Self-Help

What Is The Easiest, Fastest, and Most Surprising Way to Become A Wealth Magnet?

How can anyone use it - no matter who you are, where you are, or what you do? Why has every successful person in history - from Seneca, Ford, Carnegie, Barnum, Rockefeller and Getty to Bezos, Musk, Gates, Buffett and Zuckerberg - used this secret?

The answer will surprise you. It's called "Karmic Marketing." It's the secret of many titans and legends, mom and pop businesses, mega-successful online entrepreneurs, and even individuals with no business at all. All you need to implement this secret for your own wealth is the simple understanding of how to do it right. Inside this inspiring new work by one of the most popular authors of modern times you'll find -

• The surprising secret of "Karmic Marketing"
• How to become a "wealth magnet"
• How to do it so it works every time
• How to clear any hidden blocks to receiving wealth
• How to add this simple method to any current marketing
• How to reap the rewards without running a business at all
• How this method is a spiritual tool for awakening the planet.

This special deluxe hardcover edition includes the bonus book "The Greatest Money-Making Secret in History!"

Dr. Joe Vitale is a globally famous author, marketing guru, movie, TV, and radio personality, musician, and ranked one of the top 50 most inspirational speakers in the world. His many bestselling books include The Attractor Factor, Zero Limits, The Miracle, and The Secret to Attracting Money. He's been in numerous movies, including the blockbuster, "The Secret."

A paradigm is more than a feeling or a belief. It is an entire way of being a fundamental universal conviction that reverberates out into the universe.

In The Abundance Paradigm, Joe Vitale, one of the pioneers of Internet marketing and one of the stars of the hit movie The Secret, shows you how to make the profound shift from a paradigm of scarcity in which you have "not enough" of the things you want and need to a paradigm of abundance in which you have more than enough of everything, at all times.

When you make this shift, you move beyond the Law of Attraction to the little-known Law of Creation and step into a world where you will:

• Align with the universe automatically instead of working to make it happen
• Manifest your desires spontaneously instead of thinking about it
• Get what you want immediately instead of waiting for it to show up
• Vitale offers Step by step techniques that will facilitate a complete paradigm shift to enable ideas to flow into your mind freely and openly
• Dissolve the limitation compromising your growth
• Erase toxicity from your relationships
• Clear your consciousness of negative judgement of yourself and others
• Protect your paradigm from harmful outside influences and interference

"The Master of Motivation,” Zig Ziglar has been described as "one of America's icons,” "the salesman's salesman,” and "a legacy that will forever impact our history.” Helping people to achieve long-term balanced success based on his philosophy of character, attitude, and skills, he has impacted more than a quarter billion people and continues to make a difference in the lives of those who act on his philosophy.

This Way Up! is "Zig Ziglar's Original Classic on Breakthrough Achievement." It is the course that preceded See You At The Top----which is his international bestseller (almost two million copies sold) that made him famous. This Way Up! is considered Zig’s “lost” manuscript.

This never before released classic title is known only by Zig's total devotees. It is the foundational material that Zig developed when he first began his career. It is “Zig Unplugged,” incredibly dynamic and "on fire" as a new young superstar. Zig deals with goals, attitude, discipline, and self-image to help you move from survival to stability, from stability to success, and from success to significance.

Dr. John Demartini has studied the principles of human behavior as it relates to self-empowerment for over 48 years. Now in The 7 Secret Treasures, he will reacquaint you with the power you already have within, as he show you the way to the powerful life transforming tools and principles you may never have known existed. It will be a discovery of self and life mastery.

You will learn:

• How to maximize your potential for health and well-being
• Have more fulfilling relationships
• Create more love in your life
• See the power you already possess as a natural leader
• Discover how to build financial wealth
• Experience awe at the wonders around you
• Reveal your professional power
• Find and do what you love
• Awaken to your own immortality
• Live a life of greatness

No topic is more significant than VALUES if you want to unlock your greatest power and potential. Knowing your values is key to your most authentic, original and empowered life. Your self-worth impacts the way you perceive and act and what you will allow yourself to receive. When you know who you are, know what your mission and vision is, you're clear to move forward towards your goals and dreams. Now is the time to access Your 7 Secret Treasures and use your unique genius to your full advantage as Dr. Demartini shows you how to transform your life!

Iconic voice of esoteric spirituality Mitch Horowitz provides today’s most impactful work on how and why your mind shapes reality.

Daydream Believer is Mitch’s ultra-statement: this landmark of practical spirituality repairs the gaps in mind-power philosophy and provides a usable, persuasive, and intellectually rigorous vision of why thoughts are causative.   

In Daydream Believer, Mitch upends outmoded spiritual concepts and tells the hard-won truth: you experience psychical lives among infinite realms; your mind is an extraphysical and reality-selecting force; and your metaphysical powers are more freely available than you may realize. Daydream Believer explores:

• The causal power of a wish alone. 
  
• How to tap the energies of thought during periods of grief, depression, or anxiety.
• Why prayer and deific petitioning work.
• How acknowledgement of suffering is a metaphysical force.
• The outer reaches—and limits—of mind power.
• What the ablest critics of mind metaphysics get right and wrong. 
• Unimpeachable scientific evidence of the extra-physicality of thought.   

“My hope,” Mitch writes, “is that Daydream Believer takes the last 150 years of experimentation in New Thought to its sharpest peak and sets us on a path for the next stage… If you find my claims bold, I trust that you will find my self-disclosures—necessary for any honest reckoning of practical philosophy—equally so.”  

Zig Ziglar, America’s most influential and beloved encourager and believer that everyone could be, do and have more, influenced an estimated quarter of a billion individuals through his 33 books, including the bestseller See You at the Top, which has sold almost two million copies.

After reading this book, your untapped greatness becomes visible. Your surest path to success is revealed. We're confident in this. Because that's precisely what tens of thousands of people have done who had the fortune to attend Zig Ziglar's 25-year-running and perpetually sold-out Born to Win seminar upon which this book was based. Today, Zig Ziglar's legendary seminar comes alive once again to inspire a whole new generation of achievers.

For more than 50 years, in a style that is unquestionably his own, Zig Ziglar has used his quick wit, down-home charm, and abundance of energy to inspire excellence in people throughout the world. Let him teach you:

• How to achieve balance by becoming a more complete person in seven key areas of your life
• How to develop and maintain a winner's attitude and use it to achieve significant personal growth
• How to build stronger professional and personal relationships using your own unique behavioral style
• How to become a better leader, parent, and employee by learning the art of effective communication
• The seven-step goal-setting process that will empower you to achieve exponentially more in less time
• And volumes more

YOU ARE MORE POWERFUL THAN YOU’VE EVER REALIZED

We are raised to believe in strict limits on who we are. But there is a greater truth—and a greater you. In Your Super Powers!, Joseph Murphy, the groundbreaking author of The Power of Your Subconscious Mind, teaches you how to take a whole new measure of your abilities. You have no limits. Murphy writes, other than those imposed by your thoughts: new ideas are transformative power that reshape your existence.

In seven selected writings, Murphy reveals the powers of your mind waiting to be refined, honed, and used, so that you can knowingly shape your world, rather than be shaped by chronic, rambling, and runaway thoughts. The very hunger that you feel for change is what sets your self-discovery in motion.

This collection, part of a new series called Joseph Murphy’s Golden Lessons, is edited and introduced by popular voice of esoteric spirituality Mitch Horowitz. It includes Mitch’s short bio of Murphy and a timeline of the teacher’s life. “Desire, need, hunger—do you feel these things right now”, Mitch askes in his introduction. “You must if you picked up this book. Good. Those are the impulses that summon you to your super-self.”

Bestselling author Denis Waitley offers timeless and timely advice on how to apply his philosophy to the digital age and attain personal and professional excellence today.

". . . a compelling game plan for winning at life . . ." - MEHMET OZ, M.D., Emmy-winning Host, The Dr. Oz Show

"Denis Waitley has played a pivotal role in helping grow a small cellular nutrition products company into one of the largest, most respected direct sales companies in the world, with annual revenues surpassing $1 billion, while creating millions of customers globally. For over twenty-five years his psychology of winning principles have been ingrained in the DNA of our corporate culture through his inspirational, practical teachings as our primary spokesperson. We look forward to The New Psychology of Winning, combining timeless wisdom—gained from of his fifty-year career as a pioneer in the personal development industry—with fresh, new insights and strategies to lead and succeed in this fast forward digital age." - KEVIN GUEST, CEO and Chairman of the Board, USANA Health Sciences, Inc.

Denis Waitley, bestselling author of Seeds of Greatness, The Psychology of Winning, and The Winner’s Edge, is one of the most respected and listened to voices on high performance achievement. In The New Psychology of Winning he offers timeless and timely advice on how to apply his philosophy to the digital age and attain personal and professional excellence today. The world has changed to be almost unrecognizable since he recorded his original bestselling classic in the 1970s—going from the late industrial age to the digital age and beyond. How has this digitization affected Denis’s original message? How have the current trends in the marketplace affected those seeking entrepreneurial success? How does this change affect our personal and professional life today? In his patented, authentic, accessible, personable style, Denis will answer these questions and show you how you can be a twenty-first century winner!

A CRUCIAL SKILL TO DEVELOP

One of the most crucial skills for everyone to develop is influence. Without it, human relations are ineffective at best, and disastrous at worst.

Whether you’re trying to communicate your business idea to an investor, encourage your children to embrace your moral values, or break an addiction to endless web surfing—if you lack the skill of influence, you will be unable to convince yourself or anyone else.

The human mind is like a titanium lock. If you communicate poorly—through endless talking, inattentive listening, or over-the-top pressure—it’s like spinning the numbers on the lock over and over uselessly. But if you develop the key skills of influence, it’s like knowing the exact combination to that lock and gaining access to the consciousness of another person—or to your own.

This book provides the right combination to that highly guarded lock. It will show you the skills of influence. It will enable you to produce incredible results—happier personal relationships, more sales, more profitable partnerships, and an increased ability to hold yourself to commitments that are important to you.

While productivity and time management expert Brian Tracy has been writing bestselling books and giving seminars on these topics for well over thirty years, the challenge of remaining optimally productive in our modern world has never been greater. How can this be?

We live in the most technologically advanced period of history in the most technologically advanced country. With the advent of mobile phones, killer apps, internet speeds that stagger the imagination, and nearly any bit of information, products, and solutions only one click away, how can it be that remaining optimally productive is such a challenge for so many?

In a word: DISTRACTION. Many of us spend precious time focusing on the inces¬sant e-mails, texts, notifications, ads, etc. that seem important-even urgent-to our success and happiness, but, in reality, only complicate our lives and take us even further from our goals.

Brian addresses this challenge of distraction in its many forms and shows you how to feed your focuson a daily basis. You will learn:

• Productivity Promises and Pitfalls in our Modern Age
• The Psychology of Productivity
• The Best Productivity Methods Ever Conceived
• How to End Procrastination Once and For All
• Productivity and Relationships: Where it Applies and Where It Doesn't

Look for these other books by BRIAN TRACY

• Entrepreneurship
• Make More Money
• The Science of Influence
• The Science of Money
• The Science of Motivation

There are very few people alive who have invested more time studying success than Bob Proctor. He has spent almost all day, every day, for thirty-three years analyzing success. Over the years, he has had many failures, but has also had numerous exciting wins on many continents around the world with millions of dollars involved. The wins and the failures have both proven to be extraordinary personal learning experiences.

These are the core lessons that Bob has learned and mastered throughout his illustrious career of dedicated study, rigorous application, trial and error, and, of course, BIG wins.

When it comes to systematizing life, no one else can touch him. He is simply the best.

Let Bob lead you through his 12 principles for finding success. Instantly apply them to your own life. It will begin to impact you long before your reach the last chapter. Let Bob teach you about:

• CONFIDENCE
• PERSISTENCE
• GOALS
• SUCCESS
• ATTITUDE
• COMMUNICATION
• ACTION
• DECISION
• RISK
• RESPONSIBILITY
• MONEY
• CREATIVITY

There are a few people who are truly successful and many others who work hard all of their lives attempting to be successful. As a result, the average person believes that success is hard to obtain and that those who do achieve it are either lucky or extremely brilliant.

Most people are so busy attempting to make ends meet that they never take the time to really study the highly successful people. Every person who has made such a study has arrived at the same shocking conclusion: success is merely a decision. You must decide what you want and then begin moving toward it. You decide where you are, and you begin with whatever you have. That’s it.

"The only limits in our life are those that we impose on ourselves." - BOB PROCTOR

“Mind-expanding—and potentially even life-altering—advice on both a personal and business level” –Kirkus Reviews

Your Mindset impacts everything you think, say and do. Your Mindset creates hope and hopelessness, success and failure. It is the software your brain uses to create attitude, experience, and achievement. It is also the filter that builds behavior. Your Mindset causes you to blame others for failure or learn from experienc e. Your Mindset helps you make sense of everything that happens. It is the prism through which you experience life.

Research has shown those with a Results-Focused, Growth Mindset make more money and are happier than those who choose to limit themselves. Those with a fixed Mindset make excuses for setbacks instead of learning from mistakes. Your Mindset will help you build self-confidence and self-discipline. It will help you overcome any obstacle and any problem.

In New Mindset New Results, discover how:

• TO ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS WITH A NEW RESULTS MINDSET
• TO BUILD A RESULTS-FOCUSED MINDSET
• YOUR MINDSET CHANGES YOUR BRAIN
• GREAT LEADERS USE A RESULTS MINDSET TO ACHIEVE THEIR GOALS
• TO DEVELOP A RESULTS MINDSET IN YOUR KIDS

In Transform!: Freedom Demands Personal Transformation, Arash Vossoughi invites readers on a profound journey of self-discovery and self-evolution. In a world constantly evolving and presenting new challenges, Vossoughi argues that true freedom can only be attained through reprograming your thoughts, feelings and behaviors.

While many individuals tend to align their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors with external circumstances beyond their control, Arash challenges this approach. He firmly believes that to effect meaningful change in one's life, it's imperative to align those thoughts, feelings, and behaviors with the new reality one aspires to create.

This book is a roadmap to unleashing the full potential within oneself. Vossoughi's compelling narrative challenges conventional thinking and inspires a mindset shift towards embracing change and taking control of one's destiny.

Drawing from his own experiences, Arash Vossoughi has honed and developed clear methods that if applied, have the power to create the transformation that anyone seeking freedom desires. His journey of learning and development serves as a beacon, illuminating the path towards personal empowerment and the attainment of true freedom.

“We can achieve an experience of love that is beyond anything we can imagine: a universal love..."

Relationships give us some of our best moments…and also our worst. It’s no wonder we’re so preoccupied with them—whether it’s fantasizing aboutg your ideal partner or trying to save a marriage, pacifying a difficult colleague or struggling to control a rebellious child.

There are thousands of books promising to reveal the secret of how to improve your relationships. A course in Miraclestakes a unique approach, teaching that relationships are the classrooms in which we learn to awaken to our true nature, which is only love.

In From Loving One to One Love, Discover that:

• We don’t “get” love from a partner nor do we have to give up anything in order to get it
• We don’t search for it out there in the world
• The love comes first, from within, then infuses all of our relationships
• To be open to this love, we release our judgments and grievances about others—”forgiveness”—and free ourselves!

By applying the Course’s principles, discover how to achieve an experience of love that shines on all alike through the eyes of love—to love as God loves.

What is The Missing Secret to Achieving Your Goals?

In this fascinating, mind stretching and empowering new book, bestselling author Dr. Joe Vitale, one of the stars of the hit movie The Secret, provides the surprising answers for achieving your goals faster than ever-even the biggest goals you can imagine!
br>Let Dr. Vitale lead you on a journey to clear your mind of blocks and beliefs, and achieve the results that you deserve. Let him teach you The Art and Science of Results.

Discover answers to these life changing questions:

• Why has it been so difficult to get the results you want?
• What is the fastest way to get clear of hidden blocks to success?
• How do beliefs create reality and how can you change them?
• What are the 9 "clearing" techniques for accelerating our results?

Dr. Joe Vitale is a globally famous author, marketing guru, movie, TV, and radio personality, musician, and one of the top 50 inspirational speakers in the world. His many bestselling books include The Attractor Factor, Attract Money Now, and Zero Limits. A popular, leading expert on the law of attraction in many hit movies, including The Secret, Dr. Vitale discovered the "missing secret" not revealed in the movie. He's been on CNN, CNBC, CBS, ABC, Fox News: Fox & Friends and Extra TV. He's also been featured in The New York Times and Newsweek.

Bestselling author and The Secret co-star Dr. Joe Vitale teaches you how to attract money easily and effortlessly by harnessing the astounding power of the Law of Attraction!

The potential to attract money and create abundant wealth doesn't reside in your job, your circumstances, or even the economy. It resides within you. Your mind is equipped with the natural ability to attract as much money as you want and need - at anytime, anyplace, in any financial climate, without struggle. You just have to know how to trigger it.

You'll learn to identify and conquer the unconscious mental blocks, money myths and misconceptions, and limiting beliefs that are preventing you from attracting money and uncover empowering new thought processes that will open the floodgates to unlimited money and wealth.

If having money and financial freedom are at the top of your personal wish list, The Secret to Attracting Money will act as the perfect blueprint to make your wishes come true.

By the bestselling author of The Psychology of Achievement and Get it Done Now!

The title comes from the story of the Phoenix---a Greek legend of a bird/dragon that arises from the ashes of its predecessor---being born again. It relates to the situations people may be in now----low achievement, lack of success, mediocrity.

As we emerge from the pandemic. Individuals, businesses of all kinds will be looking for ways to emerge "from the ashes" of this pandemic to reinvent themselves and emerge stronger. In The Phoenix Transformation you will learn how to:

• Develop a rock-solid self-concept
• Get on the fast track to achieving your goals faster than you've ever dreamed possible
• Discover how to set "flex" goals which are adaptable to a fast-changing economy
• Unlock the secret to doubling your brainpower and sharpening your intuition
• Discover the key to erasing negative emotions
• Eliminate the time and productivity wasters - most importantly, those caused by the e-mail, instant messaging, and other electronic communication devices
• Master a foolproof 12-point formula that quadruples productivity
• Learn how to nurture your most important relationships and leave a legacy
• And much more!

Les Brown has always encouraged people to follow their dreams. He believes that anything is possible. Now you can benefit from his philosophy as he guides you to develop the skills you need to live your dreams. You have the power to make vital changes in your life.

It just takes a commitment to becoming the active force in your life, and become the kind of person you want to be.

You will learn:

• How to call on a larger vision and defeat the negative self-talk that is holding you back
• To go beyond your comfort zone
• To confront your fears and let them energize instead of immobilizing you
• The importance of daily, weekly, monthly and yearly goals
• How to see beyond your current situation

As a premier Keynote Speaker and leading authority on achievement for audiences as large as 80,000 – Les Brown energizes people to meet the challenges of the world around them. He skillfully weaves his compelling life story into the fabric of our daily lives. The thread is forever strengthened, touting why you can’t afford to be complacent and to aim high, achieve and actively make an impact on the world. Revered as an icon by his colleagues, Brown received the much-coveted National Speakers Association Council of Peers Award of Excellence (CPAE), and ultimately, its most prestigious Golden Gavel Award for achievement and leadership in communication. Toastmasters International also voted him one of the Top Five Outstanding Speakers Worldwide. Legions of followers flock to stadiums and arenas to hear a man who never stops believing that with proper guidance and training you can achieve anything you desire in life.

ARE YOU READY TO BREAK FREE OF LIMITATIONS AND EXPERIENCE MIRACLES?

The world burned on fire with inspiration when bestselling author Dr. Joe Vitale revealed the four phrases of Ho’oponopono – a Hawaiian healing spirituality of profound wisdom and power – in his globally successful book, Zero Limits. Now he shares The Fifth Phrase, the most powerful healing and cleaning statement of all. Along the way, he also shares new secrets, insights and methods for faster results, deeper awakening and a life of magic and miracles.

The practice of Ho'oponopono guides you through the journey of life with the tools you need to rid yourself of hindrances and open yourself up to infinite possibilities. Don’t let your unconscious mind undermine your efforts. You have more control over it than you ever suspected. With his unique and successful method, Joe Vitale will change the way you think and help you achieve more in life than you ever thought possible.

You will learn:

• The Four Phrases of Ho’oponopono
• How to develop Your Own Phrases for Greater Spiritual Growth
• Advanced Cleaning Methods
• Higher-Level Healing Philosophies
• The Fifth Phrase, Joe Vitale's most advanced clearing phrase of all, revealed for the first time

This promises to be the most illuminating book so far on the power of transformation. Just reading it will enrich, entertain and enlighten.

Joe Vitale is a spiritual teacher best known for his appearance in the movie The Secret and as the bestselling author of The Attractor Factor and Zero Limits.

"I used to believe that poetry did not “speak” to me, but I now see how wrong I was. I lived for 44 years with a husband, a lyricist, whose beautifully crafted, heartfelt lyrics touched my every fiber and continue to uplift and inspire me a decade after his death. The special beauty of Dr. Rosenthal’s book for me is his discussion of what each poem is saying, what the poet was likely feeling and often how the poems helped him personally, as when he left his birth family in South Africa for a rewarding career in the United States." - Jane Brody, Author & New York Times Columnist

Poetry to Heal, Inspire and Enjoy

Poetry Rx presents 50 great poems as seen through the eyes of a renowned psychiatrist and New York Times bestseller. In this book, you will find insights into love, sorrow, ecstasy and everything in between: Love in the moment or for a lifetime; love that is fulfilling or addictive; when to break up and how to survive when someone breaks up with you.

Separate sections deal with responses to the natural world, and the varieties of human experience (such as hope, reconciliation, leaving home, faith, self-actualization, trauma, anger, and the thrill of discovery). Other sections involve finding your way in the world and the search for meaning, as well as the final stages of life.

In describing this multitude of human experiences, using vignettes from his work and life, Rosenthal serves as a comforting guide to these poetic works of genius. Through his writing, the workings of the mind, as depicted by these gifted writers speak to us as intimately as our closest friends.

Rosenthal also delves into the science of mind and brain. Who would have thought, for example, that listening to poetry can cause people to have goosebumps by activating the reward centers of the brain? Yet research shows that to be true.

And who were these fascinating poets? In a short biosketch that accompanies each poem, Rosenthal draws connections between the poets and their poems that help us understand the enigmatic minds that gave birth to these masterworks. Altogether, a fulfilling and intriguing must-read for anyone interested in poetry, the mind, self-help and genius.


CONTENTS

Introduction

PART ONE
Loving and Losing

Chapter One
Is There an Art to Losing?
One Art by Elizabeth Bishop

Chapter Two
Can Love Transform You?
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Chapter Three
The Heart versus the Mind
Pity me not because the light of dayby Edna St. Vincent Millay

Chapter Four
Love in the Moment
Lullaby by W. H. Auden

Chapter Five
When Love Fades
Failing and Flyingby Jack Gilbert

Chapter Six
Getting Over a Breakup I: Acceptance
Why so pale and wan fond lover?by Sir John Suckling

Chapter Seven
Getting Over a Breakup II: Reclaiming Yourself
Love after Love by Derek Walcott,

Chapter Eight
Declaring Your Love
Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? by William Shakespeare

Chapter Nine
Consoled by Love
Sonnet 29: When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes by William Shakespeare

Chapter Ten
In Praise of the Marriage of True Minds
Sonnet 116: Let me not to the marriage of true minds by William Shakespeare

Chapter Eleven
Loss of a Loved One
Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone (Funeral Blues) by W. H. Auden

Chapter Twelve
Will I Ever Feel Better?
Time Does Not Bring Relief by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Chapter Thirteen
Love Remembered
When You Are Old by William Butler Yeats

Chapter Fourteen
Love after Death
Remember by Christina Rossetti,

PART TWO
That Inward Eye

Chapter Fifteen
Transcendence in Nature
Daffodils by William Wordsworth

Chapter Sixteen
The Memory of Daffodils
Miracle on St. David’s Day by Gillian Clarke

Chapter Seventeen
Transcendence in Body and Mind
Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey (excerpt) by William Wordsworth

Chapter Eighteen
The Power of Dark and Light
There’s a certain Slant of light by Emily Dickinson

Chapter Nineteen
In Praise of Diversity
Pied Beauty by Gerard Manley Hopkins

Chapter Twenty
A Plea to Save the Natural World
Inversnaid by Gerard Manley Hopkins

Chapter Twenty-One
The Importance of Being Needed
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost

Chapter Twenty-Two
The Choices We Make
The Road Not Takenby Robert Frost

Chapter Twenty-Three
The Force of Longing
Sea Feverby John Masefield

Chapter Twenty-Four
Finding Hope in Nature
The Darkling Thrush by Thomas Hardy

PART THREE
The Human Experience

Chapter Twenty-Five The Power of Hope
“Hope” is the thing with feathers by Emily Dickinson

Chapter Twenty-Six
Welcoming Your Emotions
The Guest House by Jalaluddin Rumi Translated by Coleman Barks

Chapter Twenty-Seven
The Healing Power of Reconciliation
Out beyond Ideas by Jalaluddin Rumi (Translated by Coleman Barks)

Chapter Twenty-Eight
Leaving Home
Traveler, there is no road by Antonio Machado Translated by Mary G. Berg and Dennis Maloney

Chapter Twenty-Nine
And Those You Leave Behind
Letter to My Mother by Salvatore Quasimodo Translated by Jack Bevan

Chapter Thirty
The Importance of Self-Actualization
On His Blindness by John Milton

Chapter Thirty-One
The Power of Faith
Psalm 23A Psalm of David

Chapter Thirty-Two
The Thrill of Discovery
On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer by John Keats

Chapter Thirty-Three
The Enduring Thrill of the Moment
High Flight by John Gillespie Magee Jr

Chapter Thirty-Four
The Long Reach of Trauma
The Sentence by Anna Akhmatova Translated by Judith Hemschemeyer

Chapter Thirty-Five
The Danger of Anger
A Poison Tree by William Blake

PART FOUR
A Design for Living and the Search for Meaning

Chapter Thirty-Six
Principles for a Good Life
Polonius’ Advice to Laertesby William Shakespeare

Chapter Thirty-Seven
Remaining Steady through Life’s Ups and Downs
If by Rudyard Kipling

Chapter Thirty-Eight
Never Give Up
Invictus by William Ernest Henley

Chapter Thirty-Nine
Putting One Foot in Front of the Other
The Waking by Theodore Roethke

Chapter Forty
Should You React or Proact?
Waiting for the Barbariansby Constantine CavafyTranslated by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard

Chapter Forty-One
It’s the Journey That Matters
Ithaka by Constantine Cavafy Translated by Edmund Keeley

Chapter Forty-Two
Hold On to Your Dreams
Dreams by Langston Hughes

PART FIVE
Into the Night

Chapter Forty-Three
Should You Just Go for It?
An Irish Airman Foresees His Death by William Butler Yeats

Chapter Forty-Four
Or Should You Be Careful?
Musée des Beaux Arts by W. H. Auden

Chapter Forty-Five
Dying Too Soon
We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks

Chapter Forty-Six
Aging by Degrees
I Know I Am Getting Old by Wendell Berry

Chapter Forty-Seven
The Critical Importance of Communication
Not Waving but Drowning by Stevie Smith

Chapter Forty-Eight
Should You Rage?
Do not go gentle into that good night by Dylan Thomas

Chapter Forty-Nine
Or Is it Time to Go Gently?
Because I could not stop for Death by Emily Dickinson

Chapter Fifty
I Did Not Die!
Do not stand at my grave and weep by Mary Elizabeth Frye

A Few Last Thoughts
Source Materials and Further Reading
Permissions
Acknowledgments
Index
About the Author

INTRODUCTION
You may well wonder how I, a psychiatrist with no formal literary credentials, have chosen to write about the power of poetry to heal, inspire, and bring joy to people. It all started with a single phone call that came in late one night.
The caller was my friend David, and I knew immediately by the tone of his voice that something was wrong. He choked up as he told me that he had recently lost someone very dear to him. “How can I go on?” he mused. “How will I manage?”
Clichés and generalities readily come to mind in such situations, but I searched for something specific to say, something that might actually help. Recognizing that David is a person steeped in the arts, I said, “There is an art to losing, and like all art, it can be developed.”
He was silent for a while, and when he spoke again, his voice sounded more cheerful, as though he had tapped into some hidden source of hope.
. “Do you know the poem ‘One Art’ by Elizabeth Bishop?” he asked.
I told him no.
“Well, let me read it to you,” and he began: “‘The art of losing isn’t hard to master.’”
As he read on, his voice gathered strength and energy with each stanza. Afterwards his mood was lighter—and strangely, so was mine.
. “Can a poem really help a grieving person?” I wondered, “and if so, might other poems also have healing powers?” I marveled also at how David had reached into the depths of his grief and presented me with a gift—a poem that offered me a fresh perspective on how to help someone out of the darkness that can engulf you when you lose someone you love. I shared the poem with patients and friends, many of whom found comfort in its words, and looked for other poems that might have similar effects.

Once I started looking, I found such poems everywhere. One friend, a therapist, had been so moved by a poem about aging by Wendell Berry that she had given copies of it to patients (It’s in chapter 46 in this collection). I bolstered my promising findings with Internet reports of comfort and relief in response to particular poems.
The idea of this book is that poetry can not only inspire and delight, but can actually help you feel better, soothe your pain, and heal psychological wounds. In short, as the book’s title suggests, poetry can act as a kind of medicine.
Although all literature can console, there is something about great poetry—its rhythms and cadences, its conciseness and brilliance—that has a power and charm all its own. One way in which poetry exerts its effect is that it is easier to remember, recall, and reproduce at will. We can at a moment’s notice dip into our memory and conjure up Wordsworth’s daffodils or Keats’ nightingale.

The Poems
The fifty gemlike poems in this collection have all stood the test of time and appear in published anthologies. They are all relatively short, most fitting on a single page. In their conciseness they deliver their messages in the most efficient, effective, and beautiful way possible.
Friends, patients, and I have all enjoyed and benefited from some or all of these verses. I hope you might find the same healing power and joy from them as we have.
The collection is divided into five sections, each covering an area important for a good and happy life: (1) loving and losing; (2) responses to nature; (3) aspects of the human experience; (4) a design for living and the search for meaning; and (5) the last phase of life.

How to Get the Most out of a Poem
Although reading a poem seems like a very straightforward activity, it can be greatly enriched by a few simple tricks.
Remember to enjoy the poem.
It should be fun, not work!
Actively engage with the poem.
Give it your full attention, and it will reward you.
Read it aloud. That way you can enjoy the music in the words. Also, vocalizing the words involves different sets of nerves and muscles and different parts of the brain compared to reading it silently. Therefore it will create a different experience. But most importantly, reading a poem aloud deepens its therapeutic potential.
Read the poem more than once. One mysterious aspect of a poem is how successive readings reveal new layers of meaning. How strange! After all, the lines are right there on the page. When you read them the first time, they may seem perfectly clear. How, then, can they still yield new insights and rewards when you revisit them? Try it and see for yourself.
Experience the poem with all of your senses. A poem is no more a purely intellectual experience than a song or a painting or a spoonful of ice cream. For an example of a poem that engages all your senses, look at “Sea Fever“ (chapter 23).
As the reader, you complete the poem, in the process bringing your past experiences into the collaboration between you and the poet. At the moment of completion, it may feel as if the pieces of a puzzle are falling together. You may delight in the aha! moment as you think, “So that’s what the poet meant!” Allow yourself to experience the wonder a poem provides when it opens up new spaces in which your mind can roam.
Listen to others reading the poem. Many of the poems in this collection are read aloud online by talented women and men, and can be found on the Internet. One outstanding example is the sonnet “Pity me not because the light of day” (chapter 3), which is beautifully read by its author, Edna St. Vincent Millay. Neuroscientist Eugen Wassiliwizky and colleagues at the Max Planck Institute in Frankfurt have found that recited poetry can be a powerful stimulus for eliciting peak emotional responses such as chills and goosebumps, by activating the brain’s reward circuitry.
Tolerate—and even savor—ambiguity of feeling and thought. Be intrigued by what you don’t immediately understand. There is such a thing as creative reading as well as creative writing. Often in poems, circuits are not completed, ideas are left unfinished or equivocal. This is not accidental. The unfinished business may serve as a focus of continued puzzlement, a brain teaser lingering in the mind, begging for a solution. Some experimental data suggest that people remember unfinished or interrupted tasks better than completed ones (the so-­called Zeigarnik effect). So it may be that by presenting the reader with unfinished ideas, the poet creates a more memorable and indelible work.
Pay attention to details. Punctuation, the separation of lines, their placement on the page, form, rhythm, and rhyme, as well as the white space that helps give the poem its shape, may all be part of what the poet is trying to communicate.

Remember, when reading a poem, it is your interpretation rather than mine or anyone else’s that is most important. As Dee Snider from the band Twisted Sister said, “The beauty of literature, poetry, and music is that they leave room for the audience to put its own imagination, experiences, and dreams into the words.” So any interpretations I offer are mine alone; I encourage you to differ.
And most of all, have fun engaging with these beautiful and ingenious creations.