Category: Books

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Book Review: The Healing Power of the Rosary by Gary Jansen

The Healing Power of Praying the Rosary by Gary Jansen fell into my hands at a time when I felt I was not doing justice to praying the rosary and was looking for a fresh perspective. I learned to pray the rosary at a very early age. However, I was looking for ways to enhance my prayer time with the rosary. It was not my favorite praying activity, to be honest. Many times, I would fall asleep in the middle of praying and wake up still clutching my rosary beads.

The word “healing” in the title caught my eye immediately because all my readings about the rosary so far had focused on the biblical aspect. What did healing have to do with praying the rosary?

I was pleasantly surprised. This book brought together the mind-body-spirit connection. I am a believer of how our mental state can affect our body and have read several books on the matter but this is the first time a book, specifically about the rosary, showed how it could actually be a great meditative and experiential tool that can also be healing. Gary gives us several chapters that dwell on using vagal breathing, Ignatian contemplation, and imagination to help immerse ourselves in the life of Jesus through the rosary while bringing our body into a relaxed state through prayer.

Thank you to the author, Loyola Press, and Netgalley for the ARC. Here are Amazon affiliate links if you want to get the paperback or the ebook.

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I’m ending 2022 by finishing the Bible in a Year podcast. Consider joining the podcast for 2023!

Today is New Year’s Eve and, for the first time in my life, I am finishing up reading the entire Bible.

If not for the Facebook post of my friend, Weena, last year, I would never have known that there was a Bible in a Year podcast hosted by Fr. Mike Schmitz. I think I was meant to see it right before the year turned 2022.

Continue reading “I’m ending 2022 by finishing the Bible in a Year podcast. Consider joining the podcast for 2023!”

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My visit to Mang Nanie’s street library – the Reading Club 2000

The first time I heard about Mang Hernando “Nanie” Guanlao’s house-cum-library, I knew I wanted to go there. One day, armed with a stack of books, a result of decluttering efforts, I Waze’d my way to Balagtas Street in Makati City, in search of the Reading Club 2000.

A sign outside Mang Nanie’s home prominently states “A good book is easy to find. FREE READING TO THE PUBLIC.”

Unlike the usual libraries we know, Mang Nanie’s street library was totally different. In normal libraries, there are rules to follow. Here there were none. In fact, the books have no borrower cards. There is no card catalog. You like a book? You can bring it home and keep it. Normal libraries have operational hours. Mang Nanie’s library is open 24/7.

Continue reading “My visit to Mang Nanie’s street library – the Reading Club 2000”

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Books: The Gem Collection by Joseph T. Bismark

If you love quotations, nuggets of wisdom and beautiful life stories, you should have this book in your library.

The Gem Collection is a small book with just over a hundred pages. But what’s inside is worth a lifetime of lessons and advice. The man behind The Gem Collection is Joseph Bismark who is currently Group Managing Director of the QI Group of Companies. The amazing background of Mr. Bismark (referred to as Japa by those who are fond of him) was not schooled from the start for the corporate life. In fact, he led a very eclectic, simple life as a child in an ashram in the Philippines. He learned yoga while there aside from all the life lessons that would become the basis for this book’s content. Suffice it to say for now, his life is quite colorful.

How he went from that simple lifestyle to head of a group of companies is a story in itself, which I’ve written about in my yoga blog, The Yogini from Manila. You can find Joseph Bismark’s amazing life story by clicking HERE.

Wanting to share his life lessons with all the employees of his company, Bismark thought of sending regular weekly emails to his employees as “Gems of Wisdom”. These stories, filled with important food for thought, slowly molded and motivated people who read his emails and now, the entire QI Group’s corporate culture revolves around these tenets.

The Gem Collection book contains 36 short chapters. The book is such an easy read since it contains very few but succinct words and beautiful illustrations.  One can actually breeze through it from cover to cover in one sitting. The greater challenge, I believe, is in internalizing its contents and applying it to real life.

The Gem Collection is available at all National Book Store and Bestsellers outlets.

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1001 Meditations

1001 Meditations

I found this book while killing time at Fully Booked Bonifacio High Street (PhP599). It was the last copy in that branch but I saw another copy at the Promenade Greenhills one.

It’s tiny, just about 4 x 4 inches in size and an inch and a half thick. But when I flipped through its pages, I realized how, despite its being simply written, it contained a treasure trove of wisdom that was easy for anyone to digest and follow. You need not read it from cover to cover. Instead, you can take a few tips at a time and practice them.

The contents are categorized into the following sections:

~ Luck and Destiny (setting out, finding the way, uncertainty, ups and downs)

~ How to behave (positive perspectives, acceptance, humility, motivations and desires, choice and responsibility, right action)

~ Finding your strengths (courage, fortitude, self-awareness, wisdom, calm, creativity, patience)

~ Mind and body (the observing mind, managing emotions, embodiment, subtle energies, healing the psyche, coping with illness, well-being)

~ Home and family (parenting, learning and growth, the nurturing core, sacred spaces)

~ Relationships (in partnership, friendship, making connections, bridging the gap)

~ Happiness (everyday contentment, enjoying the moment, the joy of play, gratitude, treasuring the self, dealing with troubles)

~ The wider world (connecting with nature, the web of life, loving service, the global family)

~ Time passing (change and transition, timelessness, growing older, facing mortality)

~What really matters (truth, compassion, love, spirit, unity)

The suggested 1001 tips are numbered. Here’s a sample: