Below you will find links to books, websites, podcasts, videos and other content that has been recommended in the “Hope & Joy” series. Plus, a bit more…
If you’re new to meditation/contemplation practices,
you might find this short written introduction helpful (click below to download):
“Meditation and Contemplation Practices: An Introduction”
Guided Meditation Examples
- Introductory Breathing Meditation (Jon Kabat-Zinn)
- Inner Smile Meditation (Insight Timer)
- Loving Kindness Meditation (Sharon Salzberg)
- T.S. Eliott’s “Four Quartets” (James Finley & Kirsten Oates)
- Tonglen Meditation (Pema Chödrön)
Meditation Websites
Single Videos
- Together, You Can Redeem the Soul of Our Nation (John Lewis’s final op-ed read by Morgan Freeman)
- How to Find Joy in Climate Activism (Ayana Elizabeth Johnson)
- A Grateful Day (David Steindl-Rast)
- The Three Steps of Letting Go (Tara Brach)
- The Healing Power of Mindfulness (Jon Kabat-Zinn)
- Meditation is Easier Than You Think (Mungyur Rinpoche)
- Taking Care of Anger (Thich Nhat Hahn)
- Islands of Sanity (Margaret Wheatley)
Collections
- Reflections of Life (short videos, Justine Du Toit and Michael Raimondo)
- Letters from an American (essays, Heather Cox Richardson)
- A Piece of My Mind (short videos, John Noltner)
- To Bless the Space Between Us (book, John O’Donohue)
- Just This (book, Richard Rohr)
- The Contemplative Dimensions of the Twelve Steps (video series, Thomas Keating)
- The Matter With Things (video series, Iain McGilchrist)
- The Impossible will Take a Little While: A Citizen’s Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear (book, edited by Paul Rogat Loeb)
Podcasts
- Learning to See (Brian McLaren, Center for Action & Contemplation)
- Hidden Brain (Shankar Vedantam, NPR)
- On Being (Krista Tippett, NPR)
- Happiness as Human Flourishing (Mathieu Ricard, On Being)
- We the Beloved Community (John Lewis, On Being)
- Science of Mindlessness and Mindfulness (Ellen Langer, On Being)
- Turning to the Mystics (Jim Finley, Center for Action & Contemplation)
- Mental Health Series (Sharon Salzberg)
Books
- The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World (Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, Doug Abrams)
- The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times (Jane Goodall, Douglas Abrams, Gail Hudson)
- Ecodharma (David Loy)
- Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet (Thich Nhat Hahn)
- Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment (Robert Wright)
- Life After Doom: Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart (Brian McLaren)
- The Healing Path: A Memoir and an Invitation (James Finley)
- Crisis Contemplation (Barbara Holmes)
- Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re in Without Going Crazy (Joanna Macy, Chris Johnstone)
- Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art (James Nestor)
- Braiding Sweetgrass (Robin Wall Kimmerer)
- The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again (Robert Putnam and Shaylyn Romney Garrett)
- Hope in the Dark: The Untold Story of People Power (Rebecca Solnit)
- The Quiet Before: On the Unexpected Origins of Radical Ideas (Gal Beckerman)