Sources of Inspiration
for the Happy Heart

This is kind of a mini-website in itself that will probably extend quite a bit over time. For now I've simple pasted the sources of inspiration from the books and spiced it up a little with cover images and such. If you subscribe to Heart-2-Heart you'll receive newly added material separately so you don't have to dig your way through this page. That sounded a bit harsh... Actually it all very interesting stuff and has inspired me a lot to write my books. But do make up your own heart and mind!

If you feel like something is missing, I'm eager to hear your suggestions. You can mail them to info@my-happy-heart.com. I make it my business to read all the books, see the movies and listen to the music I recommend here personally. So it may take some time before your tip gets posted. Please bear with me on this one. I have four boys and a man in the house who quite like some daily attention as well. But I will take a look and let you know what I'll do with it.

Here's a table with an overview of the resources. Click on a title to jump straight over or browse the whole page at your leisure.

The Journey
to Wild Divine

This is truly awesome software that will give you feedback on the way you feel and react. Highly recommend by people like Deepak Chopra and Jeanne Houston and myself ;).
Read more... 

Books

  • Thomas Armstrong - In their own way (multiple intelligence)
  • Po Bronson - What should I do with my life? The true story of people who answered the ultimate question.
  • Julia Cameron - God is no laughing matter (this book will definitely put a smile on your face!)
  • Jack Canfield - Chicken Soup for the Soul
  • Fritjof Capra - The web of life (systems theory explains how we are all connected)
  • Doc Childre - From chaos to coherence (from the founder of the HeartMath Institute all you ever need to know about connecting your brain to your heart)
  • Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi - Flow (a state of living you will easily enter into if only you listen to your heart enough)
  • Masaru Emoto - Messages from water (pictures of frozen water chrystals to show you how your words and feelings affect everything around you containing water!)
  • Howard Gardner - Frames of Mind (the original theory about multiple intelligences)
  • Daniel Goleman - Emotional Intelligence (the classic on the importance of developing EQ to be successful in society)
  • Joseph Jaworski - Synchronicity (life story of a successful business man who new how to get into flow)
  • Zoev Jho & Mission Control - The cosmic instruction manual (Ever wondered what you're doing on earth? Read this manual!)
  • Kryon - The Journey Home (parable)
  • Satish Kumar - No destination (read this is you still don't believe the universe can be trusted to take care of you)
  • Drunvalo Malchizedek - Living in the Heart (how to enter into the sacred space within)
  • Joy Messick & Maggie Sanderson - Resonance Healing (the simple way to heart centeredness) 
  • Oriah Mountain Dreamer - The Invitation (and everything connected to this by now famous poem)
  • Robbert Muller - Most of all they taught me happiness (life is a matter of perception: is the glass half full or half empty?!)
  • Sheila Ostrander - Superlearning 2000 (how to get the most out of your neurons)
  • Paul Pearshall - The Heart's Code (interesting study about the mysterious heart properties by a cardiologist)
  • Candace Perth - Molecules of Emotion (this biologist succeeded in actually determining which amino acids in your blood cause you to feel what emotions - pleasant read as well)
  • Karen Salmansohn - How to be happy, dammit! (title is self-explanatory ;))
  • Martin Seligman - Authentic Happiness (read about it from the master himself)
  • Joe Vitale - Spiritual Marketing (thought marketers had no ethics? They should have to be really successful - here's why.)
  • Neale Donald Walsch - Conversations with God (you probably have already read these)
  • Marianne Williamson - A return to love (very inspiring book on dealing with fear and love in your life)
  • Danah Zohar - Spiritual Intelligence (quantum science has determined the God Spot!!)

Movies

  • Shine (directed by Scott Hicks; featuring Geoffrey Rush) - it's never to late to address your talents and even those who have seemingly failed in life, can blossom in the end. A true story about the life of pianist David Helfgott.
  • Dead Poets Society (directed by Peter Weir; featuring Robin Williams) - inspiration for teachers.
  • Patch Adams (directed by Tom Shadyac; featuring - again - Robin Williams) - the true story of a doctor who's mission in life is to help people heal with humor.

Music

 

My Happy Heart

Inspiration for
the Happy Heart

 

Go to homepage

 


 

 

Thomas Armstrong: In Their Own Way
- Discovering and Encouraging Your Child’s Multiple Intelligences. J.P. Tarcher, 2000.

In this fully updated classic on multiple intelligences, Armstrong sheds new light on the ‘eight ways to bloom’, or the eight kinds of ‘multiple intelligences’. While everyone possesses all eight intelligences, Armstrong delineates how to discover your child’s particular areas of strength among them.

The book shatters the conventional wisdom that brands our students as ‘underachievers’, ‘unmotivated’, or as suffering from ‘learning disabilities’, ‘attention deficit hyperactivity disorder’, or other ‘learning diseases’. Armstrong explains how these flawed labels often overlook students who are in possession of a distinctive combination of multiple intelligences, and demonstrates how to help them acquire knowledge and skills according to their sometimes extraordinary aptitudes.

 

Po Bronson: What Should I Do With My Life?
- The True Story of People who Answered the Ultimate Question
. Vintage Random House UK, 2004

If focusing on your heart brings you to the realization that you really need some serious changes in your life, I warmly recommend you to read this book. Change can be scary. This book covers many stories of people who decided to face their fears and actually make the changes. It will help you to do the same thing. It helped me! I finally allowed myself to do what I love best: create books.

 

Julia Cameron: God in No Laughing Matter
- Observations and Objections on the Spiritual Path.
J.P. Tarcher, 2001

In God Is No Laughing Matter, best-selling author Julia Cameron takes a witty, powerfully honest, and irreverent look at the culture of “spirituality” today and offers insight to enable readers to determine their personal spiritual path. The important thing to remember, she says, is that God is both more humorous and more humane than we’ve been taught.

In a sense, Cameron has always nudged her readers to forge a more conscious relationship with God. So it isn’t any surprise that she would eventually tackle this topic head-on in God Is No Laughing Matter. This inspirational book is formatted as a series of essays, and each one ends with a suggested experiment or exercise. This essay structure gives the book lightness and approachability, which is fitting, considering that her main premise is that we need to lighten up so that we can better approach God. When challenging the notion that “God is no laughing matter”, she writes, “I'm not so sure about that. Look at octopuses, for example. And baboons with those hilarious bright red asses.”

Sound superficial? Don’t make me laugh. This is actually one of Cameron’s most articulate, spirited, and ripened books yet. Although she underscores some of the spiritual advice that’s already being said (slow down, simplify, be still), readers will find plenty of fresh and original essays in a book that really matters. Highly recommended!!

 

Jack Canfield: Chicken Soup for the Soul
-
Living your Dreams. Health Communications, 2003

It’s like homemade chicken soup that warms the chill and heals the ill. This collection of 101 stories is based on the belief that true testimonies of goodness and loving transformations can nourish us to the bone and heal the cynicism in our hearts. Indeed, most every story seeps in deeply. It’s hard not to shed a tear of gratitude, feeling thrilled to have been touched and soothed so easily. Some of the authors are famous, such as Dan Millman, who writes an exquisite vignette on “Courage”, and Gloria Steinem, who writes of The Royal Knights of Harlem. Many, however, have a short, simple story to tell about an event, a person, an everyday miracle that exemplifies the best of the human spirit.  

overview books - overview movies - overview music - Go to homepage


 

Fritjof Capra: The Web of Life
- A new understanding of living systems.
Anchor Books / Doubleday, 1997.

During the past twenty-five years, scientists have challenged conventional views of evolution and the organization of living systems and have developed new theories with revolutionary philosophical and social implications. Fritjof Capra has been at the forefront of this revolution. In The Web of Life, Capra offers a brilliant synthesis of such recent scientific breakthroughs as the theory of complexity, Gaia theory, chaos theory, and other explanations of the properties of organisms, social systems, and ecosystems. Capra’s surprising findings stand in stark contrast to accepted paradigms of mechanism and Darwinism and provide an extraordinary new foundation for ecological policies that will allow us to build and sustain communities without diminishing the opportunities for future generations.

Fritjof Capra is a regular scholar at Schumacher College where he’s renowned for his excellent performances in the daily volleyball matches. I know; I’ve played him there.

 

Doc Childre: From Chaos to Coherence
- The Power to Change Performance
. HeartMath, 2000.

A gutsy, sincere, scientifically-based business case for bringing more heart into organizations. Presents HeartMath's impeccable biomedical research and highly practical tools for humanizing business, building people and organizations that respond gracefully to change, crisis and challenge. Clients such as Motorola, Hewlett Packard, Canadian Imperial Bank of Canada, Nortel, Cisco Systems, Lucent, BP and Royal Dutch Shell are empowering their talented workforce with these tools. Well-documented examples and organizational case studies illustrate impressive changes.

 

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Flow
- The Psychology of Optimal Experience.
Perennial, 1991.

You have heard about how a musician loses herself in her music, how a painter becomes one with the process of painting. In work, sport, conversation or hobby, you have experienced, yourself, the suspension of time, the freedom of complete absorption in activity. This is flow, an experience that is at once demanding and rewarding--an experience that Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi demonstrates is one of the most enjoyable and valuable experiences a person can have. The exhaustive case studies, controlled experiments and innumerable references to historical figures, philosophers and scientists through the ages prove Csikszentmihalyi's point that flow is a singularly productive and desirable state. But the implications for its application to society are what make the book revolutionary.

 

Masuro Emoto: Messages from water
- The first photo’s in the world of frozen water crystals.
Hado Publishing, 2002.

See how spoken and written words change the structure of water. This ground breaking work from Dr Masuro Emoto shows us that what we say, and feel and well as what we listen to has an effect on water, and because we are made up of water, it has an effect on us. Wonderful colour photography shows how water reacts in the presence of both spoken and written words. This imagery was recently utilized in the movie What The Bleep Do we Know. This work has also been referenced by Wayne Dyer, Lee Carol, Gregg Braden, Drunvalo Melchizedek, and Jonathan Goldman to name a few.

This is a truly awesome book – highly recommended!!  

overview books - overview movies - overview music - Go to homepage

 

 

Howard Gardner, Frames of Mind
- The Theory of Multiple Intelligences
. Basic Books, 1993.

Dr. Gardner endeavours to offer a new paradigm on how one should look at a child's intelligence. The premise of his theory is not that if you're smart, but how you're smart. In this book he shows that there are seven intelligences (Keep in mind that this resource was written in 1983).

Dr. Gardner has since come up with two more intelligences - those being the naturalistic and existential intelligence. His theory is different from the old paradigm that only considered the logical mathematical and verbal linguistic intelligences. When applied, this theory can be very productive in the classroom. Several resources have come out since, sowing how one can incorporate the multiple intelligences theory in ones classroom.

 

Daniel Goleman: Emotional Intelligence
– Why it can matter more than IQ.
Bantam Books, 1997.

There was a time when IQ was considered the leading determinant of success. In this fascinating book, based on brain and behavioural research, Daniel Goleman argues that our IQ-idolizing view of intelligence is far too narrow. Instead, Goleman makes the case for “emotional intelligence” being the strongest indicator of human success. He defines emotional intelligence in terms of self-awareness, altruism, personal motivation, empathy, and the ability to love and be loved by friends, partners, and family members. People who possess high emotional intelligence are the people who truly succeed in work as well as play, building flourishing careers and lasting, meaningful relationships. Because emotional intelligence isn't fixed at birth, Goleman outlines how adults as well as parents of young children can sow the seeds.

 

Joseph Jaworski: Synchronicity
- The Inner Path of Leadership.
Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 1998.

Jaworski (son of Leon Jaworski, the famous special prosecutor of the Watergate scandal) tells of his personal journey from being a successful corporate lawyer to becoming someone who works on making leadership better for all of us. Like most personal journeys, this one has low points (his wife falling in love with another man and telling Jaworski to move out that day, his father not telling him that he loved him, and the deaths of a child of each of his two sisters) and some high points (breakthrough meetings with great thinkers and stimulating helpful change). You could read the book for this, and you would have the rewards of a nicely done biography of someone who is working towards living an exemplary life.

But there is more. Jaworski has accumulated some important insights into leadership that are well worth knowing. He makes an appealing case for servant leadership (the leader looks out for the group, rather than his self-interest). He also tells a fascinating tale of running the scenario development work at Royal Dutch Shell for 4 years. From this, he develops what seemed to me to be a profound insight: Scenarios can be used both to prepare for the future by helping us think through it in advance, and to create the future.

Beyond that, the book is a living testament to the importance of finding your true self and listening to the wee small voice of intuition that can steer you in the right direction. Jaworski to his credit has been quite willing to do both, and it has made all the difference.

 

Zoev Jho & Mission Control: E.T. 101
- The Cosmic Instruction Manual
. Intergalactic Council Publications, 1990.

“One of the best days of my life was the day in 1993 when I ‘accidentally’ found this book. Since then, I've read it completely almost thirty times, and often use it as a reference manual and divination tool. It's one of the funniest serious books ever written. If you're reading this, then it's probably for you. It's a gift of incomparable value to those of us trying to make sense of our lives. I'm still in awe of how this incredibly important information was delivered in such a user-friendly style. It never fails to bring me to laughter and tears...sometimes at the same time. I turn to it when I'm feeling down, and I turn to it when I'm exultant. If I could only have five books in my life, this would be one of them.”  

This is the review on Amazon and though it isn’t mine, I whole-heartedly subscribe to these words myself!  

overview books - overview movies - overview music - Go to homepage

 

Kryon: The Journey Home
- The story of Michael Thomas and the seven angels.
Hay House, 1998.

A wonderful story that really brings home the meaning of why we are here, and the search to find happiness. This book really helped me reassess the relationships and experiences in my life and to be grateful for the opportunities they have presented.

 

Satish Kumar: No destination
- an autobiography.
Green Books, 1992

Satish Kumar is one of my favourite scholars on ecological matters. He’s the founder of Schumacher College in Devon, U.K. where you can participate in a wide variety of ecological courses. He’s also editor of Resurgence, a magazine covering the latest developments in quantum sciences, ecological highlights and other heart matters. His book covers the amazing story of his life, including his peace walk from New Delhi (India) to Washington D.C. Instructed by his spiritual master to trust God in providing all he needed; he walked for over two years without a penny in his pocket. A must-read for everyone who is in search of some more trust in life.

 

Drunvalo Malchizedek: Living in the Heart
- How to Enter into the Sacred Space within the Heart.
Living in the Heart, 2003.

“Long ago we humans used a form of communication and sensing that did not involve the brain in any way; rather, it came from a sacred place within our heart. What good would it do to find this place again in a world where the greatest religion is science and the logic of the mind? Don’t I know this world where emotions and feelings are second-class citizens? Yes, I do.

But my teachers have asked me to remind you who you really are. You are more than a human being, much more. For within your heart is a place, a sacred place where the world can literally be remade through conscious co-creation. If you give me permission, I will show what has been shown to me.” – Drunvalo Melchizedek.  

 

Joy Messick & Maggie Sanderson: Resonance Healing
Self-published in 2004 (www.resonancehealing.com)

Working with Resonance energy is the most efficient way I know to day to get you heart focused. I’m a Resonance Healer myself. I don’t cover it in my books, because it cannot be taught from a couple of pages in words. It needs to be experienced. But Joy and Maggie, two dear friends of mine, have written a comprehensive book about the basics of Resonance Healing. It can become available every day now! So check out the website if you want to learn more about this amazingly simple yet effective way to focus on your heart. It will also tell you where you can take courses in Resonance. Facilitators live in the U.S., the U.K., the Netherlands and Belgium.  

overview books - overview movies - overview music - Go to homepage

 

 

Oriah Mountain Dreamer: The Invitation
Harper San Francisco, 1999.

Shared by word of mouth, quoted on the World Wide Web, recited over the radio, and read aloud at spiritual conferences and other gatherings, The Invitation has been passed along by thousands who have discovered and treasured its unique message. Now Oriah Mountain Dreamer expands on her beloved prose poem, presenting a powerful and inspirational challenge to all of us who long for true intimacy and joy.

Speaking from the heart, Oriah Mountain Dreamer invites us to confront the varieties of human experience, from desire and commitment to sorrow and betrayal, and challenges us to open repeatedly to love and life. Unique, practical, and often surprising, The Invitation is an invaluable guide to living the ecstasy of everyday life, learning to recognize true beauty in ourselves and the world, and finding the sustenance our spirit longs for.

 

Robert Muller: Most of all they taught me happiness
Bantam Doubleday Dell, 1978.

A little known book filled with inspiration from the former secretary of the United Nations and founder of the University of Peace in Costa Rica. The way you perceive your life all depends on whether you look for the highlights or the lowlights.

Robert Muller shares with you his highlights in small anecdotes from his life that include the difficult times during the second world war and short after.

One of my favourites!  

 

Sheila Ostrander: Superlearning 2000
- New Triple Fast Ways You Can Learn, Earn, and Succeed in the 21st Century. Dell, 1997.

This book covers an amazing array of the little known brain capacities for remembering. You’ll find many practical ideas to help you learn faster and with more fun, to program your brain for positive thinking and to make practical use of music, meditation techniques and more.

 

Paul Pearshall: The Heart's Code
- Tapping the Wisdom and Power of Our Heart Energy & the New Findings about Cellular Memories and Their Role in the Mind/Body/Spirit Connection
Broadway Books, 1999.

A fascinating synthesis of ancient wisdom, modern medicine, scientific research, and personal experiences that proves that the human heart, not the brain, holds the secrets that link body, mind, and spirit.

You know that the heart loves and feels, but did you know that the heart also thinks, remembers, communicates with other hearts, helps regulate immunity, and contains stored information that continually pulses through your body? In The Heart’s Code, Dr. Paul Pearsall explains the theory and science behind energy cardiology, the emerging field that is uncovering one of the most significant medical, social, and spiritual discoveries of our time: The heart is more than just a pump; it conducts the cellular symphony that is the very essence of our being.

Full of amazing anecdotes and data, The Heart’s Code presents the latest research on cellular memory and the power of the heart’s energy and explores what these breakthroughs mean about how we should live our lives. By unlocking the heart’s code we can discover new ways of understanding human healing and consciousness and create a new model for living that leads to better health, happiness, and self-knowledge.

overview books - overview movies - overview music - Go to homepage

<

 

Candace Pert: Molecules of Emotion
- Why you feel the way you feel.
Simon & Schuster, 1999.

Why do we feel the way we feel? How do our thoughts and emotions affect our health? Are our bodies and minds distinct from each other or do they function together as parts of an interconnected system? Candace Pert provides startling and decisive answers to these and other challenging questions that scientists and philosophers have pondered for centuries.

Her pioneering research on how the chemicals inside our bodies form a dynamic information network, linking mind and body, is not only provocative, it is revolutionary. By establishing the bio molecular basis for our emotions and explaining these new scientific developments in a clear and accessible way, Pert empowers us to understand ourselves, our feelings, and the connection between our minds and our bodies -- body-minds -- in ways we could never possibly have imagined before.

 

Karen Salmansohn: How to be Happy, dammit
- a cynic’s guide to spiritual happiness
Celestial Arts, 2001

This book contains 44 life lessons to save you years of time, effort and humiliation. Think love and happiness have passed you by? Think no schmaltzy book can help you capture the life-joy you’re looking for? This book is different. Peek within its colourful, uniquely designed pages, and you really will find pearls of wisdom to help you discover more satisfaction every day.

 

Martin Seligman: Authentic Happiness
- Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment.
Free Press, 2004.

In this national bestseller - Martin Seligman’s most stimulating, persuasive book to date - the acclaimed author of Learned Optimism introduces yet another revolutionary idea. Drawing on groundbreaking scientific research, Seligman shows how Positive Psychology is shifting the profession’s paradigm away from its narrow-minded focus on pathology, victimology, and mental illness to positive emotion and mental health. Happiness, studies show, is not the result of good genes or luck. It can be cultivated by identifying and nurturing traits that we already possess -- including kindness, originality, humour, optimism, and generosity.

 

Joe Vitale: The Attractor Factor
- 5 easy steps for creating wealth (or anything else) from the inside out. 
John Wiley & Sons, 2005

Do you work hard, do everything right, and yet rarely achieve the results you had hoped for? As you struggle to make ends meet, do you sometimes wish you could be one of those lucky people who seem to smile their way through life and have success handed to them? Actually, you can. In The Attractor Factor, renowned author, Internet marketing pioneer, and spiritual guide Joe Vitale reveals that success of any kind doesn't depend on what you're doing, it depends on what you're being! Building on the phenomenal success of his two-time #1 Amazon bestselling e-book Spiritual Marketing, Joe combines time-honored practices of spiritual self-discovery with proven marketing principles into an extra- ordinary how-to manual for happy living both in and out of business.

This mind- and heart-opening primer features anecdotes from the remarkable true saga of Joe's quest for wealth and moving stories from many of the people he has guided to inner peace and outer affluence. It leads you gently through five simple steps that will make all of your dreams come true. With quiet humor and tender encouragement, Joe Vitale shows you how easy it is to let yourself love, heal, prosper, and grow.

After helping you determine your Prosperity IQ, Joe shows you how to find the springboard that will help you rise above the negativity that surrounds you and lift yourself into the realm of miracles. You'll learn how to dare something worthy and how to seek and uncover the missing secret to your own personal happiness. And you'll discover how to look at your life goals, and those of others, in a new, positive, and energizing way.

When you reach step five, you'll be ready to receive and understand The Ultimate Secret—the state of being in which the universe quickly brings you together with the things that you desire most.

Whether you yearn for wealth, love, prestige, great accomplishments, or all of the above, they are already yours, and they always have been. They are your birthright. Read The Attractor Factor and reunite yourself with your legacy.

I too think this is a great book. Must read. Sign up for Joe’s newsletter too, he never ceases to inspire me. (www.mrfire.com)

overview books - overview movies - overview music - Go to homepage

 

 

Neale D. Walsch: Conversations with God
- an uncommon dialogue.
Putnam Publishing Group 1996.

Blasphemy! Heresy! Who does this man think he is, claiming to speak directly to God?! Jesus did it, Muhammad did it, the Jewish prophets did it, but none of their Gods had the sardonic wit or raw verve of Prophet Walsch’s God. Neale Donald Walsch isn’t claiming to be the Messiah of a new religion, just a frustrated man who sat down one day with pen in his hand and some tough questions in his heart. As he wrote his questions to God, he realized that God was answering them... directly... through Walsch’s pen. The result, far from the apocalyptic predictions or cultic eccentricities you might expect, turns out to be matter-fact, in-your-face wisdom on how to get by in life while remaining true to yourself and your spirituality.

 

Marianne Williamson: A Return to Love
- Reflections on the Principles of a Course in Miracles. Harper Perennial, 1992.

Williamson reveals how we each can become a miracle worker by accepting God and by the expression of love in our daily lives. Whether psychic pain is in the area of relationships, career, or health, she shows us how love is a potent force, the key to inner peace, and how by practicing love we can make our own lives more fulfilling while creating a more peaceful and loving world for our children.

 

Danah Zohar & Ian Marshall: SQ
- Connecting With Our Spiritual Intelligence
.
Bloomsbury Publishing, 2001.

Traditional intelligence tells us about our capacity for rational thinking and knowledge retrieval. Emotional intelligence helps us to deal with our feelings and function in society. But we need spiritual intelligence to make decisions between good and evil, to find meaning in life and to connect with the higher forces in the universe.

overview books - overview movies - overview music - Go to homepage

 

Movies that touch you in the heart

(please note that these are VHS/DVD's in American format!)

Shine (Scott Hicks)
New Line Home Entertainment 1997
VHS / DVD

This tearjerker by Australian filmmaker Scott Hicks is a surprising story about real-life classical pianist David Helfgott, an Australian who rose to international prominence at a very young age in the 1950s and '60s, and suffered a psychological collapse after enduring years of abuse from his father (Armin Mueller-Stahl). Hicks has three very fine actors portraying Helfgott at different stages of his life, including the adorably wry and goofy Noah Taylor (Flirting), who takes up the character's teen years, and Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush, giving a great performance playing the musician as a schizophrenic adult. Despite the Helfgotts' compromised psychological health, Shine is hardly a depressing experience. If anything, the story is really about how long one person's life can take to make glorious sense of itself. Sir John Gielgud, in golden form, plays Helfgott's teacher.

 

Dead Poets Society (Peter Weir)
Touchstone Video
VHS / DVD

Robin Williams stars as an English teacher who doesn't fit into the conservative prep school where he teaches, but whose charisma and love of poetry inspires several boys to revive a secret society with a bohemian bent. The script is well meaning but a little trite, though director Peter Weir (The Truman Show) adds layers of emotional depth in scenes of conflict between the kids and adults. (A subplot involving one father's terrible pressure on his son--played by Robert Sean Leonard--to drop his interest in theatre reaches heartbreaking proportions.) Williams is given plenty of latitude to work in his brand of improvisational humor, though it is all well-woven into his character's style of instruction.

 

Patch Adams (Tom Shadyac)
Universal Studios
VHS / DVD

Patch Adams raises two schools of thought: There are those who are inspired by the true story of a troubled man who finds happiness in helping others--a man set on changing the world and who may well accomplish the task. And then there are those who feel manipulated by this feel-good story, who want to smack the young medical student every time he begins his silly antics.

Staving off suicidal thoughts, Hunter Adams commits himself into a psychiatric ward, where he not only garners the nickname "Patch," but learns the joy in helping others. To this end, he decides to go to medical school, where he clashes with the staid conventions of the establishment as he attempts to inject humour and humanity into his treatment of the patients ("We need to start treating the patient as well as the disease," he declares throughout the film).

Patch Adams, who is a real person with a hospital in Virginia, provides the tears, the giggles, and the kooky folks who will keep you smiling at the end.

Buying this movie will help Patch finance the hospital.

overview books - overview movies - overview music - Go to homepage

 

Recommended Music

 

The Mozart Effect
Don Campbell

Volume1 – Strengthen the Mind
Volume 2 – Heal the Body
Volume 3 – Unlock the Creative Spirit
Volume 4 – Focus & Clarity
Volume 5 – Relax & Unwind

Volume I of the immensely popular Mozart Effect series of music attempts to do no less than "strengthen the mind." One thing is for certain: the music chosen on the disc by author and scholar Don Campbell--excerpts from Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 1; Violin Concerto, No. 3; Ein kleine nachtmusik; and others--includes some of the strongest pieces the composer wrote. Though the performers on this disc (Capella Istropolitana, Northern Chamber Orchestra, and violinist Takako Nishizaki) are far from world-class, this is still a delightful collection and one that--at least according to the liner notes--will increase your alertness and perhaps your IQ.

Similar comments can be made about the other volumes. With music this entertaining, who can dispute these claims?

 

Heart Zones
CD by Doc Childre

This four-song instrumental energizes & relaxes listeners. Improves autonomic nervous system balance & immune response, as documented in the Journal of Stress Medicine. Enjoy while driving, exercising, working at the office or at home. Calms & relaxes, while increasing vitality & mental clarity.

Doc Childre composed this music as part of his work in helping people to access their heart intelligence in times of stress or emotional disturbance. It is also designed to help counteract fatigue and access intuitive intelligence. Much of New Age music is relaxing, but this music is relaxing and energizing at the same time. I find it delivers on the above promises, especially when combined with simple exercises devised by Doc Childre. This album is beautiful listening music with a variety of tempos and styles.

 

Speed of Balance
CD by Doc Childre

Blends the soul & rhythm of jazz, the heartfelt qualities of classical and the drama & excitement of a movie soundtrack. A controlled study showed Speed of Balance played a significant role in slowing the aging process while reducing stress. How many things have you found that are totaly enjoyable & at the same time actually good for you? Try this musical delight & feel the tension melt away.

 

In Dulci Jubilo
Rosa Mystica

both by Theresa Schroeder-Sheker

Listening to any of Therese's works invites us to leave the busy world for a moment, not to escape, but to focus on the greater truths of peace, hope and charitable service to others. All of her recordings are true spiritual medicine, and are in such need in today's world.  

overview books - overview movies - overview music - Go to homepage

Largo Selection
Various artists

The largo in the baroque music is known for helping your brain wind down and producing more alpha brain waves. This helps you to relax, learn faster and be more creative. You can read all about this in Superlearning 2000. The problem with largos is that they are usually part of a bigger composition. Take a classic baroque album by Händel or Vivaldi and you’ll find two, perhaps three largos at most. So here are some handy albums that did the copying, pasting and burning already for you.  

overview books - overview movies - overview music - Go to homepage


Thank you for visiting my website. Please visit again some day!

My Happy Heart © 2004 Patricia Ritsema van Eck