Wisdom – especially when we feel anything but wise

I feel so happy when I read the following words from the French writer, Marcel Proust: "The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes but in seeing with new eyes." Wisdom is a way of seeing: a way of seeing ourselves, others and life itself.  It may even be a way of living - even and especially for those of us who on a daily basis feel anything but wise.

We are gathered here today [at one of the Interfaith services offered by Stephanie Dowrick at Pitt Street Uniting Church, Sydney] to celebrate wisdom and my first thought is: Are we really wise enough to do so?  Wherever we look we can see only too clearly the ways in which we have not been wise. We can see where we have hurt other people or ourselves, where we have made frightful decisions or gone in unhelpful and definitely unwise directions. We can also see where our attention has been repeatedly drawn to things that hurt us or things that truly don’t matter.  Without even trying, we can feel overwhelmed by what we regard as our limited and limiting habits, even when we are apparently doing our best. 

One year.  Two books.

Stephanie Dowrick's most recent books are Creative Journal Writing: The Art & Heart of Reflection and The Almost-Perfect Marriage. Creative Journal Writing is written for beginners and also experienced journal writers who want fresh inspiration and a greater sense of energy and originality in their writing.  It includes some wonderful stories from journal-writing members of the Universal Heart Network. The Almost-Perfect Marriage is for people in relationships of all kinds - and goes directly to the attitudes and behaviours that truly make a world of difference to people's happiness, confidence and well being. Stephanie has been asked many times why the book isn't called “The Almost-Prefect Relationship” and how she chose the book’s very striking format.

Creative Journal Writing:
The Art & Heart of Reflection

ISBN 9781741751376

The Almost-Perfect Marriage
One-Minute Relationship Skills

ISBN 9781741751352

Choose from more than one million books, including Stephanie Dowrick's complete range.

Simply click on the  "Book" image above, or go to the sidebar menu and choose "bookshop" or click on the 'Buy Now!' button where you see it on this site to take you to the online bookshop.

Choosing Happiness: Life & Soul Essentials

Have you read Forgiveness and Other Acts of Love?

"A book for the times: a bridge between the rational and the intuitive, the psychoanalytical and the spiritual, the personal and the social." Miriam Cosic, Australian Magazine

A prayer for peace

What is peace?

Peace is a continuous act of creation.

Waking up to the reality that life is precious in all of its forms,
we come to see that we are guardians of one another and of the earth.

Seeing each other through the eyes of peace, we find compassion.
With compassion, comes trust.
With trust, comes openness.
With openness, come community, connectedness and joy,
and resilience in the face of sorrow.

Peace is not an absence of conflict.
Peace is the capacity to deal with conflict intelligently.

Peace is the deepest acknowledgment that every life matters.

Stephanie Dowrick talks with Bill Idol

Audio Download - provided in mp3 format - this file is 25MB and runs for 54 minutes

Click here for the file

In this wide-ranging interview, Bill Idol talks with Stephanie Dowrick about her life and work.  Bill recorded this interview after the 2006 Easter Retreat for his regular radio program in Vermont, USA. It is now available for easy free audio download.

To contact Bill with your comments on the interview: wridol@ThirdAgeCentre.com

The Universal Heart back in print!

A No.1 best-seller, The Universal Heart is the ultimate psychological and spiritual relationship book that can lift ALL your interactions with other people – and your own spirits and wellbeing. The Universal Heart’s chapters include Love Generously, Live Encouragingly, Know What’s Going On and Light Up Your Shadow. In a profound but accessible way, it makes it clear why we do not always live up to our best intentions, and how possible it is to make small but significant changes that genuinely improve how we think about ourselves, live alongside other people and make something of this precious gift of existence.

Sales information: http://www.penguin.com.au

You can buy online:
http://www.booktopia.com.au
http://www.gleebooks.com.au
http://www.readings.com.au