Recipes for a Sacred Life: True Stories and a Few Miracles by Rivvy Neshama (best books to read for young adults TXT) 📕

This, Too, Shall Pass: Quotes from Claudia Dreifus’s interview with the Dalai Lama, AARP The Magazine, March 2006. Copyright © Claudia Dreifus. Reprinted by permission.

Part 2: The Sun Is Rising: Photo courtesy of Iván Loire, www .2earth.org.

Hello to the Sun: Verse from The Way to Start a Day, written by Byrd Baylor and illustrated by Peter Parnall, Aladdin Books, New York: 1978. Text copyright © Byrd Baylor. Reprinted by permission of author.

The First Few Steps: My morning prayer was inspired by Victor Villaseñor’s Rain of Gold, a Delta Book, Dell Publishing, New York: 1991.

The gatha “Waking Up” is reprinted from Present Moment Wonderful Moment: Mindfulness Verses for Daily Living (1990) by Thich Nhat Hanh, with permission of Parallax Press, Berkeley, CA, www .parallax.org.

Part 3: Animal Chats and Other Unions with Nature: Photo copyright © Mula Eshet/Robert Harding World Imagery/Corbis. Reprinted by permission.

Part 4: To Forgive Is Divine: Photo courtesy of Stanley Lanzano, from his book, True Places: A Lowcountry Preacher, His Church, and His People, University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, SC: 2009.

What the Dalai Lama Said: “Forgiveness interventions” were reported in Melissa Healy’s article “Forgive and Be Well?,” Los Angeles Times, December 31, 2007.

Rites of Forgiveness: The forgiveness exercise described is from Shakti Gawain’s book Creative Visualization. Copyright © 2002 by Shakti Gawain. Reprinted with permission of New World Library, Novato, CA, www.newworldlibrary.com.

Part 5: Friends and Neighbors . . . : Photo courtesy of Jack Greene.

Do You Give to the Ones Who Are Drunk? Rabbi, philosopher, and physician Moses Maimonides’s writings on “tzedakah” are found in the Mishneh Torah, chapter 10.

Have a Great Day! Not: Lines from “Textures,” courtesy of poet Stan Grotegut.

Studies correlating gratitude with well-being include one by R. A. Emmons and M. E. McCullough: “Counting Blessings versus Burdens: An Experimental Investigation of Gratitude and Subjective Well-Being in Daily Life,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 84, no. 2 (2003): 377–89.

Take Care of Each Other: Lyrics from “Let There Be Love,” written by Ian Grant and Lionel Rand. Used by permission of Shapiro, Bernstein & Co. All rights reserved. International copyright secured.

Part 6: A Nature Recipe . . . : Photo courtesy of Jack Greene.

Part 7: Sacred Space. Sacred Time: Photo courtesy of Jack Greene.

Quote from a conversation with Brian Spielmann, by his permission.

Zen View: The “Zen View” concept is from A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction by Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, and Murray Silverstein of the Center for Environmental Structure, with Max Jacobson, Ingrid Fiksdahl-King, and Shlomo Angel. Oxford University Press, USA: 1977.

Part 8: Soul Food: Family photo of Passover Seder, circa 1954. Rivvy sits on the right behind her father and sister Susan and across from her mother and sister Judy.

Part 9: Rituals and Celebrations . . . : Photo of Tony and Cindy Berkman courtesy of Mary Frances Carmell.

Looking for Light: Quotation from Expectant Listening: Finding God’s Thread of Guidance by Michael Wajda, Pendle Hill Pamphlet #388, Pendle Hill Publications, Wallingford, PA: 2007, 4. Permission granted.

Part 10: This, Too, Is True: Photo of Eli and Isaac Lipman courtesy of their grandfather Barry Berkman.

For Days When It’s Hard to Feel Grateful: Story inspired by Dr. Richard Carlson in his book Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff . . . and It’s All Small Stuff, Hyperion, New York: 1997.

Do a Mitzvah. What’s a Mitzvah? Researchers at the National Institutes of Health discovered that giving affects the same part of the brain stimulated by sex, drugs, and money (Robert Franklin, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune, February 21, 2007).

Author’s photo: Copyright © Darcy Kiefel, www.kiefelphotography.com.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rivvy Neshama is a writer, editor, and community organizer who holds degrees in philosophy, comparative literature, social work, and education. Her diverse work experiences have included being a teacher and social worker in Harlem, a campaign manager in Boulder, a college instructor in Queens, and a tarot card reader at Macy’s on Halloween.

In Colorado, Rivvy was the founding development director of Intercambio Uniting Communities. And as a cofounder and first director of Transportation Alternatives, the advocacy group for bicycling, walking, and public transit in New York City, she was profiled in Ms. magazine.

A lifelong writer, Rivvy was first published in Story Magazine’s best college writing anthology and has since written for many national publications, including Ms., Glamour, Spirituality & Health, and the New York Times. She is the author of the children’s book Nat Turner and the Virginia Slave Revolt.

Rivvy lives in Boulder, Colorado, with her husband, British author John Wilcockson. Please visit her website: rivvyneshama.com.