Nancy J. Nordenson

Just Think hopes to meet the reader at the place of spiritual longing. Spiritual longing can take many forms: a wish for meaning, a yearning for purpose and significance, a need for affirmation and assurance, an inner loneliness, an attraction to joy or beauty, a hunger for God. Most people don’t look to their minds to help them satisfy the longing they feel, however. Thinking, the activity of the mind, is typically associated either with academic pursuits or strategies to succeed or be clever. It is seldom considered in terms of its association with the life of the soul. Yet the association is strong. Ideas and insights are just some of the prizes of thinking that overflow the cognitive perimeter to wash over and flood the soul with vitality. Questions and searches deepen the soul. Knowledge invites the soul to join the mind in actions of service and belief. In prayer, mind and soul unite to participate in mystery. Through attentiveness, study, and contemplation, God is recognized and known, swelling both mind and soul with life. With thinking as spiritual practice, mind meets soul and both are bound together.

(Please note, although the cover of this book markets itself more to women than men, the inside of the book is for both.)

"Nancy Nordenson joyfully invites us to dust off our mental cobwebs and open our minds and hearts to new possibilities for living and thinking. Nothing is mundane or ordinary. A used airline ticket stub, family photos, rocks and shells are among the familiar objects in a busy day that become taking off points for her thoughtful reflections on life's big questions. She gently nudges us into our own fresh world of mental and spiritual growth and guides us along the way to become wiser in leading lives of significance and service."


"This could become a little classic of practical spirituality... Long on wisdom, compassion, and insight, Just Think is a delight to read and ponder."


"Well written and practical, Just Think is an invitation to think big. It's a compelling call to fully engage your mind in order to fully embrace life. A must read for everyone."


"A page-turner is a book that holds the attention and motivates a reader to whip through page after page with bated breath. It's usually associated with 'fast' reading. Nordenson's book is in a rare class of 'slow' page-turners. So rich with quotations from many sources and her own finely crafted aphorisms and analogies, her pages make me want to 'just think' for awhile but yet hasten on to find the next treasures. Here is an excellent mind worth following as close as you can and sentences worth pondering as long as you can."


“Just Think is a lovely, lyrical book that calls us to 'think in order to live more abundantly.' Nancy Nordenson writes for all women of faith, including those with little formal education. Her book provides invaluable guidance on a host of topics: how to grow in wisdom, how to see and appreciate beauty, how to balance faith and reason, and how to become equipped for creativity. Her insights will help readers live life more richly and worship God more fully."


"Just Think is a book that offers up the wisdom of the ages along with Nancy Nordenson's encouraging spin on living life thoughtfully in the here and now. It's a book I recommend to anyone who believes life is not just for existing, but growing with the gifts we've been given!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Introduction

1. A Mind for Life
A Mind in Love With God
A Matter of Integrity
Thought in the Realm of Abundance
The Principle of Return
Courting a Powerful Thought


2. The Needed Balance
Of Faith and Reason
Of Mind and Heart

3. Forward Movement
I Was Younger Yesterday
Moving to What’s Next
Evidence of the Journey
Prepared Paths
Leaving Ignorance Behind

4. Breadth of Life; Fullness of Thought
The Well-Stocked Mind
Consider All This
A World Too Small
In the Game
As Iron Sharpens Iron
Eyes Wide Open
The Books by Your Bed

5. Accommodations for Thought
Of Kitchen Sinks and Fire Escapes
Solitude
Cerebral Privacy
Props for Thought
Environmental Affairs
What Is It Worth?
To Everything a Season

6. Mental Readiness
Steel Before Paint
Ingredients in Advance
Great Expectations
Captured on Paper
Into Words
A Daily Prism
A Preference for Knowledge

7. Befogged
Clarity
Melancholy
Boredom
Emotion
Barreness

8. Self-Knowledge
I Am
A Student of One’s Life
A Penny for My Thoughts

9. Truth
A Sometimes Skeptic?Part 1
A Sometimes Skeptic?Part 2
The Challenge
Facts Transformed

10. Questions and Answers
Prelude to Answers
The Blue Book Exam
Getting to the Answer
Primed With Knowledge
Unexpected Discovery
Brooding
Finding

11. Stretch and Strain
A Willingness To Be Perplexed
The Simple, the Complex
To See the Whole

12. Lifelong Learning
A Right to Learn
Pursuing Self-Education
Our Absent Teachers
Gathered Together
The Round Table of Counsel

13. Rhythm: Work and Rest
Sustained and Productive
Swimming Under Water
Saving the Best Strength
Beachcombing
Rejuvenation

14. Action
Knowledge Lived
To Choose the Way
Contributions of Excellence
A Link in the Chain

15. The Conclusion of the Matter
The Pursuit of Wisdom
Reunion
Thinking With Your Face Toward the Light

© 2003-2009. All rights reserved. Nancy J. Nordenson.