Making a promise to myself to focus on fun and relaxation this weekend. Not too much online time. But some of course 
Aiming for a balance of alone and social, fresh air, sleep, play, laughter, art (always in the cards for me with little miss), and exercise. Wishing you the same.
Go somewhere dark and lay under the starsBon appetit this beautiful last July 2012 weekend!
Now I’m off with the family and friends to the giant sequoias for a weekend of camping!
I would love to believe that when I die I will live again, that some thinking, feeling, remembering part of me will continue. But much as I want to believe that, and despite the ancient and worldwide cultural traditions that assert an afterlife, I know of nothing to suggest that it is more than wishful thinking. The world is so exquisite with so much love and moral depth, that there is no reason to deceive ourselves with pretty stories for which there’s little good evidence. Far better it seems to me, in our vulnerability, is to look death in the eye and to be grateful every day for the brief but magnificent opportunity that life provides.
— Carl Sagan
“If you’re showing up as honestly as you know how to — you’re going to annoy someone. Criticism and counter opinions are part of dynamic expression and creativity. If you’re not generating some resistance, you’re probably not fully stepping out. For every seven people applauding, one person will hiss-boo, one will be indifferent, and one will be less than sane. Show up anyway. In public.
You won’t please everyone.
You won’t please one person all of the time.
Hell, you won’t even please yourself all of the time.”
~ Danielle LaPorte
*Danielle has some great stuff to say. Poke around here.
I am a reading fiend lately! And the few I’ve read over the past three or four weeks have all been great! So grab your favorite comfy chair and a mug of tea, this could take a while…you’ve got some reading to do!
I Remember Nothing – And Other Reflections by Nora Ephron
Very funny! This is the woman who wrote “When Harry Met Sally” one of my all-time favorite movies and absolute comfort go-to. Wonderfully smart and clever way of writing about so many of the everyday things that happen in our lives, and some that just happen to her.
Devotion by Dani Shapiro
I just wrote about this one here so I won’t go on except to say…a must read!
About Alice by Calvin Trillin
This one was recommended by my dear Aunt Myra, daughter of Annette (in other words, my Dad’s sister). A sweet gem of a book, easily read in a day or two. Calvin Trillin, a staff writer for the New Yorker since 1963, shares a beautiful collection of anecdotes that paint a portrait of his wife Alice and their marriage. At turns sad and dark as well as funny and light – a great read.
Slow Motion by Dani Shapiro
Yes, Dani Shapiro again. Wow! I am absolutely glued to this book! I’m almost done and it is keeping me up at night the same way mystery novels keep others up but this is a memoir. Dani writes about her journey through her early twenties when she lost her way, dropped out of college, took up with an unsavory wealthy man, and began drinking to try to block out her screaming soul. Absolutely riveting, and particularly if you’re someone who struggled with the decisions of young adulthood and made some bad choices…you may love this book.
Comments:
What are you reading right now? I’d love to hear any recommendations you have!
“…I had put off thinking about this, because it seemed that there would always be time. Later in a few years, I would turn my attention to the big questions – once I had taken care of the smaller ones. Except the smaller ones kept coming, And gradually – though it felt like a split second-I realized that I had reached the still point at the very top of a curve.”
~ Dani Shapiro, Devotion
I just finished reading Devotion by Dani Shapiro and I highly recommend it to anyone probing the big spiritual questions in life (or anyone who loves to read, really). It’s about one woman’s journey through the complexity of faith and finding one’s own path inward, making peace with what it means to be human and to face the great design. To know that we do not know, and yet understand that we are part of something so big that to reach out for connection through rituals and practices that make us stop and take notice is sometimes enough…maybe all there is.
I was lucky enough to find Devotion thanks to a fellow reader and blogger’s review of the book, in case you want a little more before wading into the deep waters of what I found to be one of the most powerful books I’ve read this year.
This may not come as a shock to anyone in the medical industry, but I noticed that sometimes after I visit the dermatologist and he cuts out a little wobbly shaped freckle or freeze dries one of those spots my pale Irish/Russian skin tends to get, I feel like crying.
I mean I know it’s a small injury that’s been done. It’s not the physical pain that’s causing the upset, and I know it’s for my own good. And what’s more I know it was optional and that I chose it to protect my life against melanoma (one of the fastest growing killers by the way) but still, this little indignity to my physical self causes this tidal swell in my emotions. It’s deep down. It’s gut level. There’s no thinking involved. I feel the emotion rise in me like the sea rises with the tide. Sometimes even hours after I am back from the appointment.
Isn’t it fascinating to see so clearly that one of the functions of our emotions is to protect us from harm. To alert us that we have been hurt, cut, burned, and we didn’t like it. This emotion is set in place to make us take notice, even after the physical sting has passed. It’s part of our warning system.
Think about that now in relation to the rest of your life.
What are your emotions trying to tell you?
I am never exactly as I wish to be. My ideal self would have a different outfit on. I would be freshly showered and my hair would look great. I would be stylish. Fun. Light. Happy. I would be clear headed, rested and full of energy. I would be feeling clean and healthy having only eaten cleanly and exercised as I should every day. I would feel light and thin and completely at ease in my body.
This ideal self is completely attainable. In fact it’s not much further away than I am now. Yet this slight difference seems to be the gap that is impassable. A length never crossed. Is it only in my mind? Is it a necessary evil. A carrot dangling just a bit further the closer the bunny gets? Or is this gap real? The difference between who I am and who I know I can and wish desperately to be, but never quite am.
Does everyone have this gap between their real and ideal self? If you have one, are you always aware of your ideal self? Do you find it fun and motivating to have an ideal self image to strive toward, or is it more of a downer?
