This May, we are showcasing Mystic Journey as our Book of the Month in celebration of the author, Robert Atkinson, appearing on a radio tour!
The segment, titled The Mystic Journey of Soul Making, features Dr. Jeanette and Robert Atkinson discussing the spirituality, unity, transformation, and consciousness, and can be found at blogtalkradio.com.
In this life-changing and award winning book, Atkinson uses a multi-faith approach to reveal the path of the soul. Guiding readers to use their life stories to help solidify their identities, live with an eternal perspective in mind, and reclaim their common spiritual heritage, Mystic Journey reveals why we are deeply connected to others. Getting to the heart of your soul is soul-making, and it is through this journey that leads us to personal and collective transformation. This book is a must-read for any individual who seeks spiritual insight, or who simply wants to make positive changes to his/her life.
About the Author: Robert Atkinson, Ph.D., an internationally recognized authority in helping people tell their life stories, is an author of eight books, professor of human development and religious studies, and director of the Life Story Center at the University of Southern Maine. He is online at www.RobertAtkinson.net.
As you come to the end of your first month's worth of resolutions, we at Cosimo would like you to take a step back and recognize the hard work you are doing. Here are a few eBook titles for our readers to exercise the mind and spirit so you can be healthy inside and out!
Wildly popular in the 1970s and 80s, Transcendental Meditation (TM) continues to be one of the most accessible forms of Eastern spiritual practice in the West. But does it live up to its hype? In this objective exploration of TM, consciousness researcher John White looks at what's billed as "a simple, natural, and effortless mental technique, practiced twenty minutes a day" and takes on its critics as well as its cheerleaders.
Mystic Journey uses a multi-faith approach to reveal the path of the soul; this not a solitary quest but rather a superhighway meant for everyone. As we explore the deeper story of our soul, we also discover that we are living a lifelong process of soul-making, leading us ultimately to personal and collective transformation. Getting to the heart of your soul's story is soul-making. Mystic Journey guides readers to: use their life stories to help solidify their identities, live with an eternal perspective in mind, and reclaim their common spiritual heritage.
Ritual is a universal language that gives substance and meaning to our lives. People are eager to honor the significant moments in their lives and Barbara Biziou, one of America's foremost ritual experts, teaches us how to restore ritual to its rightful place as food for the soul through practical, easy-to-use ritual recipes that are inspiring and fun.
"People don't read anymore. The printed book will be dead!" Well, these statements have been made for many years now, but the facts seem to tell otherwise. According to Nielsen Book Scan, total units of print books in the U.S. sold to outlets reporting to Nielsen, were 635 million in 2014, an increase of 2.4% over 2013 and the best numbers since 2010.
"Bookstores are disappearing, especially the independents." That too seems not to be the case - although I have a hard time finding one in my Manhattan neighborhood -. A New York Times article earlier this year stated that: "...in the U.S. independent bookstores have rebounded strongly from the financial crisis, increasing their numbers by 27 percent since 2009. ......The American Booksellers Association's chief executive, Oren Teicher, said American indie bookshops have filled the vacuum left by big box bookstores like Borders (which went out of business in 2011) and Barnes & Noble (which has closed hundreds of stores). They have also capitalized on a spirit of localism and urban renewal that is coursing through some American cities. “The enthusiasm and optimism is pretty staggering,” Mr. Teicher said. “Despite all the quantum leaps in technology, the fact is nothing beats a physical, bricks-and-mortar store to discover books that you didn’t know about.” Against this backdrop of revitalized book sales and growing independent bookstores, Cosimo attended this weekend the New Atlantic Book Sellers Association ("NAIBA") Conference in Somerset, New Jersey, a regional trade show that celebrates independent bookselling, Even though....
For many, a new year symbolizes a new start, a new journey, or a hopeful beginning. It's what inspires us to make change---to finally begin, or do, what we have always hoped to. In excitement of the new year, and in anticipation of a new beginning, Cosimo is proud to present Mystic Journey by Robert Atkinson as our Book of the Month.
In this life-changing and award winning book, Atkinson uses a multi-faith approach to reveal the path of the soul. Guiding readers to use their life stories to help solidify their identities, live with an eternal perspective in mind, and reclaim their common spiritual heritage, Mystic Journey reveals why we are deeply connected to others. Getting to the heart of your soul is soul-making, and it is through this journey that leads us to personal and collective transformation.
This book is a must-read for any individual who seeks spiritual insight, or who simply wants to make positive changes to his/her life.
About the Author: Robert Atkinson, Ph.D., an internationally recognized authority in helping people tell their life stories, is an author of eight books, professor of human development and religious studies, and director of the Life Story Center at the University of Southern Maine. He is online at www.RobertAtkinson.net.
Our Book of the Month author, Robert Atkinson recently shared a thoughtful commentary on the transformation process and resolutions on his blog. In the spirit of the new year and new beginnings, Cosimo would like to highlight his reflections from the post.
"Even if we are not aware of this truth that we are living, as it might be especially difficult to do so when we are right in the midst of a struggle or conflict actually meant to lead us to and trough our own transformation, it is precisely this kind of challenge or “muddle” that is needed to show us the necessity of the difficulty. This is how we are led to a “resolution” and the completion of the transformation process." (To read the post in its entirety, please visit Robert's blog, Reflections for the Journey.)
Be sure to check out Robert's newest creation: StoryCommons, where life stories are recorded locally and shared globally. StoryCommons grew out of the Center for the Study of Lives, founded in 1988 by Robert as a research, educational, and service unit of the University of Southern Maine, and was founded in 2014.
About Robert Atkinson
Robert Atkinson, Ph.D., an internationally recognized authority in helping people tell their life stories, is an author of eight books, professor of human development and religious studies, and director of the Life Story Center at the University of Southern Maine. Find out more about Atkinson, his books, or to read his blog, please visit www.RobertAtkinson.net. Cosimo is proud to publish Mystic Journey: Getting to the Heart of Your Soul's Story , a 2013 winner of the Bronze Living Now Book Award by Robert Atkinson.
As the new year approaches many people find themselves taking stock of their past year, analyzing their accomplishments and failures and deciding on new goals and resolutions for the coming year. For many it's a surprisingly tough part of the year, as all the stress of the holiday season melts away and finds us at our most introspective and self-critical. We criticize ourselves for the sweets we ate at Christmas, the choices that didn't yield quite the results we expected, or the relationships that ended. Self-introspection can be a powerful (and, indeed, necessary) thing, but we have to engage in it in a way that yields positivity and proactivity.
At Cosimo our motto is "Be inspired. Be informed." Our motto is not just about understanding the world around us, however--it's also about the importance of understanding ourselves and inspiring ourselves (and our readers) to be stronger, better people. With that in mind, we'd like to recommend a few spirituality and personal development titles that we love, and which help the reader generate positivity and understanding both outwards to others and inwards towards the self. We think they're the perfect companion to a New Year's resolution, and guidebooks to a New You in the New Year.
Mystic Journey: Getting to the Heart of Your Soul's Story, by Robert Atkinson Mystic Journey is an award-winning work on the process of "soul-making," helping the reader understand themselves and connect to others. It asks the reader to recognize the "patterns of transformation" that unfold in our lives, and how we all share a spiritual heritage. Mystic Journey is a wonderful text for those interested in practicable soul-making and self-actualization. Mystic Journey is available via Google Books, Amazon (for Kindle and Paperback), Barnes & Noble (for Nook and Paperback), and is available for digital download at a special December price of just $4.99 at reKiosk.
The Joy of Ritual: Spiritual Recipes to Celebrate Milestones, Ease Transitions, and Make Every Day Sacred, by Barbara Biziou
Our September Book of the Month, Biziou's Joy of Ritual is a recipe book for fortifying the soul. Biziou's recipes integrate ritual and spiritual practices into our daily lives to help us cope with transitions and changes. By integrating the sacred into our lives, rituals allow us to stabilize our lives and transform the ordinary into moments of reflection and self-understanding. This easy-to-use recipe book provides practicable ceremonies the reader can use in their daily life to center themselves, or to honor special occasions and milestones. The Joy of Ritual is available in various digital formats, including for the Kindle, as well as in paperback. Be sure to check out Biziou's new website, with weekly vlogs and affirmations.
The Self-Inquiry Process: Using Powerful Questions to Awaken Awareness, by Linda Brierty
Brierty's Self-Inquiry Process is an experiential workbook for the reader seeking to understand themselves through an active questioning of the self. The Self-Inquiry Process guides the reader through a journey of self-discovery through the positing of questions, from simple and direct to more complex questions like "What is the difference between surrender and giving up?" The workbook is meant to help the reader better understand--and love--themselves. The Self-Inquiry Process is available in Paperback via Amazon and B&N, for Kindle, Nook, and other eReader formats.
The Book of Balance, by Yasuhiko Genku Kimura "The Tao Eternal is beyond definition. / No name given can capture its eternality."
Translated from Tao Teh Ching, by Lao Tzu, The Book of Balance provides a foundation for the reader to gain spiritual insight and character development. Lao Tzu is often considered the founder of philosophical Taoism, and this translation is considered a particularly artful translation, maintaining the poetics of the text without sacrificing its complexity. The Book of Balance is a challenging yet rewarding read, available as a Google Book, for Kindle, and in Paperback via B&N and Amazon.
Everything You Want to Know About TM--Including How to Do It, by John White
TM, or Transcendental Meditation, is a powerful form of meditation that helps reduce stress and create a state of relaxed awareness. White provides a comprehensive history of TM and other forms of meditation, allowing the reader to understand the deep history of the process they are about to undertake. White's history and analysis of TM provides a helpful background to the TM user, who can then use the chapter "How to Do TM" to begin practicing TM themselves. White's work is available in Paperback and for Kindle via Amazon, for Nook and in Paperback via B&N, and in various digital formats at reKiosk.
For a limited time only we're offering Mystic Journey, Getting to the Heart of Your Soul's Story, by Robert Atkinson, at a special holiday price; till the end of the month you can purchase a digital copy of this enlightening work for just $4.99 for your Kindle or other eReader (also available in paperback).
"Over time, I became even more curious about what it was that inspires and motivates elders to live life so deeply. That was the seed of what ultimately led me years later to a career in teaching human development and helping people tell their life stories." - Robert Atkinson, in an interview with reKiosk contributor Firouz Ardalan
Mystic Journey was recently awarded the 2013 Bronze Living Now Book Award in the "enlightenment & spirituality" category. This life-changing work instructs readers on the process of "soul-making," helping them determine who they are, connecting them to both themselves and others, and transforming their lives for the better. Through Mystic Journey the reader gets to the "heart of their soul's story."
For more information on Robert Atkinson and soul-making, check out his website, featuring the author's personal reflections about the mystic journey and excerpts from this award-winning title. And check out this fascinating interview with online marketplace reKiosk, wherein Atkinson discusses how he became fascinated with the telling of personal stories, the soul's journey, and how modern technology has changed the way we interact with ourselves and others.
The Living Now Book Awards, "celebrate the innovation and creativity of newly published books that enhance the quality of our lives. The medalists in this year’s Living Now Book Awards offer a list of books representing some of the fastest-growing segments of book publishing today, and the Living Now Book Awards publicize the importance of these books to readers and their vitality in the marketplace."
In Mystic Journey, author and professor of human development and religous studies, Robert Atkinson, describes what he calls life's greatest adventure: how we can discover who we are and why we are deeply connected to others by living our lives consciously, which reveals universal motifs and timeless patterns. Upon the release of this book in June of last year, Atkinson said that "there never was a more critical time than now - with so many global crises everywhere - to take the mystic journey of the soul that leads us into and through the spiral of life."
This book had received endorsements from leading figures in the human potential movement, such as author Gregg Levoy who called this "a rich read" and Jean Houston , scholar, philosopher and author, who said that "to read this magnificent study is to remember our birthright and to commit again to following the path that leads us home to who and what we really are." Our congratulations go to author Robert Atkinson and our thanks to the jury of the Living Now Book Awards.
Mystic Journey: Getting to the Heart of Your Souls Story by Robert Atkinson - See more at:
http://www.cosimobooks.com/b3747_Mystic-Journey-Getting-to-the-Heart-of-Your-Soul-s-Story-1616407158-9781616407155.htm#sthash.cT5ebOMK.dpuf
Mystic Journey: Getting to the Heart of Your Souls Story by Robert Atkinson - See more at:
http://www.cosimobooks.com/b3747_Mystic-Journey-Getting-to-the-Heart-of-Your-Soul-s-Story-1616407158-9781616407155.htm#sthash.cT5ebOMK.dpuf
This book is deep, and makes anyone who reads this delve deeper within
themselves to understand not only their own spirituality, but also one's
own spiritual and conscious self. --Dad of Divas' Book Reviews
You may or may not be noticing your resolve for New Year resolutions cracking, but we've chosen a Book of the Month to renew your fervor for getting to know and improve yourself on a deeper level. Mystic Journey: Getting to the Heart of Your Soul's Story, by Robert Atkinson,is
the exploration of who we are at our core and why we are deeply
connected to all others on earth.
Mystic Journey explores life's greatest adventure, discovering
who we are at our core by living consciously, as described in the
world's oldest wisdom traditions. We all must explore the path of our
soul, uncovering who we are in this life in order to determine who we
will be in the next life (i.e. heaven, the great beyond, the afterlife,
death). Atkinson uses a multi-faith approach to explain and describe the
lifelong process of soul-making, leading to a personal and collective
transformation. Each chapter of Mystic Journey ends with an
exercise to help readers tell their personal story, and each chapter
explains not only the process of soul-making, but also how each
individual's story connects to that of the whole.
Mystic Journey is an ideal book for those searching for inner
peace, spiritual awareness, or who simply want to write down their story
for others to read. Mystic Journey guides readers to use their
life stories to solidify their identities, live with an eternal
perspective in mind, and reclaim a common spiritual heritage. You can
read the press release, along with praise and purchasing information, here. The book also received fantastic reviews from The New Maine Times book review and The Publishing Guru.
Robert Atkinson is the author of eight books, including several on
personal storytelling. He is a professor of human development and
religious studies, and the director of the Life Story Center at the
University of Southern Maine. He can be found online at www.RobertAtkinson.net,
where you can find out more about the book,
read Atkinson's blog, connect with him personally, and read a sample of
the book. He also has an interactive blog, Remembering Who We Are, featuring 50 ways to tell your soul's story.
Since its release, our title Mystic Journey has gotten quite the response from readers and reviewers. Author Robert Atkinson was interviewed by both the Portland Press Herald and Spiritual Media Blog about his background in spirituality and life stories. These discussions clarify his book and his purpose behind writing it, creating deeper meaning for the readers.
Additionally, Atkinson's book received several positive reviews around the 'net, including on the book's Amazon page, and from spirituality and book bloggers, such as Evolutionary_Mystic, Dad of Divas, and Book Bargains and Previews.
See what they have to say below, check out the full reviews for yourself, and pick up your own copy of Mystic Journey!
The book ... provides a magnificent template for the mystical traveler: knowing what is achievable through conscious effort; seeing in the oscillation of opposites the possibility of their union; recognizing that the respolution of such a procession of opposites in our lives is designed to move us closer to our Creator; and understanding that our deepest spiritual transformation comes about not through escape from the world but from work in the world, as service to humanity.
This book is deep, and makes anyone who reads this delve deeper within themselves to understand not only their own spirituality, but also one's own spiritual and conscious self.
This book takes an interesting look at developing the whole person, body, mind, and spirit and how expressing our life stories can help us come to know who we really are and what our life's calling is. This is a thought-provoking and compelling read for those who are searching for the meaning of life.
This month we'd like to announce a new title and our August Book of the Month, Mystic Journey: Getting to the Heart of Your Soul's Story, by Robert Atkinson. Mystic Journey is the exploration of who we are at our core and why we are deeply connected to all others on earth. Atkinson, an internationally recognized authority in helping people tell their life stories, explains how universal motifs, archetypes, and patterns tie us all together and emerge time and time again in individuals' life stories, to create one story that establishes who we are during life. Atkinson uses his extensive background in human development and religious studies to show how traditional archetypes and motifs, such as the hero story, shape our daily lives and develop within our own personal stories.
Mystic Journey explores life's greatest adventure, discovering who we are at our core by living consciously, as described in the world's oldest wisdom traditions. We all must explore the path of our soul, uncovering who we are in this life in order to determine who we will be in the next life (i.e. heaven, the great beyond, the afterlife, death). Atkinson uses a multi-faith approach to explain and describe the lifelong process of soul-making, leading to a personal and collective transformation. each chapter of Mystic Journey ends with an exercise to help readers tell their personal story, and each chapter explains not only the process of soul-making, but also how each individual's story connects to that of the whole.
Mystic Journey is an ideal book for those searching for inner peace, spiritual awareness, or who simply want to write down their story for others to read. Mystic Journey guides readers to use their life stories to solidify their identities, live with an eternal perspective in mind, and reclaim a common spiritual heritage. You can read the press release, along with praise and purchasing information, here. The book also received fantastic reviews from The New Maine Times book review and The Publishing Guru. Jean Houston, author of A Mythic Life and The Search for the Beloved, says of Mystic Journey, "In this exquisite exploration of the spiritual craft of soul-making, Robert Atkinson illumines the journey as well as the art and discipline that leads to spiritual transformation. To read this magnificent study is to remember our original birthright and commit again to following the path that leads us home to who and what we really are."
Robert Atkinson is the author of eight books, including several on personal storytelling. He is a professor of human development and religious studies, and the director of the Life Story Center at the University of Southern Maine. He can be found online at www.RobertAtkinson.net, where you can read his tour schedule, find out more about the book, read Atkinson's blog, connect with him personally,and read a sample of the book. He also has an interactive blog, Remembering Who We Are, featuring 50 ways to tell your soul's story.
