What do you read when you need hope, inspiration, and encouragement?

I sure could use a lot of all three right now.

Gandhi or Fr. John Dear. hope you find what you need. :hi:

or just our political culture?

Most of it has to do with living nonviolently. Even within the back drop of war/politics, it all comes down to how to live with and treat each other in the context of nonviolence. I use it by remembering that there are many ways we are violent in our lives, with ourselves and each other, in word and deed, in so many large and small ways. It takes me into a mindset where I can regain my calm and become centered again.

But keep those recommendations comin', people! Thanks!

Fr. John Dear is a Jesuit priest who has been arrested numerous times for civil disobedience against war and nuclear weapons. Not all of his works are from that perspective alone and he does write from the perspective of a Christian, from the perspective of the nonviolent message of Christ.

:)

"my dad's will" = "my father's will"= the Bible? Or did you mean that you were going to say the Bible, but then switched to your (human) father's last will and testament?

i stated that i was initially going to say the holy bible in response to the question, but chose to say my father's will, because it is more uplifting.

I usually go for a walk in the woods. I find that puts a lot of things in perspective. :hug:

I envy you that connection. I'm the type that can't make that when I'm fighting disheartening thoughts running through my head.

there are three or four meditations posted there everyday that I read; I really look forward to reading them every day because it seems to center me and get me focused in a positive way.

As far as stuff I go back to that works, it's always the work of poets, like the poem "To Julia de Burgos" by Julia de Burgos, or some poems by Joy Harjo like 'The Woman Hanging from the 13th Floor Window', 'She Had Some Horses', 'Fear', etc. Also just about anything by Chrystos, her poetry is her strength but her prose really inspires me. Other than the meditation it is usually poetry or music that inspires me.

Other good ones by Harjo:
'For Alva Benson and All Those Who have Learned to Speak', 'Remember'.