Twenty-three amazing authors, teachers and activists who live in Boulder have contributed to BE THE CHANGE - How Meditation Can Transform You and the World, our book that was published in November and is the publisher's December Book of the Month. The contributors include people such as Steve Demos, founder of White Wave Silk soy milk, Rabbi Zalman Schachter, Joan Borysenko, inspirational speaker, and Mark Gerzon, international mediator.
This Sunday we will be talking on KGNU 88.5 FM at 12 p.m. on Tributaries about how each of us would have a richer life and the world would be better off if we could just stop for a moment, be kinder, take time out to be quiet, and enjoy the beauty of being still.
As a prisoner in a Chinese jail, Boulderite Kirsten Westby was able to find solace by sitting quietly in contemplation. Deeply affected by walking on the moon, astronaut Edgar Mitchell went from exploring outer space to discovering the vastness of inner space. Coping with HIV, Mark Matousek found healing through group meditation. Seane Corn used her yoga and meditation expertise to work with child prostitutes in LA.
These are just some of the ways people are changed through meditation. We asked each contributor, "Could something as subtle and understated as meditation also have an affect on business, conflict resolution, or politics? What change could happen if something so simple were to become a global movement?" The answers we received were wide and varied, yet all confirmed that when we change, so the world will change.
"Meditation can change the world because meditation changes us. The world will not change until we change. The state of the world is the effect; the state of consciousness of human beings is the cause," says Marianne Williamson, author of A Return to Love and Healing the Soul of America.
It can be easy to feel powerless when faced with the many problems there are in our own lives and in the world at large. But we do have an invaluable tool: our own minds. When we can work with ourselves then all possibilities arise.
"Who makes problems? We humans. And who is the controller of the human? The mind. And how to control the human mind? Through meditation. If you can control the pilot, then the pilot can control the plane," writes Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, bestselling author of Joy Of Living and Joyful Wisdom.
You can order a copy of our latest book at: BE THE CHANGE, How Meditation Can Transform You and the World
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Ed and Deb Shapiro's new book, BE THE CHANGE, How Meditation Can Transform You And The World, forewords by the Dalai Lama and Robert Thurman, with contributors such as Marianne Williamson, astronaut Edgar Mitchell, Ellen Burstyn, Michael Beckwith, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Jane Fonda, Jack Kornfield, Byron Katie, Dean Ornish, and others is published by Sterling Ethos. Deb is the author of the award-winning book YOUR BODY SPEAKS YOUR MIND. Ed and Deb are the authors of over 15 books, and lead meditation retreats and workshops. Enjoy their 3 meditation CD's: Metta - Loving kindness and Forgiveness; Samadhi - Breath Awareness and Insight; and Yoga Nidra - Inner Conscious Relaxation, available on their website: www.EdandDebShapiro.comhttp://www.EdandDebShapiro.com