind is a wonderful series of reflections that can illuminate every aspect of life. These reflections invite you to do nothing, but with purpose, meaning and value in order to become more fully awake and to remember who you are.
-- from a review on Alibris.com
The background image on this web page is a photograph of a nebula from outer space, the result of gasses escaping from a dying star. I chose it because such images of space as seen through the telescopic camera can help give us earth-dwellers a sense of perspective which, when transformed into a practical expression, give us what I especially need, patience. DK
... you can browse the books by reading reviews and a few excerpts, learn some biographical information, and by clicking "Schedule/Etc" you might find anything.
...you can also order any of the books on amazon.com. Clicking the title at the very bottom of the right column will take you to the amazon link.
Thanks for your visit. I warmly welcome feedback and commentary from site visitors -- about the books, the web site, or any ideas that they might stir in you. My email is at the bottom of the column just to the right.
I've kept Stopping.com, the historical name of the web site, and added my name as a web address also. You can reach the site with either one: DavidKundtz.com or Stopping.com. The ideas involved in Stopping still embody much of what I believe and try to practice.
Difference is the essence of humanity. Difference is an accident of birth and should therefore never be the source of hatred or conflict. The answer to difference is to respect it. Therein lies a most fundamental principle of peace: respect for diversity. --John Hume
Americans are both deeply religious and profoundly ignorant about religion. --Stephen Prothero
Why should one imagine that when there is a problem there is always a solution? --Terry Eagleton
Human diversity makes tolerance more than a virtue; it makes it a requirement for survival. --Rene Dubos
There is a strange kind of tragic enigma associated with the problem of racism. No one, or almost no one, wishes to see themselves as racist; still racism persists, real and tenacious. --Albert Memmi
As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there's a twilight where everything remains seemingly unchanged, and it is in such twilight that we must be aware of change in the air, however slight, lest we become unwitting victims of of the darkness. --Justice William O. Douglas
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts. -- Bertrand Russell
Family isn't about whose blood you have. It's about who you care about. -- Trey Parker and Matt Stone
It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into. --Jonathan Swift
Morality, like art, means drawing a line someplace. --Oscar Wilde
You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait, be quiet, still, and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet. --Franz Kafka
A person buying products in a supermarket is in touch with his deepest emotions. --John Kenneth Galbraith
Not to transmit an experience is to betray it. --Elie Wiesel
The only way to get rid of my fears is to make films about them. --Alfred Hitchcock
If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is in you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you. --Jesus, Gospel of Thomas
Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. --Martin Luther King, Jr.
I have spent many days stringing and unstringing my instrument, while the song I came to sing remains unsung. --Rabindranath Tagore
I wonder how all those who do not write, compose or paint can manage to escape the...fear which is inherent in the human situation. --Graham Greene
To be enlightened is simply to be absolutely, unconditionally intimate with this moment. No more. No less. --Scott Morrison
Someone sold us out -- but only when we ceased to pay attention. --Timothy Findley (The telling of Lies)
If you are what you do, when you don't you aren't. -- William J. Byron
The only thing that keeps us from floating off with the wind is our stories. They give us a name and put us in a place, allow us to keep on touching. --Tom Spanbauer
Except for the point, the still point,
There would be no dance, and there is only the dance.
--T.S.Eliot (The Four Quartets)
If I hazard a guess as to the most endemic, prevalent anxiety among human beings -- including the fear of death, abandonment, loneliness -- nothing is more prevalent than the fear of one another. --R.D. Laing
There's nothing very mysterious about free will. You do what you want to do, and you don't do what you don't want to do. --Rebbe Nachman
The deepest feeling always shows itself in silence. --Marianne Moore
Beyond living and dreaming
there is something more important: waking up. --Antonio Machado
When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. And that's my religion. -- Abraham Lincoln
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