Jennifer Kavanagh

What if the facts on which we base our lives are shown to be unreliable? What if our expectations are confounded? What if we let go of those assumptions and expectations? What if we let go of our familiar, habitual ways of thinking? What if we let go of the very need to know? Unknowing is at the centre of spiritual life. It is only by creating a space in which anything can happen that we allow God to speak; only by stepping back that we allow space for that unpredictable Spirit that brings us gifts beyond any of our imaginings..."God dwells only where man steps back to give him room."

B is not a child of his time. As an outsider, he hides his secrets well. Freedom is all he dreams of. But when it comes at last, it is in the most unexpected way - and at a considerable cost.

This report seeks to inform the debate over the extent of U.S. military presence overseas by providing a rigorous estimate of the costs associated with maintaining U.S. Air Force installations and units overseas rather than in the United States.

The concepts of success and failure are embedded in our culture, but how real are they? From a wide range of answers and her own experience, Jennifer Kavanagh explores some of the stereotypes on which these concepts are based, and reveals what people feel really matters in their lives. There is a growing acceptance that failure can not only lead to success but can open us to profound change. If we let go of the quest for individual perfection, and accept what is, our lives and relationships will be enriched. If we let go of our judgemental behaviour, we will no longer view life in terms of success or failure. If we let go of the need to control our lives, we will let go of goals and expectation. If we let go of our attachment to outcomes, we will be content with where and who we are. We may even go beyond the duality of opposites to an understanding of essential unity. Putting one foot in front of the other, neither afraid of failure nor triumphant with success. Living, in other words.

As we consider the plight of our consumer-driven economy, it is easy to forget that money is about relationship: between individuals and between communities. In our current financial mess, it is worth reminding ourselves of community-based alternatives, and to look closely at microcredit, a model of peer lending to enable people to move out of poverty. From Bangladesh, from South Africa, from Ghana, and from the East End of London, we are given a worm's eye view of small scale work, of personal transformation, and the building of community. Small and local is still beautiful, and has much to teach us.

Home - one of the most emotive words in any language. But it can mean different things to different people and, based on extensive interviews, Jennifer Kavanagh explores our outer and inner identities and asks: "What does home mean to you?" Home is not just four walls or the country in which we were born. It is not a locked door, an investment, a legal address, or a nation with rigid borders. Home is where the heart is: a yearning for a precious past, a dream of something that has never been, or a present reality. In relationship - with our families, in community, and with the whole of creation. In this compelling and immensely readable book, Kavanagh suggests that we will never be at home unless we are at home to ourselves. Home is where we all want to be.

In folk history and religion, from the Shakers to Zen, simplicity has generally been considered a good thing. Our own motivation may be to leave a smaller carbon footprint, to express a compassionate solidarity with those who have least; or simply to downsize. Whatever our concern, it is likely that the motivation to live a simpler life will spring from within. At heart, simplicity is a focus on what matters. Reducing the clutter in our lives, whether in material objects, use of time or money, or in our religious practices, leads to an increased clarity of vision and a focus; a view of life and its priorities that is in itself simple. Step by step we can move towards a state in which our attitudes and life are all of a piece, integrated and made one. Simplicity is the outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace. With this inspiring book, discover how simplicity can become a way of life.

To see what life would be like if your answers are 'Yes!' then the voices of these twelve Quakers will speak to you. For they follow a way that embraces maximum spirituality with minimum religion. Their spiritual path is as simple, radical and contemporary as it was when it began over 350 years ago. Having guarded probably the best kept spiritual secret in the world, because of their refusal to proselytise, Quakers now feel, in the face of climate change and religious extremism, this is the time to speak out and share a way that is tolerant, liberal and compassionate: a way that makes life meaningful, happy and helps to heal the world.

This book develops a fact-based approach to modeling diversity management in U.S. corporations, analyzes the strategies pursued by 14 large U.S. companies recognized for their diversity or human resource achievements, and compares a number of company characteristics. Firms recognized for diversity are distinguished by a core set of motives and practices, but best practices per se may not enable a company to achieve a high level of diversity.It develops a fact-based approach to diversity management in U.S. corporations and uses it to compare corporate practices.

The dedicated religious life of monks and nuns has a fascination for many of us-at a distance. We live in the world we have, and it's hard to figure out how to do it in a God-filled way. "The World is Our Cloister" is about the new religious life; a life to which Protestant, Catholic, Hindu or those with no label can relate. It is a guide to living the devotional life, not behind the walls of a monastery, but in the world. It's about engagement in the world as well as withdrawal, the balance between a life of action and one of contemplation; how to be in the world but not of it. It is also a guide to the mystical experience at the heart of all religion. Beyond the barriers of belief and practice lies the stark and simple reality of relating to God: "the practice of the presence of God".

In 1998, the U.S. Army became the only service to shift its senior enlistment force from a fixed enlistment contract system to indefinite reenlistment, which eliminated the reenlistment requirement in the latter half of a noncommissioned officer's career and placed them on the same indefinite service contract as officers. This study considers the utility of this program and potential applicability to the other service branches.

Analyzes literature on the relationships among stressors, stress, and performance and applies the most relevant findings to military operations and training. There are many stressors associated with military life, particularly with deployments, and it is important to understand how such stressors affect individual functioning and performance. This report reviews literature on how stress affects performance generally, and applies the most relevant findings to military operations and training.

Discusses the primary literature and empirical findings related to three major factors that affect military personnel productivity: experience, training, and ability. Reviews the primary literature and empirical findings related to three major factors that affect military personnel productivity: experience, training, and ability, and finds that each of these three factors contributes significantly to personnel productivity.

This report focuses on the factors affecting the supply of information technology (IT) personnel to the active duty enlisted force, and the findings point to the conclusion that the IT training opportunities offered by the military can help secure the supply of IT personnel over the long haul. During the 1990s, the private-sector demand for information technology (IT) workers, escalating private-sector pay in IT, growing military dependence on IT, and faltering military recruiting led to a concern that the military cap ability was vulnerable to a large shortfall in IT personnel. This report addresses that concern by use of a literature review, field interviews, data analysis, and a dynamic model that, taken together, offer some policy implications for military planners in terms of how to recruit and retain qualified IT personnel.