Michelle Zarrin (Courtesy of The Mindfulness Expo.)

Michelle Zarrin felt a bit unmoored after her divorce and having to start over. She began meditatingfirst for 10 minutes a day, then going to longer stretches, sometimes 11 hours at a time. She realized along her journey that her path would involve teaching meditation and mindfulness to others, and that's exactly what she's done. Today, she's a globally renowned inspirational speaker, meditation teacher and spiritual guide whose meditations on the Insight Timer app have been downloaded more than 1.3 million times.

How do you get some of what she's having? You can attend the Mindfulness Expo Zarrin founded, which happens 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 30 at the Anaheim Convention Center.

The day is divided into fourteen 50-minute workshops held in two rooms; your $35 ticket gets you into as many as you'd like, all day. There are no add-on fees with your general admission ticket. Areas of focus are meditation, transforming your life through the outdoors, Kundalini yoga, sound healing, nutrition and Reiki classes. There will also be vendors on hand with relevant offerings for a more mindful life. Workshop session highlights include:

All are welcome, no matter where you are on your meditation and mindfulness journey. And if you're just beginning, this is an amazing launch pad to learn about what works for you.

The Mindfulness Expo

Excerpt from:

The Anaheim Convention Center Mindfulness Expo Is The Weekend After Thanksgiving - LAist

You are here: Home / Entertainment / Health and Wellness Events / Kirtan, Astrology & Guided Meditation at Temple of Peace in Haiku

November 20, 2019 by Alex Mitchell Leave a Comment

Theres a Kirtan, Astrology, and Guided Meditation Workshop at Temple of Peace in Haiku on Monday, November 25th. The event will be led by Juliet Butters Doty and Neeraja-ji. Attendees can settle into one-ness while listening to astrological updates with their individual charts, and delving into palpable meditations. $20. 4pm. Temple of Peace, (575 Haiku Rd., Haiku); 808-280-2833; 808-359-8676; unwindthesoul.com

photo courtesy of Facebook/Juliet Butters Doty

For more up to the date events go to mauitime.com/events

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Filed Under: Health and Wellness Events Tagged With: haiku maui, maui astrology, maui Guided Meditation, maui healing centers, maui kirtan, maui retreats, maui wellness, north shore maui, Temple of Peace in Haiku

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Kirtan, Astrology & Guided Meditation at Temple of Peace in Haiku - Maui Time

ROSTREVOR, Northern IrelandThe most powerful moment in the new Mister Rogers biopic A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, is when, for a full minute (60 actual seconds, I timed it), nothing happens.

In the scene leading up to the moment in question, Fred Rogers (played with winsome virtuosity by Tom Hanks) and Lloyd Vogel (the character played by Welsh actor Matthew Rhys and based on journalist Tom Junod, whose 1998 Esquire profile of Rogers was the catalyst for the film) are sitting in a Chinese restaurant in downtown Pittsburgh.

Vogel is in crisis. Existential, relational, spiritual, mid-life. All of the above. Its fueled in no small part by his estranged relationship with his alcoholic, abusive, often-absent father (played by the brilliant Chris Cooper) who has walked back into Vogels life just as his own is coming to an end.

Over lunch, where we discover that Mr. Rogers is a lifelong vegetarian I just cannot imagine eating anything that has a mother, he explains Vogel says he believes his dining companion likes people like me broken people. Rogers is having none of it.

I dont think you are broken, Rogers begins, speaking slowly and deliberately. I know you are a man of conviction, a person who knows the difference between what is wrong and what is right. Try to remember that your relationship with your father also helped to shape those parts. He helped you become what you are.

Then Rogers asks his struggling friend to join him in what is essentially a contemplative exercise.

Well just take a minute and think about all the people who loved us into being, Rogers gently suggests.

I cant do that, Vogel responds.

They will come to you, Rogers assures him. Just one minute of silence.

The camera slowly pans the restaurant, where we briefly glimpse Rogers real-life widow, Joanne, sitting at a nearby table. After a few moments, the lens comes to rest on Hanks face. He turns his gaze ever so slightly until he is looking straight at the camera, at us.

A full minute goes by when no words are spoken. It is profoundly affecting.

Finally, Vogel exhales.

Thank you for doing it with me, Rogers says. I feel so much better.

I did, too.

As I watched an online screener of the movie with my husband in our living room last month, I imagined theaters full of people exhaling in unison, perhaps unaware they had participated in a minute of mindfulness, a meditation.

I love that Rogers doesnt ask Vogel (or the audience) to be grateful for or to the people who come to mind in those 60 seconds. He simply asks us to be open to whoever comes. Without judging them or ourselves.

Mr. Rogers and his meditation came to my mind this morning as I hiked a steep, two-mile path through the forest to the Cloughmore Stone An Chloch Mhr in Irish, meaning The Big Stone. Its a massive granite boulder that sits in a clearing about 1,000 feet above the village where Ive been staying since completing a 200-mile walk along the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland with a small group of peace activists last week.

The Big Stone, which, depending on who you talk to, was deposited here by a glacier 10,000 years ago or was tossed here from the Cooley Mountains on theother side of Carlingford Lough by the mythical Irish warrior Fionn mac Cumhaill, is also believed to have been the inspiration for Aslans table in C.S. Lewis Narnia stories.

That part of Rostrevor which overlooks Carlingford Lough is my idea of Narnia, Lewis, who spent part of his childhood in Rostrevor, once wrote in a letter to his elder brother, Warren. The landscape here makes it seem possible that a giant might come bounding over a hillock or that youll find Mr. Tumnus playing the pan flute next to the narrow river that flows through the Fairy Glen, so named for the little people who live along its banks, according to local lore. (Its an actual place; I can see it from my rental cottage, though I havent spotted any fairies. Yet.)

How I long to break into a world where such things were true, Lewis said of his Narnia and the actual geographic place that inspired it.

Throughout his life, Lewis often returned to this idyllic village nestled between the Mourne mountains and the lough, a glacial fjord that forms part of the border between the North and the Republic. Climbing the steep mountain paths toward the Big Stone, I pictured young Jack Lewis rambling through this land, imagining mythical creatures and creating stories that would someday shape the imaginations of countless other children, including mine.

Standing next to the massive stone, the wind howling and temperature dropping, I could almost hear Mr. Beaver answering Susans question about whether Aslan is safe:

"Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good.

As I schlepped up the mountainside and on the much easier descent an hour later, I practiced Mr. Rogers contemplative exercise from the new movie, letting my mind wander to the people who have loved me into the person I am today.

There were dozens of names and faces. Family (biological and chosen), friends, teachers, professors, pastors, priests, rabbis, yogis, musicians, writers, artists, and even the odd face of a stranger whose name I never learned but whose love left its mark on me all the same.

The person who came most often to my mind, however, was the woman whose ashes I am wearing in a locket around my neck: My mother, Helen, who passed away in August.

Before I could read them on my own, my mother read me fairy tales, fables, and Dr. Seusss whimsical rhyming stories, and later pressed a boxed set of Lewis seven Chronicles of Narnia into my hand.

She introduced me to Mr. Rogers on our black-and-white living room TV set as a child in the 1970s. One of Moms graduate degrees focused on early childhood development and she understood what Rogers was trying to do through the show, which is why she preferred Mr. Rogers Neighborhood to Captain Kangaroo, School House Rock, and even Davey and Goliath.

I recently rediscovered a tape recording of her interviewing a 3-year-old me for one of her graduate classes about my feelings after having been gently disciplined by my father, whom I adored. She listened (actively), mirrored what she heard back to me, and affirmed that what I was feeling was OK. Just like Mr. Rogers did on the show.

In his Neighborhood of Make-Believe, with simple hand puppets with complex internal lives such as Daniel Striped Tiger, Prince Tuesday, and Ana Platypus, he did something profound. Rogers and his collaborators on the show listened intently to children, created routine and a safe, sometimes magical place where they might be understood, affirmed, and cherished.

For those of us who perhaps didnt always get the emotional support we needed at home, it was a gift that helped shape who we are as adults, parents, and grandparents.

My mother was Irish my grandmother, Nellie, who died when my mother was just 4 years old, left her village not too far from here in 1920 before there was a border between the North and the South. A year before she died, I brought Mom to Ireland for the first time and we saw a lot of this storied island, though we never made it to Rostrevor. She would have loved this place and Im hoping she got a kick out of tagging along in the locket as we trod through the troubled and thin places of the borderlands at 3 MPH. Richard Rohr might have dubbed it a walking meditation for its holy goallessness.

The thought of it makes me smile. And yet, like Vogel and his father, our relationship was profoundly complicated. For much of my life, my mother was my fiercest critic and chief antagonist. We fought nearly to the bitter end, but made our peace before she left this side of the veil. Thanks be to the God Who Listens.

Junod says his real-life relationship with his father was fraught but not as dramatic as the Vogels volatile, sometimes violent rapport in the film. (Poetic license was taken with the facts of Junods story for dramatic effect in the film on several occasions, which in part was why the decision was made to change the characters name for the film, Junod told me recently.)

Junod and Rogers (who really was a vegetarian) did in fact have lunch in Pittsburgh, but it was at an Indian restaurant and there was no minute of silence although that was something Rogers was known to do often with people, Junod said.

Rogers saw Junods woundedness and reached out with an ear of grace, as he did with so many others, he said. Fred never told me what to do or how to do it, but I absorbed so much from him without him having to say a word.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, which opens in theaters nationwide today, makes a point of not descending into hagiography as perhaps other projects celebrating Fred Rogers have. He was a real person with real faults and real feelings who made an extraordinary impact on the world through great effort, discipline, faith, and collaboration with others.

Early on in the film, Vogel asks Mrs. Rogers (played by Maryann Plunkett) what its like being married to a living saint. She balks at the suggestion.

Im not fond of that term, she says, kindly but firmly. If you think of him as a saint, then his way of being is unattainable. He works at it all the time. Its a practice. Hes not a perfect person.

To me, the power of the film and Rogers legacy lies in the tools and practices they offer us for how to be more present, connected, and loving people. How to be both safe and good.

Link:

Meditating on Love and Connection with Mr. Rogers and C.S. Lewis - Sojourners

This mortal world is constantly chasing one thing or the otherworldly wealth for many, nirvana and moksha for some. Bhutanese monk Namgay Rincha, 47, belongs to that minority trying to follow in the footsteps of the Buddha. His lean frame, hermits robes and endearing smile betrays no signs of anguish for the path he had chosen to tread.

Rincha from Thimphu is in Bodh Gaya since late October and will stay for three months before returning home. He is among millions making a pilgrimage every year to the place where the Buddha attained enlightenment.

He adheres to a simple philosophy. I dont want to become somebody big. No matter what you become, itll all come to grief. The soul should be good and pure. Predictably austere, his day is spent meditating and praying. He wakes up at 3 am every day, prays for two hours, and when you still cant hear the birds, he walks to the Mahabodhi Temple.

Till the time he goes to bed at 9 pm, he keeps meditating and chanting hymns. The sole interruptions are meal and tea breaks. He prefers the Tibetan varietythe salty, butter tea from the mountains. The Buddha renounced wealth and property for knowledge, he says. We just try to follow him.

Read the rest here:

24 Hours In Life Of Namgay Rincha: Meditation And Hymns, In Buddha He Trusts - Outlook India

In detaching with lower energies, one is able to hold and sustain higher forms of energy

Chakra meditation can be started as a step-by-step process. As one focuses and works with denser forms of energy based at the root and the sacral chakra, one is able to embrace the higher, subtler energies easily.

The lower chakras are associated with denser emotions that of survival, safety and security. We are attached to our emotions, and with attachments come the vices of fear, guilt, shame, competition, ego, etc. While these attachments and emotions have their own role to play in unleashing our virtues (read the previous article), more often than not, we get caught up in them. In getting entangled, one is unable to detach and sustain the energies of higher chakra centres.

Those who choose to move out of the whirlpool of the heavy energies, having known, understood and lived their importance, will seek transformation. (It is imperative to have understood the importance of denser feelings to traverse). This transformation takes place in the solar plexus chakra.

The manipur or the solar plexus chakra is where one works with the energies associated with self-confidence, self-esteem and self-worth. While meditating on this energy centre, one is able to deal with non-serving feelings of anxiety, aggressiveness, anger, etc and replace them with self-control, understanding and the right action. Faith will follow that there is already abundance of what is needed and hence, transformation will ensue.

As the transformation takes place, the subtle energy of the heart chakra will start opening up to unconditional love, to giving and receiving, to accepting and surrendering, to experiencing virtues of tolerance and peace and to gratitude. As the consciousness starts opening up, the body as a vessel will start becoming pure, to hold the virtues as vices leave.

You will start seeking the truth and communicating the truth in your true empowered state. Your connection to the divine will go deep and strong. Your needs and wants (of materialistic nature) are long gone. And you start opening up to the vibration of your fifth chakra, the throat or vishuddhi centre. You will be in the vibratory state of no entanglements, just plain truth, spoken from the state of divine connection.

As you move up reaching you ajna (or brow) chakra energy, you have distilled your virtues to an extent that divine connection is already felt. You are ready to merge with the divine light in all its purity.

As you open up and /or balance your chakras one by one, it means, you are rising up from the limitations of the lower chakras and your body-vessel is becoming ready to hold more light, more purity.

Meditation on root chakra opens up the energies of steadiness of the mind and connectedness to the mother earth; you will start feeling awareness toward the gifts of the nature, even as respect and love for natures creation develops. Sacral chakra meditation promotes creative impulses and allows a smooth flow in life. Moving up, the solar plexus meditation gears one to the abilities of adapting and transforming, whereas heart chakra opens up the state of compassion and the ability to give and receive love. The virtue of forgiveness stems from the heart chakra.

What you say, you start becoming mindful of your speech and as the quality of communication improves, you know that the throat chakra Centre is getting activated and balanced. (For example, when you say, I am speaking from my heart). The alignment of these chakras helps one to open up the intuitive abilities at the brow Centre chakra and as you start trusting your intuitive guidance, the dependency on external factors lessens.

While it is advisable to work from lower chakras and step up to the higher ones, you may also contemplate which chakra you feel like mediating on, first. For example, if the feeling of envy rises up often sapping your life force, then you may start with heart chakra meditation.

Even to start feeling what to work on, it is advised to sit in the quietness of honest contemplation to begin with.

Disclaimer: Urmila Rao is a chakra balancing meditation coach, Theta Healer and a sound therapist. All the ideas expressed herein are her own and not professional advice or medical prescription. She can be reached at: milarao2018@gmail.com

Link:

Meditate with Urmila: Sustaining higher energies | Health Fitness - Gulf News

Dear Editor:

Ive been told I need to write a book proposal for my book on meditation if I want to interest an agent and a traditional publisher. How do I do that?

Richard S.

A good book proposal usually includes:

1. Title, Sub Title, and Authors Name. Be sure your title clearly explains what your book is about.

2. Overview. Give a succinct description of your book, how it differs from others in its genre, and why you are the person to write it

3. Target Audience. Be specific about your intended readers.4. About the Author. Explain your background, education, and passion for this subject.

5. Marketing Plan. Detail your professional connections and social media presence.

6. Competitive Titles. List com- parable titles and explain how your book stands out from these.

7. Annotated Chapter Outline.

8. Sample Chapter(s). Include an introduction plus one or two chapters.

Think of your proposal as your primary sales tool. Focus on the benefits to the reader. Who needs this book and why? Does the world really need another book on meditation? Maybe if you can show the reader a new way to embrace meditation, and how it changed your life profoundly, then it can change theirs too.

If you have a question for the editor, please email Betty Sargent.

Betty Kelly Sargent is the founder and CEO of BookWorks.

A version of this article appeared in the 11/25/2019 issue of Publishers Weekly under the headline: Ask the Editor

See original here:

Ask the Editor: How to Write a Book Proposal - Publishers Weekly

Luke Hallmark has given his career, and his heart, to high school athletics. He credits his background in coaching to the road that has led him to where he is now, the Superintendent of Education for Marengo County Schools, a position he has held since 2000.

He stepped away from coaching in 1997 to become the principal at Greensboro West Elementary School, but he never stepped away from athletics. Hes a longtime member of the Alabama High School Athletics Associations Central Board of Control. Since 1988 he has been officiating high school basketball, and, since 1997, high school baseball.

He does it all because he enjoys it. Last Thursday he got a phone call from AHSAA Executive Director Steve Savarese that shows the role hes played is respected and appreciated. Savarese called to tell him hed been selected into the Alabama High School Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2020.

I was taken aback, said Hallmark. Ive always loved sports. A lot of times you dont think about things like that (getting into the Hall of Fame) because you love sports so much. Whether youre an official, or whether youre coach, or whether youre an administrator, youre doing something that you have a passion for and youre doing something that you really love.

Sports have opened up so many doors for me from high school to playing junior college ball. The contacts Ive made, the people, the friendships, the kids. Its just been really, really a wonderful experience for me.

Hallmark is one of 12 who will be inducted as the Class of 2020 at a banquet that will be held on March 16 at the Montgomery Renaissance Hotel and Spa Convention Center. He is going in in the category of administrator. Joining him will be Carrol Cox, Steve Mask and Fred Yancey, all in the football coaching category; Tommy Lewis and Yvonne Simmons, basketball coaches; track coaches Aaron Goode and Keith Wilemon; wrestling coach Joseph Desaro; soccer coach Rick Grammar; wrestling official Toney Pugh and coach/administrator Samuel Hamp Lyon who goes in in the category of old timer.

Hallmark, 62, lives in Demopolis now but grew up in Uniontown where he was a basketball and football player at Uniontown High School, though he graduated from Perry Christian High School in Marion in 1975. He went on to Marion Military Institute and played two years of junior college basketball. He received his bachelors degree from Auburn in 1980, a Masters of Education degree from what was then Livingston University but is now the University of West Alabama, and earned an Educational Specialist degree from the University of Montevallo.

His first coaching job came at Southern Academy in Greensboro. His coaching career included being the prep coach at Marion Military Institute, and, from there to Demopolis High School, first as an assistant before he was elevated to head basketball coach where his players included 1st round NBA draft pick Theo Ratliff.

It was just a thrill for me to coach and to have great kids around me, Hallmark said.

His coaching background, he said, has been a plus in his role on the AHSAA Board of Control.

It helps a lot. I think you can have a better understanding of situations that may occur. It allows you to work closely with some of these sports committees, and, with me having a finance degree, I also serve on the finance committee of the athletic association. Weve been able to do some really nice things with our finances.

March is a long way away--he jokes that by then I may even forget Im in it. I may have to put a string on my finger to remind me--but Hallmark knows the night of his induction will be memorable. Hes got many years to go but already he knows its been a career well-spent.

I have thoroughly enjoyed athletics, he said. I like the competition. I like the teamwork part of it. I like the bonding. I like the people. There is so much that goes with athletics. Even in the school business, a lot of times when your schools are having good seasons in a particular sport the environments are different. Its just a lot more excitement at the schools and even in the communities. On a Tuesday or a Friday night in a packed basketball gym, just people everywhere watching high school basketball--its just fun. Its special.

Visit link:
SPORTING LIFE: Luke Hallmark will be inducted into AHSAA - Tuscaloosa News

By Phillip Sandahl and Alexis Phillips3 minute Read

No doubt youve noticed the trendorganizations are putting more and more emphasis on teams. Teams are forming, performing, and reforming at a dizzying rate. As a result, the life expectancy of teams is getting shorter and more mutable. Along the way, many organizations have discovered that their teams are underperforming, and theyre looking for ways to fix the problem.

Our data from thousands of team assessments shows that less than 10% of teams rate themselves as high-performing. This shows how much of a difference team coaching can make and the enormous opportunity that exists. Imagine the impact if an organization doubled that number.

By now, most management and executives are familiar with the concept of individual coaching. The process often involves the use of personality assessments that leaders can refer to so that they understand their style and temperament. The rationale is that by having these insights, it translates into behavior change and, ultimately, more effective leadership.

The same model applies to team coaching. Like individual coaching, team coaching starts with a discovery process to outline goals and outcomes for the team. An effective team coaching process also should include an assessment that provides a deeper understanding of what you might call the personality, temperament, and style of the team.

You see, a team is more than the sum of the individual parts. It is a living system, an entity with a past, a present, and an anticipated future. Just like individuals, teams have moods, strengths, blind spots, beliefs, and unspoken rules of behavior. That all shapes a unique team culture.

Catalysts and events can accelerate change, but real transformations dont come overnight. Thats why coaching is an ideal process for team development. A team-building intervention can appear to have an immediate impact, but that fades quickly when you dont integrate the experience into the teams everyday behavior.

Coaching, on the other hand, is an ongoing process. It starts with discovery, which leads to goal setting and an action plan. The coach then meets with the team to follow up on what the teams learned from implementing those plans.

The focus of those sessions should be twofold: One, identify behavior that supports team collaboration and that the team ought to continue, and two, recognize behavior that undermines cooperation, which the team needs to change.

Almost any team can benefit from team coachingincluding high-performing teams.

Senior executive leadership teams can especially benefit, because they have ultimate responsibility for the vision, strategy, and culture of the organization, and its competitive performance. They are also the most visible model for team behavior. Every layer of leadership looks to the people at the top as examples to follow.

Every merger, acquisition, and internal reorganization often represents an excellent opportunity for team coaching. Significant changes often create new teams and mash different cultures together. Corporations often leave teams on their own to sort things out and figure out how to work together. Eventually, teams find their way, define roles and responsibilities, and create new unspoken rules of how to work together. A new team emerges, but not intentionally. Team coaching can dramatically accelerate this process, starting practically from a blank page.

Project teams also tend to be good candidates. They have clear, measurable objectives, a timeline, and a budget. Often, there is a compelling sense of urgency because there is so much at stake, and the clock is ticking.

Of course, before committing to the coaching process, you need to have the support of senior leadership for it to work. Without leadership support, employees are unlikely to have the motivation to engage in the process. Its also on youas a team leaderto show your employees that you are committed to the process. After all, if you dont take it seriously, neither will they.

See the rest here:
Why managers should hire coaches for their team. - Fast Company

When I was in my early 20s, leadership development was not a blip on my radar.

Rarely did I ever ask myself: What skills are unique to great workers and leaders?It wasn't until much later that I realized how much transformation could come from reading.

Now, having entered the fifth decade of my life, I can say with confidence that the titles below have significantly changed the way I think, act, lead and perceive the world around me. I currently run an executive coaching company, but had I been able to absorb the knowledge from those books much earlier in my career, I'd be even more successful today.

As a CEO and leadership coach, here are the 11 books about leadership, success and professional growth that I consider to be the best of the decade:

By Edgar H. Schein

Communication is key to a healthy workplace. But all too often, managers no matter how much leadership experience they have simply tell their teams what they think their team needs to know. This ultimately stifles growth in the organization and can often lead to conflict and miscommunication.

To generate groundbreaking ideas and avoid disastrous mistakes, Edgar H. Schein, professor emeritus at MIT's Sloan School of Management, argues that leaders must learn how to practice "Humble Inquiry," which he defines as "the fine art of drawing someone out, of asking questions to which you do not know the answer, of building a relationship based on curiosity and interest in the other person."

By Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall

In "Nine Lies About Work," leadership and workplace gurus Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall outline the numerous faulty assumptions about work that often lead to office dysfunction.

Using engaging stories, real data and insightful observations from large companies, including Google, eBay and Amazon, the authors reveal the important truths that managers must recognize in order to lead a successful organization. (Here's one mind-blowing truth: "People don't want constant feedback, they want helpful attention.")

Adam Grant, best-selling author of "Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World," calls this must-read "one of the most provocative, lucidly written books" he's ever read about work. "Be prepared to throw your strategic plan out the window and become well-lopsided instead of well-rounded."

By Tony Hsieh

Before he became the CEO of Zappos, Tony Hsieh worked on a worm farm, ran a pizza business and co-founded internet advertising network LinkExchange (which he sold to Microsoft in 1998). And he's learned a lot throughout his journey.

In "Delivering Happiness," Hsieh shares the lessons he's learned in business and life and illustrates how creating what some might call an "unconventional" corporate culture can be a powerful model for achieving success.

More importantly, he explains how we can dramatically increase our own life satisfaction: By concentrating on the happiness of those around us.

By Marie Forleo

Named by Oprah Winfrey as "a thought leader for the next generation," Marie Forleo has taught thousands of entrepreneurs, artists and passionate go-getters from all walks of life how to dream big and back it up with daily action to create results.

At its very core, this book is a deeper reflection on something Forleo's mother once told her: "Nothing in life is that complicated. You can do whatever you set your mind to if you roll up your sleeves. Everything is figureoutable."

Whether it's a miserable job, a toxic addiction, a broken relationship or a work challenge, Forleo offers plenty of effective and forward-thinking advice on how to break down the barriers that hold us back from success.

By Michael Ventura

Michael Ventura, CEO of the award-winning design firm Sub Rosa, has worked with iconic brands like Google, Nike and Warby Parker to help them truly understand their leaders, their colleagues and themselves.

In "Applied Empathy," he explains why practicing empathy is the only path to powerful leadership. But most leaders don't fully understand how to do this.

This book will teach you what it really means to practice empathy (and no, it's not about expressing pity or sympathy) so you can create a more diverse, innovative and driven team.

By Chip Heath and Dan Heath

Ever wondered why it's so hard to make changes and actually stick to them? The authors of the critically acclaimed best-selling book, "Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die," answers this question in their new book.

Using a story-driven narrative and the latest research in neuroscience and psychology, "Switch" will challenge you to think about how to align your purpose with your actions and emotions.

By Eli Broad

Not living the extraordinary life you've always dreamed of? Maybe you're being a little too reasonable. Eli Broad's embrace of "unreasonable thinking" has helped him build two Fortune 500 companies both of which have helped him amass billions of dollars.

Being too reasonable can be dangerous, the entrepreneur and philanthropist says, because it shifts all your focus to figuring out why something new and different can't be done. Those who know how and when to be unreasonable, however, are able to come up with innovative strategies that lead to success.

In "The Art of Being Unreasonable," Broad shares several "unreasonable" principles that can be applied to both your personal and professional lives.

By David Brooks

Building inner character is just as important as building your career.

In "The Road to Character," New York Times op-ed columnist David Brooks explores how some of the world's most influential leaders from former president Dwight Eisenhower to social activist Dorothy Day have built inner character: Through internal struggle and a sense of their own limitations.

The Economist writes: "If you want to be reassured that you're special, you'll hate this book. But if you like thoughtful polemics, it's worth logging off Facebook to read it."

By Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic

Psychologist Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, who studies personality profiling, people analytics and leadership development, points out that 75% of people quit their jobs because of their direct line manager.

And while it's a known fact that there are more men in leadership positions than there are women, Chamorro-Premuzic argues that instead of scrutinizing the reasons why women aren't able to get ahead, we should be looking more critically at the lack of career obstacles for men.

Cindy Gallop, founder and CEO ofIfWeRanTheWorld, calls this must-read the "single most important book on leadership of our time."

By William Thorndike

A graduate of Harvard College and the Stanford Graduate School of Business, William Thorndike details the extraordinary success of eight successful CEOs who took a radically different approach to corporate management.

You might not recognize their names, but you've probably heard of their companies: General Cinema, Ralston Purina, Berkshire Hathaway, General Dynamics and Capital Cities Broadcasting, to name just a few.

"['The Outsiders'] is an outstanding book about CEOs who excelled at capital allocation," billionaire Warren Buffett wrote in his 2012 annual shareholder letter. "It has an insightful chapter on our director, Tom Murphy, overall the best business manager I've ever met."

By John Mackey and Rajendra Sisodia

Whole Foods CEO John Mackey and Conscious Capitalism co-founder Raj Sisodia team up to illustrate how capitalism and good business can be the driving force of the change that the world needs.

"Free enterprise, when combined with property rights, innovation, the rule of law and constitutionally limited democratic government, results in societies that maximize societal prosperity," Mackey writes in the book. "It establishes conditions that promote human happiness and well-being not just for the rich, but for the larger society, including the poor."

"Conscious Capitalism" will help you better understand how some of the most recognizable companies, including Whole Foods Market, Costco and Google, are using profit to build a more cooperative, humane and positive future.

Marcel Schwantes is the founder and CEO of Leadership from the Core. As a leadership coach, he addresses the elements required to create human-centered workplaces that result in high-performing cultures. Marcel is also the host of the podcast, "Love in Action," where he interviews the world's top leaders and influencers. Follow him on LinkedIn and Twitter.

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A 50-year-old CEO shares 11 books he wishes he read in his 30s: 'I'd be even more successful today' - CNBC

BY COREY STOLZENBACH sports@dcherald.com

Southridge basketball coach Greg Werner talks to his team before a recent game in Huntingburg. Werner recorded his 300th win Tuesday. Marlena Sloss/The Herald

HUNTINGBURG Greg Werner said his players didn't know he got his 300th career victory on Tuesday, and thats how he wanted it.

All he cared about was seeing the smiles on their faces after Southridge triumphed at Evansville Mater Dei, 48-41. Werner said its something his players can cherish when they look back on things after they're finished. He said its an honor, but added that it isnt about him. Werner praised his players and coaching staff for helping make it happen.

This isnt something you do as one, Werner said. This is something you do as a team, from the water boy to water girl, all the way through our JV players, all the way through our varsity players, all the way through our coaching staff, our video crew. All that stuff. We stick together as one in order to be able to accomplish this.

While in school, Werner weighed what he wanted to be as he was growing up. The 1991 Northeast Dubois graduate played in the front court for the Jeeps, and it was by the time of his last year that he decided he wanted to teach business and become a coach. His sport was baseball, and he played it at Oakland City University. But he loved basketball. He wanted others to experience his love for the game, and his players to work together as a team. Werner said coaching is teaching, and players will see the gains they need to have if they have a good teacher. He said players will fall in love with the game, too, if they see the improvements they are making.

He credited many of his coaches at Northeast Dubois with being an influence in his life. Werner said it started with junior high coach Duane Denu in eighth grade. He said Denu was tough, but knew he cared about him, and that Denu pushed his players to be good. Werner had a lot of respect for coach Brian Wilson, now the principal at Jasper, and his junior varsity coach, Rick Gladish. He also credited his high school basketball coach, Alan Matheis, and some of his younger coaches in Butch Bonifer and Gary Bair.

Southridge was where it all started for him. Werner did his student teaching at Southridge, and was a varsity assistant under Ray Roesner when he was a senior in college. Werner enjoyed his time under Roesner, and he undertook the coachs mantle midway through the 1994-95 season when Southridge needed a freshman boys coach. What followed next was when he began coaching girls varsity at Washington Catholic during the 1995-96 season.

Werner doesn't remember his first win at Washington Catholic, but does remember that first team won five games. He called his first season there a rebuilding situation, and likened it to the current Southridge team in terms of youth. The Cardinals got better when he was there, winning multiple regional titles. He left after 2001-02 and coached the next two seasons at Greenburg, going 14-28 in the process. Most of his wins, though, have come at Southridge, where he first took over the varsity girls team in 2004-05 and won sectional championships in 2007 and 2014. Werner is 196-80 in two stints as coach of the Raiders.

There are some losses that stick out to Werner in his time as a coach. He recalled losing in the sectional semifinal in overtime in 2012 against Evansville Mater Dei, who went on to win its first of two consecutive Class 2A state championships. Werner recalled the Wildcats having size, while Southridge was a small school. He said it still meant a lot even though Southridge lost.

It gives your kids an opportunity to know that they can be as good as anybody, he said.

Werner talked about the regional championships at Washington Catholic and sectional championships at Southridge as some of his more memorable wins, but also remembered when the Raiders met No. 1 Princeton in the sectional semifinal in 2016. The Tigers had Jackie Young, now of the WNBAs Las Vegas Aces. Werner said Young was one of the best players hes ever seen as a coach and likened her to LeBron James. She helped lead Princeton to a 53-game winning streak and a state championship as a junior in 2015. Her team lost only one game when she was a senior, and it was against Werners Raiders, 34-33.

The biggest win has to be the Princeton game, and kids executing the game plan to perfection, he said.

Werner said he got a sour taste in his mouth, though, from not being able to finish off the sectional tournament, as Southridge fell to Vincennes Lincoln in the championship game.

Werner is in the midst of trying to bring back a winning culture to the Raiders after three years away from the team. They are 4-3, and didnt get their fourth win last year until Jan. 8. Southridge won all of four games two years ago. He said the first thing that's needed is trust, and trust is built through communication and relationships. Werner said his players will do what they need to do if he can build relationships as a coach. He added the players must have the want and desire to be successful, which the current Southridge team has had, but cannot lose it.

He said Southridge still has a way to go, but absolutely has been making progress. Werner knows the Raiders can move forward if they stay healthy. He will try to get win No. 301 in Southridges next game on Monday at Boonville.

Theyre starting to get it, Werner said. They've just got to start getting more consistent.

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Southridge's Werner reflects on 300th win - The Herald