|
Diana's Grove Staff Recommendations
The links below are generated through Amazon.com. Please note that the
links will not appear if your browser is set to "block ads." In
addition, the specific book references
are occasionally replaced by generic Amazon ads, but
they should be restored when you click Reload/Refresh
in your browser. We are currently working toward a permanent solution to this sporadic issue. Thank you for visiting our online store!
Patricia Storm recommends:
|
Cryptonomicon
by Neal Stephenson
A work of fiction based on history and possibility, Cryptonomicon weaves pieces of the development of modern computers,
cryptography during WWII and current issues of computer security by following the lives and offspring of several individuals on both sides of the war.
|
|
Cynthea Jones recommends:
Arden recommends:
|
Shadow Dance
by David Richo
I recommend this book for people who are drawn to work with their own shadows, those dark and disliked parts of ourselves.
Dave Richo presents practical options to examine and embrace our shadows in an easy to read, empathetic style.
|
|
How to Be an Adult: A Handbook for Psychological and Spiritual Integration by David Richo
A small rich book. Very readable and presents thoughtful and experiential methods to allow us to grow
into fully mature individuals.
|
|
|
Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy by David Burns
Practical and experiential presentation of cognitive therapy principles: dealing with depression, anger, procrastination, worry. How to
recognize cognitive distortions and untwist your thinking.
|
|
Sacred Woman, Sacred Dance : Awakening Spirituality Through Movement and Ritual by Iris J. Stewart
History, current examples, using movement and dance in a spiritual practice, suggestions to create your own sacred dances.
|
|
River recommends:
|
Evolutionary Witchcraft
by T. Thorn Coyle
An advanced book for those truly interested in establishing a spiritual practice
and developing tools for personal growth and change. Thorn makes the concepts
of the Anderson Feri tradition accessible and invaluable.
|
|
Constance recommends:
Canyon recommends:
I'm a junkie for books on how to be a better leader, so all my recommendations
are in that category. Although a lot of these books are written for those in corporate leadership, I find that
the deep messages are adaptable for all kinds of leadership, even Priestessing in spiritual community. My first
recommendation is an "old-timer" that launched a whole genre of books like it:
|
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
by Stephen R. Covey
My paperback copy, tabbed with labeled sticky-notes, came out in 1990, but 15 years later it still informs me as a leader. What I like best is
Covey's "principle-centered" approach of leading from my values.which requires me to know what those values are! Covey's belief that a
principle-centered, values-driven approach is best in both my personal and professional lives has proven true over and over during the years
that I've relied on the wisdom of this book. The 7 Habits, whenever I apply them, lead me to greater integrity and dignity, as a leader and
as a person.
|
|
Leadership from the Inside Out: Becoming a Leader for Life
by Kevin Cashman
This is another book that really addresses me as a whole person, as well as in my roles as leader in various groups. Cashman, like Covey,
sees leadership as rooted in authentic personal transformation and character, rather than in developing skills and competencies. I had the
pleasure of hearing Cashman speak at a leadership seminar I attended right after his book came out in 2000 and I treasure my author-signed copy.
Cashman takes readers on a "reflective journey" to enhance leadership effectiveness through a personal awakening. I knew that I would love the book
when I read his opening two sentences: “It is a magical night: one of those rare December evenings when the cold and the warmth mix just right
to blanket everything with big, fluffy, crystalline flakes of snow. As the snow depends, so does the silence in the atmosphere.”
|
|
|
Work Less, Make More
by Jennifer White
In alignment with our continuing work at the Grove that moves me relentlessly
toward finding my destiny, I recommend Work Less, Make More by Jennifer White.
Although I think her "easy-to-follow 10 step program" over-simplifies things
a bit, she got me with this statement from her introduction: "Many people secretly
believe that anything they truly want to do must go behind all their so-called
priorities. They are too responsible to chase their ideas or passions. So those
dreams that are burning in their souls are kept buried because they believe dreaming
just isn't practical." White's approach is very concrete, with lots of great
exercises that focus on answers and results. I love that she's from my hometown
of Kansas City! You can check out her coaching business web site at www.worklessmakemore.com.
|
|
|
Quantum Leaps: 7 Skills for Workplace ReCreation
by Charlotte Shelton
This is another book that aligns well with the approach to leadership that we use at Diana's Grove. Shelton's orientation is toward creating
change - in individuals and in organizations, because she believes that workplaces mirror individual and collective beliefs. As the book jacket
says, "Therefore, we change ourselves, our workplaces, and the world by changing our minds." A better one-sentence encapsulation of the Diana's
Grove Four Levels of Reality work would be hard to find! The coolest thing about Shelton's book is that she uses basic principles of quantum
mechanics as a metaphor for a human process that is psychological and spiritual. Again, this is an author who addresses me as a whole person,
not just as a leader, and affirms my belief that I change the world by changing myself.
|
|
I also recommend Leading with Soul and
Escape from Cluelessness: A Guide for the Organizationally Challenged,
both by Lee G. Bolman and Terrence E. Deal. Lee Bolman spoke at a leadership
seminar I attended a few years ago, right after Escape from Cluelessness came out, although his
focus was on the content from his earlier book, Leading with Soul. He had me in the palm of his
hand from the moment that he said that every organization or system has, at its center, a "meaning system."
This essence (ahh! Four Levels of Reality again) is represented by symbols that speak to both the heart and
mind. In my notes, I underlined symbols and wrote in parentheses below it "story/myth!" Bolman believes that
great leadership arises from the qualities of focus, passion, wisdom and courage, which derive from faith,
belief, values and soul. He defined soul as one's bedrock sense of self - who I am, what I care about, what
I believe in - and framed the journey of leadership as the Hero's Journey, as in Joseph Campbell's work on
mythology. When Bolman identified four gifts of leadership that lined up perfectly with the Grove's definition
of the four Priestessing Arts, he earned a place of prominence on my bookshelf!
|
|
|
Jennifer Wilson recommends:
|
Drumming at the Edge
of Magic
by Mickey Hart with Jay Stevens
If you are a drummer, you may enjoy this view of the history of drumming by the percussionist
for the Grateful Dead. Hart writes about his own journey with drumming while
throwing in a lot of history and theory about drumming's impact on body and
soul. A great read!
|
|
|
dianasgrove.com