Words From An Open Heart

The long-awaited memoir by Canada’s most celebrated Olympian and advocate for mental health. From one of Canada’s most decorated Olympians comes a raw but life-affirming story of one woman’s struggle with depression. In 2006, when Clara Hughes stepped onto the Olympic podium in Torino, Italy, she became the first and only athlete ever to win multiple medals in both Summer and Winter Games. Four years later, she was proud to carry the Canadian flag at the head of the Canadian team as they participated in the opening ceremony of the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games. But there’s another story behind her celebrated career as an athlete, behind her signature billboard smile. While most professional athletes devote their entire lives to training, Clara spent her teenage years using drugs and drinking to escape the stifling home life her alcoholic father had created in Elmwood, Winnipeg. She was headed nowhere fast when, at sixteen, she watched transfixed in her living room as gold medal speed skater Gaétan Boucher effortlessly raced in the 1988 Calgary Olympics. Dreaming of one day competing herself, Clara channeled her anger, frustration, and raw ambition into the endurance sports of speed skating and cycling. By 2010, she had become a six-time Olympic medalist. But after more than a decade in the gruelling world of professional sports that stripped away her confidence and bruised her body, Clara began to realize that her physical extremes, her emotional setbacks, and her partying habits were masking a severe depression. After winning bronze in the last speed skating race of her career, she decided to retire from that sport, determined to repair herself. She has emerged as one of our most committed humanitarians, advocating for a variety of social causes both in Canada and around the world. In 2010, she became national spokesperson for Bell Canada’s Let’s Talk campaign in support of mental health awareness, using her Olympic standing to share the positive message of the power of forgiveness. Told with honesty and passion, Open Heart, Open Mind is Clara’s personal journey through physical and mental pain to a life where love and understanding can thrive. This revelatory and inspiring story will touch the hearts of all Canadians.

To the unstudied eye, St. Matthew's gospel can seem a terse narrative, almost a historical document and not the tremendously spiritual (and doctrinal) storehouse that it is. In his second volume of meditations on Matthew (chapters 12-18), Erasmo Leiva shows Matthewಙs prose to be not terse so much as economical astoundingly so given its depth. The lay reader can derive great profit from reading this. Each short meditation comments on a verse or two, pointing to some facet of the text not immediately apparent, but rich with meaning. Leivaಙs work is scholarly but eminently approachable by the lay reader. The goal of the book is to help the reader experience the heat of the divine heart/the light of the divine Word. Leiva comments on the Greek text, demonstrating nuances in the text that defy translation. He uses numerous quotes from the Fathers and the Liturgy of the Church to demonstrate the way the Tradition has lived and read the Word of God. His theological reflection vivifies doctrine by seeking its roots in the words and actions of Jesus.

To the unstudied eye, St. Matthew's gospel can seem a terse narrative, almost a historical document and not the tremendously spiritual (and doctrinal) storehouse that it is. In his third volume of meditations on Matthew (chapters 19-25), Erasmo Leiva continues to show Matthew's prose to be not terse so much as economical--astoundingly so given its depth. The lay reader can derive great profit from reading this. Each short meditation comments on a verse or two, pointing to some facet of the text not immediately apparent, but rich with meaning. Leiva's work is scholarly but eminently approachable by the lay reader. The tone is very much of "taste and see how good the Lord is" and an invitation of "friend, come up higher!." The goal of the book is to help the reader experience the heat of the divine heart and the light of the divine Word. Leiva comments on the Greek text, demonstrating nuances in the text that defy translation. He uses numerous quotes from the Fathers and the Liturgy of the Church to demonstrate the way the Tradition has lived and read the Word of God. His theological reflection vivifies doctrine by seeking its roots in the words and actions of Jesus.

A beautiful new gift edition of this classic work of spirituality, complete with ribbon marker.This book is designed to initiate the reader into a deep, living relationship with God. Written by an acknowledged spiritual master, the book moves beyond "discursive meditation and particular acts to the intuitive level of contemplation." Keating gives an overview of the history of contemplative prayer in the Christian tradition, and step-by-step guidance in the method of centering prayer. Special attention is paid to the role of the Sacred Word, Christian growth and transformation, and active prayer. The book ends with an explicit treatment of the contemplative dimension of the gospel.

Words carry powerful energy and have an astonishing impact on your life. With Power Words, you can generate new actions and lightning-fast results! Use them to create more influence at work, increase your energy, start new projects, deal with difficult people, break old addictions, attract relationships, and succeed in any number of goals—from losing weight to finding a job. Each word triggers its own specific purpose and activity. Certain words elevate, others ignite action, and some command. And in just moments, they can be yours to direct. Best-selling author and acclaimed intuitive Sharon Anne Klingler will show you how these high-energy words can immediately lift your power and alter every aspect of your reality—from the simple, such as aligning your posture and improving sleep patterns, to the life changing, such as stimulating creative ideas, increasing personal wealth, and finding new relationships. Choose the precise words that provide extraordinary success, and learn to direct profound force to all of your goals. Power Words can create an electrical current in your life that can strike like lightning and illuminate your world!

A profoundly and unexpectedly intimate, deeply affecting summing up of life so far, from one of the most cherished moral voices of our time. Eighty-two years old, facing emergency heart surgery and his own mortality, Elie Wiesel reflects back on his life. Emotions, images, faces, and questions flash through his mind. His family before and during the unspeakable Event. The gifts of marriage, children, and grandchildren that followed. In his writing, in his teaching, in his public life, has he done enough for memory and for the survivors? His ongoing questioning of God—where has it led? Is there hope for mankind? The world’s tireless ambassador of tolerance and justice gives us a luminous account of hope and despair, an exploration of the love, regrets, and abiding faith of a remarkable man. Translated from the French by Marion Wiesel

The joyful premise at the heart of this book is that there is a table lavishly spread for all who hunger for forgiveness--the believer, the doubter, and the famished. The book's journey begins and ends with this assertion: not only is there a table of forgiveness set for us in the many wildernesses of life, there is a seat waiting for each and every one of us at that table. What matters is whether we take that seat and, if so, how we behave at the feast. Rooted in the notion of journeying, of setting out each day to discover some new vista along the many paths to the banquet hall of forgiveness, A Table in the Wilderness draws upon the wisdom of multiple religious traditions, as well as non-religious sources, in order to gain perspective on this long misunderstood subject. Readers are just as likely to encounter Dr. Seuss as they are to read the words of Sri Ramakrishna or Saint Augustine along the way. Anyone who has ever been hurt or has hurt another will find this book a helpful guide.