PRODUCT DESCRIPTION:
The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher’s Life
As a spiritually inspirational book for teachers, The Courage to Teach is one of the best. The premise is concise and unarguable: good teaching comes from the identity and the integrity of the teacher. Teachers are encouraged to turn their inquiring minds inward–developing a deeper understanding of what it means to fulfill the spiritual calling of teaching. Good teachers share one trait, says author Parker Palmer, they are able to weave a complex web of connections among themselves, their subjects, and their students, so that students can learn to weave a world for themselves. The connections made by good teachers are held not in their methods but in their hearts–the place where intellect and emotion and spirit and will converge in the human self.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION:
The Everyday Work of Art: Awakening the Extraordinary in Your Daily Life
A Book of the Month Club Selection, and winner of the Broadway Theatre Institute and Benjamin Franklin awards, this book has earned a wide, varied and passionate following in the arts, education, business, and spiritual communities. Its wide appeal springs from its unique and powerful redefinition of art. This is more than the “nouns” of art that fill museums and concert halls. This is the art in which all people engage in bits and pieces throughout the day whenever we use the same “verbs” of art that artists use. The Everyday Work of Art illuminates the artistry we all practice, and it enables us to reclaim the fun and satisfaction that is already happening unnoticed right under our noses. Discover why Yo-Yo Ma calls this book “a joy to read” and why critics, celebrities, artists, educators, philosophers, students and parents have become enthusiastic readers and practitioners of The Everyday Work of Art.  This book is available from Amazon.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION:
How to Win Friends & Influence People
This grandfather of all people-skills books was first published in 1937. It was an overnight hit, eventually selling 15 million copies. How to Win Friends and Influence People is just as useful today as it was when it was first published, because Dale Carnegie had an understanding of human nature that will never be outdated. Financial success, Carnegie believed, is due 15 percent to professional knowledge and 85 percent to “the ability to express ideas, to assume leadership, and to arouse enthusiasm among people.” He teaches these skills through underlying principles of dealing with people so that they feel important and appreciated. He also emphasizes fundamental techniques for handling people without making them feel manipulated. Carnegie says you can make someone want to do what you want them to by seeing the situation from the other person’s point of view and “arousing in the other person an eager want.” You learn how to make people like you, win people over to your way of thinking, and change people without causing offense or arousing resentment. For instance, “let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers,” and “talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.” Carnegie illustrates his points with anecdotes of historical figures, leaders of the business world, and everyday folks.  This book is available from Amazon.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION:
The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance
The Inner Game of Tennis is a revolutionary program for overcoming the self-doubt, nervousness, and lapses of concentration that can keep a player from winning. Now available in a revised paperback edition, this classic bestseller can change the way the game of tennis is played.

A phenomenon when first published in 1972, The Inner Game was a real revelation. Instead of serving up technique, it concentrated on the fact that, as Gallwey wrote, “Every game is composed of two parts, an outer game and an inner game.” The former is played against opponents, and is filled with lots of contradictory advice; the latter is played not against, but within the mind of the player, and its principal obstacles are self-doubt and anxiety. Gallwey’s revolutionary thinking, built on a foundation of Zen thinking and humanistic psychology, was really a primer on how to get out of your own way to let your best game emerge.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION:
Make the Impossible Possible: One Man’s Crusade to Inspire Others to Dream Bigger and Achieve the Extraordinary
Bill Strickland says “Success is the point where your most authentic talents, passion, values, and experiences intersect with the chance to contribute to some greater good.”  Strickland believes that every one of us has the potential for remarkable achievement. Every one of us can accomplish the impossible in our lives if given the right inspiration and motivation to do so.  Through lessons from his own life experiences, and those of countless others who have overcome their circumstances and turned their lives around, Make the Impossible Possible shows how all of us can build on our passions and strengths, dream bigger and set the bar higher, achieve meaningful success and help mentor and inspire the lives of others.  This book is available through the website listed below as well as from Amazon.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION:
This Time I Dance!: Creating the Work You Love
In This Time I Dance!, Tama Kieves shares the inspiring wisdom that led her from being a successful Harvard lawyer to an even more successful writer and life coach. The best part? She’s happy with her career!

We all look for what will make us happy in life, but we don’t always make the choices that we should when it comes to sustaining that happiness. Tama Kieves shows how to do just that: how to stay happy and employed doing something you love, and what it takes to stop being a stressed-out worker and make peace with your career-and, most important, with yourself. Filled with solutions to the anxieties and roadblocks you may confront on your path, This Time I Dance! is for all those who are unfulfilled at work and uncertain of the practical steps that they should follow to achieve their dreams.  This book is available from the website listed below as well as from Amazon.

About Lisa Canning

“Vowels are to words what creativity is to the world~ basic and necessary.”

What motivates you to explore your creativity? Follow me @EntretheArts.

For daily inspiration and creative education join me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EntrepreneurTheArts

Need a magic creativity wand? Let’s start with the clarinet and see what it inspires you to dream and do.

Lisa Canning is the founder of Lisa’s Clarinet Shop, IAEOU, the Institute for Arts Entrepreneurship (IAE) and Entrepreneur the Arts.