TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Acknowledgments
• Introduction

PART ONE

Practice

REFUGE: Turning Inward, Finding Strength
Animals threatened with extinction and in need of protection often find themselves in a refuge, a place of safety and nourishment. To lead a sane and beautiful life, we need a space of quiet and deep rest where we can turn inward and find strength. In this place, we find compassion, tranquility, love, strength, and a sense of ease. The seed of our renewal lies in our ability to develop practices of mindfulness, a language of spirit and a reconnection with the body. If we don't find refuge within ourselves, we will always be asking others to be what they are not meant to be.
• Practice
• Mindfulness
• Words
• Healing

PART TWO

Relationships

UNION: Reaching Out at Home and at Work
How we treat other human beings reveals a lot about where we are on the journey, what lessons we still need to learn, and how readily we can find the best within ourselves and make it available to another. One of the ways we live out the spiritual, godlike pieces of ourselves is through companionship; it is the place where the heart opens or closes in the most telling ways.
• Relationships
• Ritual
• Stories
• Images

PART THREE

Place

EMBRACE: Turning Outward, Finding Connection
How do we acknowledge the levels of horror and pain and strangeness in the world, and still engage? If we try to shield ourselves from what is happening down the street or halfway around the world, this isolation often just brings more pain. Once the eye is open, we must see. Once we hear, we must respond. This is a vital aspect of our spiritual lives, this reaching beyond the self, beyond what is familiar, to find that what we thought was separate from us is actually part of us. Suffering is universal. So is the power of our embrace.
• Circles
• Celebration
• Place