September 11, 2009

Pema Chodron Tibetan Buddhism Planners and Calendars

As an ordained nun in the Tibetan Buddhist Vajrayana tradition, Pema Chodron inspires with her day to day wisdom. Amber Lotus has created three calendars in her honor: a wall calendar, a mini wall calendar and an engagement planner or date book. All three are beautifully done and the inspirational and uplifting quotes from The Places That Scare You, which is designed to help us cultivate compassion and awareness within the challenges of daily life. These insightful quotes are paired with beautifully evocative and meditative nature photography.

Bible, Proverbs and psalm verses planners, date books and agendas

These go by many names. Whether you call them agenda books, date planners, planners, pocket calendars or date books... They go where you go and help you keep track of your life. Since they are also spiritual calendars, they help you get inspired about your life in the meantime.

Rumi Calendars and planners, date books and agendas

Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi was a 13th-century Persian poet, Sunni Islamic jurist, and theologian and mystic. He is often called 'Mewlana' (or Mevlana) or simply Rumi. His poems and sayings are amongst the most beloved religious poetry in the world. Based in the sufi mysticism of Islam they are at once sensuous and wise, tantalizing and deep.

No wonder that books with his poetry sell so well.

Spiritual and Religious Wall calendars

I use my wall calendar for shopping notes, engagement planning and just having some great artwork on the wall. These calendars are inspirational, uplifting and beautiful.

Spiritual and religious planners, date books and agendas

These go by many names. Whether you call them agenda books, date planners, planners, pocket calendars or date books... They go where you go and help you keep track of your life. Since they are also spiritual calendars, they help you get inspired about your life in the meantime.

Many of these are made to also function as your year diary: keep track not just of your appointments, but also of your thoughts and feelings about your life. What did your kids achieve? How did they respond? etc.

Religious and Spiritual Calendars 2009 - 2010

Each religion and spiritual tradition has its own celebrations. These holy days or seasonal days are often linked to the movement of the moon and the sun instead of a specific date on the calendar. This means that keeping up with them requires a calendar which includes them.

In addition to this some religions, like Islam and Judaism, have a different calendar from the one used in the West (the Gregorian calendar). China too has its own calendar.

Most people looking for a spiritual calendar these days want it to be pretty as well as functional. It should have the main dates of their spiritual tradition, but it should also inspire - whether illustrated with beautiful artwork or by spiritual quotes, or of course both.

Below you will find links to pages with wall calendars, pocket calendars, desk calendars and date planners from the main religious traditions: Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Wicca (paganism), Judaism and more. But I have also collected motivational and healing calendars for instance. I've even included a few eternal calendars that are meant to help you stay inspired throughout the year, each year.

Some of these calendars are monthly, others daily or weekly. Most of them have a meditative atmosphere which should help keep you centered. I've selected some of the best calendars around.

July 21, 2009

How to use your student planner to organize your academic life

Make that deadline!

Papers cannot be written well the day before the deadline – that is, for most people that will result in a paper that gets at least one grade point lower grade than if they'd started well ahead of time. In college your teachers will not remind you of your homework every time you see them – and you also see them less often than in school. Still, those papers and tests do have to be done – and you want to do them well to get ahead.

This is why getting organized is so important. And it can't hurt that being organized will help you later in life as well.

As anyone will tell you: to get organized you need a planner. In fact, you need a GOOD planner and you need to use it too, of course.