January Book of the Month: Life Changes: A Guide to the Seven Stages of Personal Growth

To get those "New Year, New You" resolutions started,  pick up our January Book of the Month, Life Changes by Sabina A. Spencer and John D. Adams!

Life Changes: A Guide to the Seven Stages of Personal Growth provides those who are undergoing significant changes in their lives with an easy to follow road map of the normal ups and downs in the adjustment process. The seven stages of any transition process are described with clear advice about what to expect and, more importantly, what can be learned from each stage. Whatever the transition might be —  a new job, marriage or divorce,  or the death of a loved one — the authors point out that people can either "go" through change or they can "grow" through change. It's up to the individual.

The book also provides additional support for people making life changes, as the authors give advice on clarifying life purpose, protecting health, and maintaining balance during and after these major transitions.

About the Authors

Sabina Spencer has a PhD in Global Leadership Studies and, for the last 20 years, has been working in the areas of strategic change and inspirational leadership with some of the world's largest corporations. She runs her own consultancy and travels internationally for clients such as 3M, Exxon, Nike.

John D. Adams, Ph.D. is a professor, speaker, author, consultant, and seminar leader. He has been at the forefront of the Organization Development and Transformation profession for over 35 years. His early articulation of issues facing organizations has provided a guiding light for the evolution of organization and change management consulting. Adams currently serves as the Chair of the Organizational Systems Ph.D. Program at the Saybrook Graduate School (San Francisco), and is a guest faculty member at The Bainbridge Island Graduate Institute in the MBA in Sustainability program. He also served as editor for two seminal works, Transforming Work and Transforming Leadership, both widely held as defining a new role for the Organization Development profession in a rapidly transforming world.

Book review Dare to Care: Why Our Current Financial Crisis is a Crisis of Consciousness

Dare to Care: A Love Based Foundation for Money and Finance has received yet another review. Maddy Harland co-founder and editor of Permaculture Magazine (www.permaculture.co.uk) has written the review which can be found here.  The review discusses confronting the world's financial issues and what a care based economy would look like, based on what Louis Bohtlingk describes in his book and comes to a positive conclusion that not only is Bohtlingk's system a possibility, it would serve the greater good. Read it!

As a tribute to upcoming Earth Day, Cosimo picks Earth Fever as April's book of the month

With spring officially here, the trees growing greener, the flowers starting to bloom, and the weather starting to warm up it’s time to announce a new book of the month. April is filled with many important days, holidays, and themes. But here at Cosimo we decided to focus on Earth Day, which falls on Sunday April 22 this year. 

The purpose of Earth Day is to bring awareness to the environmental issues that continue to have an impact on the health of our Earth.  Climate change is warming the Earth up and we need to find a way to cool down the effects our actions are having. Earth Fever: Living Consciously with Climate Change discusses not only the small ways everyone could change their habits to reduce their carbon footprint but also how they could better their own lives by helping the Earth. A truly original take on climate change this book focuses on the individual's growth as well as their ability to effect change in the current environmental woes. To learn more about the book visit EarthFeverBook.com.

• "Links a crisp and clear explanation of the climate problem to a spiritual quest for solutions... Earth Fever is something special... Read it and subsequently do something." -Pierre de Winter, in Platform for Managers and Professionals  
• "Ends with a positive, hopeful scenario. Living more consciously is not only good for our planet, but also for ourselves... The fever can be decreased, we can become healthy again." -Lisette Thooft, in Happinez
• "Inspiring... The authors show that there is a third way, a path that weaves between doomsday thinking and unfounded optimism..." -Derk Hueting and Klaas van Egmond, in Milieu

Authors Judy McAllister, Erik van Praag, and Jan Paul van Soest bring to bear their diverse experience in the fields of sustainability, leadership, and entrepreneurialism on the challenge of building a radically different belief system about life such an endeavor will require.

International Women’s Day, an observation of how far women have come and how far women still have to go.

Today is International Women’s Day, a day that started nationally in United States, but would gain enough clout and momentum to spread worldwide.

On February 28, 1909 the Socialist Party of America declared that the USA should observe Women’s Day. In 1910, an International Women’s conference was held and they reached the agreement that International Women’s Day should be observed annually. March 18, 1911 was the first International Women’s day. Observed by over 1 million people in several different countries, the day marked many demonstrations for the support and empowerment of women who have long contributed to the history and success of many nations without recognition. The demonstrations also demanded the right to vote and hold office. The day spread over the next fifty years and in 1977 when the United Nations General Assembly invited member states to proclaim March 8 as the UN Day for Women's Rights and International Peace, the day became official with a widespread observance. 

Cosimo’s book of the month The Power of Yin, Celebrating Female Consciousness is exactly in line with today. The initial conversation for this book even began in the same year that the UN officially recognized this day. Cosimo’s Classics of the month, The Enchanted April, while not exactly about Female Empowerment has tones of female friendship and the importance of strong, happy women.   

While Cosimo may have several titles that would contribute to this day's significance, it's more important to recognize this day for what it is. International Women’s Day is a recognizable and significant moment in the Women’s rights movement. At the moment, there is some political turbulence involving women's health in the US. This controversial article highlights some of the current issues surrounding women and while this day is significant proof the rights women have gained, this article and the current political atmosphere are proof that women are not done yet.

March's Book of the Month Falls in Line with National Reading Month and Women's History Month

March is women’s history month and national reading month. Combining both of those themes, Cosimo picked The Power of Yin, Celebrating Female Consciousness by Hazel Henderson, Barbara Marx Hubbard, and Jean Houston. When three of the most influential feminist philosophers of the 1970s meet over two weekends to discuss the challenges facing society in the late 20th century, it’s an event that should be documented. Their revelatory, inspiring conversations were reproduced into a fresh and relevant book.  This book has an uplifting spiritual perspective on the human experience and uniquely feminine approach to interacting with the universe, which fit perfectly into this month’s overall celebrations. 

The Power of Yin is more than a brilliant conversation. It is an invitation to women and men everywhere to express their own genius and empower their highest values and goals, to seek out others who attract them in this quest for personal development, to form ever deeper friendships, and to join together in spirit and in action to help evolve the human community on planet Earth. 

HAZEL HENDERSON is a world-renowned futurist, evolutionary economist, and consultant on sustainable development. JEAN HOUSTON is advisor to UNICEF in human and cultural development, and a principal founder of the Human Potential Movement. BARBARA MARX HUBBARD is president of the Foundation for Conscious Evolution and a cofounder of Washington D.C.'s Committee for the Future.

Valentine's Day Has Come and Gone, but Love is Here to Stay

Money and Love, they're not synonyms and yet they're very often represented together. Perhaps its their shared connection of the Goddess Venus. Perhaps it's the superficiality of today's world which places extra emphasis on money. Or maybe it's because money and love are considered to be high value commodities. Recently, I'm sure you've noticed, the downfall of money. It's no less important, but many are starting to wonder why some are driven by greed (and therefore money). Shouldn't the driving force in our world be love, which is (to a certain extent) free? With occupy movements popping up around the globe, their message is clear: we don't like the way our money and money in general is being handled.

It's possible, that the best way to get real results is to make a radical change beyond what's currently being considered. The article "The Money Has Gone so Make Love our Alternative Currency" on The Guardian website, written in honor of Valentine's day, makes the suggestion that love should be our new currency. How that would work exactly, I'm not sure. But I think his real suggestion is that our lives should center around the things we love, not the money we make. Humans in general should focus their energy on creating, spreading, and showing love instead of money. His line of thinking is not unlike that of Cosimo's author Louis Bohtlingk, whose book Dare to Care: A Love-Based Foundation for Money and Finance with a foreword by Hazel Henderson, discusses changing world currency and focusing on caring and sharing. Will these new and radical ideas help change the world economy? Or has the world become so money obsessed that the change many are looking for will never come?