peace reads
Reading is Learning!
We begin each year with the Season for Nonviolence and a focus on
everyday nonviolence.
And when the Season is over, we keep reading, learning, and practicing.
Join us in this decree: "Nonviolence begins with me".
Read along with us to be inspired and energized.
Expand your vision of what is possible.
Develop new skills to help you reduce discord and navigate conflict more successfully.
Embolden your efforts to practice nonviolence everywhere.
We begin each year with the Season for Nonviolence and a focus on
everyday nonviolence.
And when the Season is over, we keep reading, learning, and practicing.
Join us in this decree: "Nonviolence begins with me".
Read along with us to be inspired and energized.
Expand your vision of what is possible.
Develop new skills to help you reduce discord and navigate conflict more successfully.
Embolden your efforts to practice nonviolence everywhere.
Our first Peace Read is Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, and Sheila Heen. It is available at the Manhattan Public Library for those of you interested!
Synopsis:
"We attempt or avoid difficult conversations every day-whether dealing with an underperforming employee, disagreeing with a spouse, or negotiating with a client. From the Harvard Negotiation Project, the organization that brought you Getting to Yes, Difficult Conversations provides a step-by-step approach to having those tough conversations with less stress and more success. you’ll learn how to:
· Decipher the underlying structure of every difficult conversation
· Start a conversation without defensiveness
· Listen for the meaning of what is not said
· Stay balanced in the face of attacks and accusations
· Move from emotion to productive problem solving"
"We attempt or avoid difficult conversations every day-whether dealing with an underperforming employee, disagreeing with a spouse, or negotiating with a client. From the Harvard Negotiation Project, the organization that brought you Getting to Yes, Difficult Conversations provides a step-by-step approach to having those tough conversations with less stress and more success. you’ll learn how to:
· Decipher the underlying structure of every difficult conversation
· Start a conversation without defensiveness
· Listen for the meaning of what is not said
· Stay balanced in the face of attacks and accusations
· Move from emotion to productive problem solving"
We would like to introduce you to Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life by Marshall B. Rosenberg. Check it out at the MHK Public Library.
"Do you hunger for skills to improve the quality of your relationships, to deepen your sense of personal empowerment or to simply communicate more effectively? Unfortunately, for centuries our culture has taught us to think and speak in ways that can actually perpetuate conflict, internal pain and even violence. Nonviolent Communication partners practical skills with a powerful consciousness and vocabulary to help you get what you want peacefully.
In this internationally acclaimed text, Marshall Rosenberg offers insightful stories, anecdotes, practical exercises and role-plays that will dramatically change your approach to communication for the better. Discover how the language you use can strengthen your relationships, build trust, prevent conflicts and heal pain. Revolutionary, yet simple, NVC offers you the most effective tools to reduce violence and create peace in your life one interaction at a time."
Our next Peace Read is very dear to us.
The book is The Tao of Nonviolence: Why Nonviolence Matters by Kansas State University's very own Dr. Susan Allen. Be sure to check it out on Amazon!
The book is The Tao of Nonviolence: Why Nonviolence Matters by Kansas State University's very own Dr. Susan Allen. Be sure to check it out on Amazon!
"It is painfully obvious that when imbalance becomes too great a person, a mind, any system will falter unless we readjust, adapt, correct course, change conditions: minds “flip out,” marriages fail, abuses of power occur, human pollution overpowers the environment, and so on. In biology and communications theory we would say that unless we (meaning individuals, cultures, and life itself) constantly and positively readjust toward equilibrium and maintain that crucial harmony of entropy and redundancy, yin and yang, the system will fail. Nonviolent action is what we do to correct course and move toward healthy systems."
We recommend you add A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward and Undivided Life by Parker J. Palmer to your reading list! It can be found at the Manhattan Public Library.
"A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward an Undivided Life addresses four compelling themes: the shape of an integral life, the meaning of community, teaching and learning for transformation, and nonviolent social change. In the opening chapters Parker explores what it means to live an undivided life, one where our inner truth can find expression and value in our outer lives, despite the pressures we may face. In the remaining chapters he articulates with great care the conditions necessary to create “circles of trust,” outlining in considerable detail the approach that we have been using in retreats. He then offers a model of community, based on the principles and practices that can help us embrace nonviolence in everyday life."
An important tool used in everyday nonviolence is love, which comes in as many forms as everyday nonviolence does! We urge everyone to explore the many different forms of love and read Gary Chapman's The Five Love Languages. Check it out at the Manhattan Public Library!
"Between busy schedules and long days, expressing love can fall by the wayside. We forget to compliment, to give gifts “just because,” to linger in our embrace. The things that say “I love you” seem to either not get said or not get through. This is a book about saying it—and hearing it—clearly. No gimmicks. No psychoanalyzing. Just learning to express love in your spouse’s language.
With over 11 million copies sold, The 5 Love Languages has transformed countless relationships. Its ideas are simple and conveyed with clarity and humor, making this book practical as it is personable. You’ll be inspired by real-life stories and encouraged by its commonsense approach. reading this book feels like taking a walk with a wise friend. Applying it will forever change your relationship—starting today."
"Between busy schedules and long days, expressing love can fall by the wayside. We forget to compliment, to give gifts “just because,” to linger in our embrace. The things that say “I love you” seem to either not get said or not get through. This is a book about saying it—and hearing it—clearly. No gimmicks. No psychoanalyzing. Just learning to express love in your spouse’s language.
With over 11 million copies sold, The 5 Love Languages has transformed countless relationships. Its ideas are simple and conveyed with clarity and humor, making this book practical as it is personable. You’ll be inspired by real-life stories and encouraged by its commonsense approach. reading this book feels like taking a walk with a wise friend. Applying it will forever change your relationship—starting today."
We found this this instructive: Dominic Cappello's Ten Talks Parents Must Have with their Children about Violence. This Peace Read can be found at the Manhattan Public Library.
"A child happens upon a Web site created by classmates that threatens students who don't fit in. A teenage boy approaches a younger girl walking home from school and starts telling her how good she looks. Harmless or potentially violent behavior? Unquestionably, some violent acts (murder, physical abuse) are easy to spot, while others prove much harder to identify. In Ten Talks Parents Must Have with Their Children about Violence, Dominic Cappello, of the National Education Association, sets out to help parents teach their children how to avoid violent situations and stay safe. Each chapter includes a fairly brief but compelling introduction to its topic--violence in the home, in the media, at school, etc.--and then offers thorough notes and questions for adults to ponder. Guidelines on how to launch the conversation with children follow, along with words to review and single-sentence stories for discussion. Most helpful are Cappello's post-talk notes, which guide parents through an assessment of their dialogue and help them identify warning signs. Excerpts from actual parent-child talks and suggestions on engaging the "less-than-enthusiastic child" help illuminate how these sessions can actually produce results."
--Liane Thomas
--Liane Thomas
The power of nonviolence is that it is a part of our every day lives, whether or not we realize it. In Thich Nhat Hanh's Peace is Every Step, we are reminded that nonviolence has its role in every experience that we have. Pick up Peace is Every Step at the Manhattan Public Library today!
"In the rush of modern life, we tend to lose touch with the peace that is available in each moment. World-renowned Zen master, spiritual leader, and author Thich Nhat Hanh shows us how to make positive use of the very situations that usually pressure and antagonize us. For him a ringing telephone can be a signal to call us back to our true selves. Dirty dishes, red lights, and traffic jams are spiritual friends on the path to "mindfulness"—the process of keeping our consciousness alive to our present experience and reality. The most profound satisfactions, the deepest feelings of joy and completeness lie as close at hand as our next aware breath and the smile we can form right now.
Lucidly and beautifully written, Peace Is Every Step contains commentaries and meditations, personal anecdotes and stories from Nhat Hanh's experiences as a peace activist, teacher, and community leader. It begins where the reader already is—in the kitchen, office, driving a car, walking a part—and shows how deep meditative presence is available now. Nhat Hanh provides exercises to increase our awareness of our own body and mind through conscious breathing, which can bring immediate joy and peace. Nhat Hanh also shows how to be aware of relationships with others and of the world around us, its beauty and also its pollution and injustices. the deceptively simple practices of Peace Is Every Step encourage the reader to work for peace in the world as he or she continues to work on sustaining inner peace by turning the "mindless" into the mindFUL."
"In the rush of modern life, we tend to lose touch with the peace that is available in each moment. World-renowned Zen master, spiritual leader, and author Thich Nhat Hanh shows us how to make positive use of the very situations that usually pressure and antagonize us. For him a ringing telephone can be a signal to call us back to our true selves. Dirty dishes, red lights, and traffic jams are spiritual friends on the path to "mindfulness"—the process of keeping our consciousness alive to our present experience and reality. The most profound satisfactions, the deepest feelings of joy and completeness lie as close at hand as our next aware breath and the smile we can form right now.
Lucidly and beautifully written, Peace Is Every Step contains commentaries and meditations, personal anecdotes and stories from Nhat Hanh's experiences as a peace activist, teacher, and community leader. It begins where the reader already is—in the kitchen, office, driving a car, walking a part—and shows how deep meditative presence is available now. Nhat Hanh provides exercises to increase our awareness of our own body and mind through conscious breathing, which can bring immediate joy and peace. Nhat Hanh also shows how to be aware of relationships with others and of the world around us, its beauty and also its pollution and injustices. the deceptively simple practices of Peace Is Every Step encourage the reader to work for peace in the world as he or she continues to work on sustaining inner peace by turning the "mindless" into the mindFUL."
Please note: Our book recommendations are authored by writers from a variety of different backgrounds and faiths. We have chosen these books because we believe each contains a core message of deep respect for differences, promotes tolerance & openness to others, and offers useful information to improve interpersonal communication.