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Solowingnow

~ Dealing with change doesn't mean starting over; it's about how you transition from wherever you are right now to the next place.

Solowingnow

Category Archives: Reading

3 Hurdles to Overcome

17 Tuesday Apr 2018

Posted by Pat in Connecting the Dots, Making progress, Reading, Tips and Tricks

≈ 1 Comment

“Higher! Higher!” I remember hearing the voices in my head when I was in high school and wanted to run hurdles on the track and field team. If I could just reach my leg a little higher, stretch my stride a little longer, I’d find the rhythm that would make hurdling easier. Alas, a toe would drift down and graze the top of the hurdle, I’d stumble or knock it over, and occasionally I’d hit the ground. It didn’t register then that I wasn’t as tall as some of the other girls who more easily glided over the course, and my legs might never give me the clearance I’d need.

track ribbonsAnyway, I turned to sprinting, minus hurdles, and I managed to secure a spot on the relay team that had some success and  made it all the way to Regional competition. I was no Olympic wanna-be; I just wanted to belong and do something I was good at.relay pins

“You’re a runner; you can do this! No.  It hurts. I’m a sprinter, not a marathoner. I can’t breathe. Yes, you can do this. Just a little more. This is crazy. Who cares about a stupid record?” And because I kept up the conversation in my head and didn’t stop running, when I was in the U.S. Army’s Basic Training, I completed a 2 mile run within time and captured a record, a big one. I was the first woman EVER to get a perfect score of 500 on the Physical Training (PT) test.Army 500 I happened to be in the last class of the Women’s Army Corps before it was absorbed into the regular Army, so, I guess my record stands.

Much has changed in the past 40+ years, at least as far as athletic accomplishment goes . I couldn’t jump over a hurdle now if my life depended on it, and sprinting around a cinder track would most likely take half a day and hurt a lot. I kept up the longer-distance running for a while because it turned out I liked the moderately slower pace and the feel of being healthy and limber, but I let a marriage, three kids, and a full time job get in the way of my routine. Now I’m happy if I can stroll around the neighborhood with the dogs without getting worn out.

But I have – fortunately – learned a few things along the way, three lessons that have stood the test of time and now serve as nudges when I get stuck in a rut or completely run out of air. I was reminded of them the other night when I heard Greg Lilly, a local author and publisher, speak about how writers can get moving again if they are feeling unproductive or blocked, but they apply to most efforts to finish something we have started (or get started at all).  They are the lessons of managing Time, overcoming Doubt, and finding Inspiration. In this post, I’ll talk about time, and I’ll cover the other two in future posts. Time is the biggie for me, even though I’m no longer tied down to a full-time job outside the house. I still have plenty to do with volunteerism and a menagerie of dogs to love, but solidly managing my calendar to allow writing time trips me up sometimes. Wait til you read about the solution below!

Time

I am usually amused when someone says they don’t have time to do something. We all know we have the same amount of time, so what they are really saying is that the something is not a priority. When we don’t want to do it, we fudge a little and blame it on the thing we all relate to: not enough time. Just yesterday I canceled a coffee meeting with someone I had recently met at a networking meeting. Rather than talk about my business, I realized that he was trying to sell me some kind of insurance when he sent me a video the night before and asked that I watch it in advance of our meeting. I copped out just a little – I sent a text instead of calling him, but in my defense, he sent the video by text also. Anyway, I told him it would be a waste of his time and mine, since I wasn’t interested in the insurance product, and I canceled the meeting. I have to admit it felt good to be honest (I could have said my dog got sick or something). And it felt freeing, because this was now “found” time I could use for writing.

Discipline v. Commitment

Writers, like other artists and creatives  I suppose, like to use the word “discipline.,” We way we “just aren’t disciplined,” or “I need some self discipline.” What  it comes down to is really just  putting our butts in the chair and getting to the  business of writing. But I like how  Julia Cameron referred to this in her book The Right to Write. She said that people think they have to be disciplined, which in itself has a negative or strict connotation. What we need instead, she says, is to make a commitment, and then we will find the time. “Commitment” is a choice, which is a positive spin, which is motivating. Tomato — to-mah-toe? I am on the side of commitment.

Newton v. Einstein

Another take on this issue of having enough time comes from  a fascinating read by Gay Hendricks in his book The Big Leap. He says that time is a paradigm, or set of beliefs, we hold and that there are two views on this.  There is the Newtonian paradigm (from Isaac Newton) which says there is only a finite amount of time. We have to be careful with how we spend it so there is enough time to do…what we want to do, what we need to do, before it runs out, since we can’t make more time.

Unless we can. The solution to this, the other paradigm, is Einstein Time (yes, Albert Einstein). Hendricks suggests Einstein had a new way of “being with time” that lets us get more done in less time and helps us enjoy plenty of time to discover and express our abilities and feel good at the same time. Einstein time gives us a way to expand time, if we allow ourselves to become the source of time and slow things down. Essentially, we have to change our thinking to taking full ownership of time.

Sometimes I get it, this idea…and sometimes I am confused and skeptical and … you know what I mean, you’re probably feeling that way right now, too. I can’t discount it completely because  I have been able to stretch time on occasion, but to consciously slow things down so there is enough time to get things done; I have to think about this. Time has stood still for me on occasion, and I have had the experience of time flying (like those last 40 years). I really have to get my mind around this concept, though.

In sum, Lilly’s advice is consistent with Cameron and Hendricks. We “find” time for what we have decided is important to us, and we do that by claiming it and staking our ground. Maybe we shut ourselves away in a room or leave the house to do what we “need” to do. Maybe we trick ourselves by setting a deadline. Offering rewards to myself doesn’t work for me because I’ll just go ahead and get what I want anyway if I want it enough, but it might work for you. The big idea here is to drop the guilt about spending time doing what we love to do. And engaging in that act of creation or whatever, being in that moment, giving ourselves permission to do this is a way to overcome the hurdle of time.

Since I’ve been “solowing,” my time paradigm really has changed, and I’m much more aware of and respectful of time. While we like to say “we never know how much time we have” in terms of life expectancy, I know this to be true. So I have shuffled my priorities, discarded some projects or responsibilities, made time for others. It’s possible I am shifting from Newtonian time to Einstein time! In any event, I value time now in a way that keeps me from getting blocked or stuck. I take my commitments seriously, and I don’t make  appointments that will be a waste of time.  If you have a time-saving tip, if you have experience with expanding time, if you have a story to tell about when the time was just right, please share! It might help me and others to make shifts in our thinking.

In my next post, I will touch on the hurdle of doubt and fear. I hope you’ll check back for that soon. That one is a huge one in terms of making it to the finish line of achieving our goals.

 

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Journaling, again

29 Tuesday Nov 2016

Posted by Pat in Grief, Reading, Sabbatical, Traditions, Transformation

≈ 4 Comments

I haven’t found much immediate comfort when I am in the act of writing in my journal, but I do love to go back later and read whatever I wrote.  I guess it’s a good thing when you think your own life is kind of interesting!  Today is a day for that – the rereading. A few days ago was the 2nd anniversary of Kevin’s passing, and tomorrow would have been his 57th birthday. I still miss him like crazy.

For about the first year after he died, I kept a journal using the guest book from his memorial service. A blank page, though, is not my style.  I could fill it up (and then some) once I got going, but getting started is the hard part. Like many things we want to do, I suppose.  Some days take up a paragraph but some are several pages, and some days I didn’t write at all, and the rest of the time, I kept a factual record of what happened more so than a record of my feelings.  Still, it is good for me to see how much has changed, in me, in my world…or not.

What works better for me for journaling is a fill-in-the-blank kind of format.  A friend gave me one for recording info about my motorcycle trips, and I had one for camping also. Then I found a “Me” journal, similar in format to the other two.  I used that style for a long time. I didn’t write every day… Ha! I actually have gathered 13 years’ worth in only 2 volumes! It turns out if you write as infrequently as I do, you can do, you can get around 6 years in one book. me-journal  journal-sample

Of course, there have been other kinds of journals I have kept simultaneously, so it’s quite possible I forgot about the Me book and wrote in others.  What I liked about that format is that there was the front page to write on with blanks to fill in, and then the back side was blank, so I could write whatever I wanted.  But something was missing, something that could make it more, although I don’t know what more is.

I love stationery shops and bookstores, so as I wandered through them here and there, I searched for a better one, the exactly right one.  No luck – and this has gone on for years!  I wanted one that would help me be more proactive, keep my momentum up, encourage me, instead of just logging memories.  So I made my own version, following the ME format.  I took out the weather report line, and added in a “one thing I’ll do today” line. Then I took out the news report, and added in “what I’m reading or listening to.”   my-journalI also added a line for “I took care of myself today by…”  Since I did mine in an Excel format, I just printed them off and hole-punched them for my Day-Timer.  A few other tweaks here and there, and I have my own almost-perfect journal, albeit still more fact-laden than poetry and prose.  I still don’t write in it every day, but it is helpful when I’m feeling the blahs and blues, because I know when I go back later, I can usually glean some insights from what was going on and how I got in or out of that particular time.

One of the best values I have gotten from keeping a journal is emptying out my brain to make room for other memories, other feelings. I know when I’m “full,” that is different from “my cup runneth over.” When there is too much hanging on, and I can’t think, or can’t stop crying, or can’t move forward, that’s when I really need to put it down on paper and save it for another time, when I’m better able to honor those feelings and gently put them away.

I don’t know how long I’ll keep these journals. I kept a journal during my divorce from my first husband. I dragged it around with me during a few moves from state to state, but somewhere along the way, I tore it up. I maybe should have had a burning ceremony or something more dramatic, but I didn’t. I just shredded it and put it in the trash.  Some days now I wish I had it so I could remember better what my life was like and how far I have come since then.  I do still have old love letters, but that’s not the same.

This Solowingnow blog also has been my journal for the past year, along with other notes and pages here and there. I find it gives me peace to review these posts and also know how far I have come on this sabbatical, and how much I have learned about blogging. It appears I am consistent in my spurts and voids in my writing patterns. But this one is public, so to be sure, it is selective.  And that is one thing I have definitely learned: that it’s okay to be selective, that I don’t have to remember everything, that I don’t have to share everything.  My life is more peaceful when I choose to let certain things go away, or when I actively dismiss them by hitting the <delete> button.  Proof positive that this is MY life, MY way.

Another year gone, another new year starting.  I wonder what’s in store for me now!!

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The paper chase

29 Thursday Sep 2016

Posted by Pat in Gratitude, Reading, Traditions

≈ 3 Comments

I miss the days of twice-weekly newspapers and once-a-day mail, of photo albums and paperback books.  I’m one of those people who likes to touch and reminisce and ponder and … well, you get the idea. Lately, one of my struggles has been trying to keep track of appointments and notes and receipts and itineraries.  I think I’m on about my 4th or 5th planner system this year. I keep trying to adjust to my Kindle and Microsoft Outlook and Evernote and Contacts.  But when my phone was hijacked a few months ago, I lost my patience.  Call me eccentric or what-have-you, but I have a “thing” for my paper. Paper has a way of slowing me down, thankfully. I don’t need the speed of light or sound or transactions zipping by me willy-nilly.20160630_133826

I like to have pictures up on the walls of my house, not my Facebook wall – pictures that are of my kids or grandkids, or which represent places and evoke memories of good times.  I like to cuddle with a blankie and a book (a real one, not an imaginary one on a screen) and a pillow. I like to flip through my address book and decide who to call today (and remember each place that person lived before this address). I like to look at the bulletin board and immediately see what time I leave for Sioux Falls next week (instead of clicking and searching). And I don’t care that my desk seems disorganized – I know where things are – because I wrote it on pink paper, or it was a small yellow post-it, or it was in the pile by the binders.

I was looking for someone’s phone number the other day. The problem was that it had been kept in my Contacts on the phone that was stolen from my car.  I had only had my new phone for about a month, so hadn’t transferred all the data yet.  Not only did I not have the phone number, I didn’t have the email address either.  I had to call someone else to get the info.

And then there was the email I read on my phone but which got lost in the ether and didn’t sync on my desktop computer, so I forgot to respond to someone who was waiting to confirm an appointment with me.  The grocery store app didn’t work inside the store, so it was useless to me. And it turns out my bank debit card doesn’t tell me my balance like my check register does, so I can spend-spend-spend until it’s too late!

I went to a new grocery store in town – Aldi. It cost $.25 to unlock the chain so I could use a grocery cart! If you didn’t have your own bags (which I did), you have buy them. The clerk is timed on how quickly she can get me through the lane, so I couldn’t bag my own groceries while she scanned; I had to wait until she was done. Then I bagged my own food. It was not a great shopping experience.

And then I had to take the recycling and trash out. For the paper person that I am, I was suddenly aware of how little paper I actually threw away, although I tend to print out what seems like a small tree’s worth of correspondence or research on my computer every week.  Things change fast enough, and I have no control over much of that.  But keeping my lifestyle simple and working for me seems like a small price to pay.  It helps me slow down and stop being in “instant” mode so much.  It could be my age, I guess, but I think it has to with my willingness to consciously remember and appreciate small, simple things.

I have an iPad on my nightstand, a small tablet computer on the kitchen counter, a Wii hooked up to the television, a smart phone, and television used as a monitor for my laptop in the office.  I am not a Luddite and not without adequate technology for when I want or need it.  But there is an itch that can’t be scratched with a swipe or a back arrow.  It’s like chasing a paper tiger. I realize that technology has given us many advantages and time savers – but they are negated when I have to do double-entry or make a second trip or get ambivalent about someone’s story I am seeing but not really reading. 

I’m again fixing my own meals instead of eating out so much, having coffee on the deck in the morning instead of at my desk, reading on the couch with the dogs on either side of me instead of watching television. And I’m sleeping better at night and not feeling rushed in the daytime.  Given my circumstances, I’m living the good life right now.

 

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Second chances

30 Thursday Jun 2016

Posted by Pat in Dreaming, Gratitude, Reading, Sabbatical, Transformation

≈ Leave a comment

I just finished reading a book called Life’s Golden Ticket by Brendon Burchard. Burchard is a man who survived a car accident that should have killed him, but he is alive and well.  20160630_133921The story is not about him; it’s about another man who struggles to give himself a second chance when his fiancée walks out on him.  It’s a good read; you should check it out.

Anyway, it got me to thinking about my own second chances. 20160630_133731For one thing, I love second-hand and consignment stores. I get excited at the good deals, but more than that, I really get into repurposing things and giving them a new life.  Some of my favorite finds: an old metal toolbox I have turned into a craft carry-all; a birdcage that became some yard art; a towel rack I turned into a 20160630_133818magazine rack; and a dish rack turned into file stacker. Among the best good-as-new things I have acquired include a Gillio Compagna leather planner and a massage chair.20160630_133850

And then, of course, there is my second chance at life as a solo/single woman – with kids, grandkids, dogs, and a mortgage.  Deciding what to be now, where to be, how to be…all that being unattached in a ring-finger way means.  20160630_133620This sabbatical has been such a blessing, giving me time to think, to rest, to dream, to explore, and get messy. I just see how I ever would have embarked on this journey of having my own small business if I been on the magic carpet that swept me off my feet, again.

Interestingly enough, I have planned and tested these consultant/speaker waters before. I was a freelancer back in the late 80’s, but when my safety net quit his job, I went back to a “real job.” I thought about it again when I had to write a business plan in college, but I didn’t want to do the required travel when I had kids in school. I toyed with it a little and picked up some side jobs (working vacation days) the next time I thought about it, but the travel again anchored me at home. Besides, I got very comfortable in the salary trappings.  20160630_133826

This book has come along at the exact right time. I need constant support right now to keep the flywheel of momentum spinning, propelling me forward, pushing me to open doors held by new people.  I’ve learned inspiration and support don’t always come in the form of a person or a seminar, and this book reminded me, too, that my own memories and the voices I hear in my head (my intuition, in case you are wondering) are powerful tools.  I even get to put words in Kevin’s mouth when I am really on a roll!

We all get second, and third, and fourth and more chances if we just accept what is offered…or if we ask for what we want and need. I am now thinking of them as blessings instead of screw-ups that need fixing. Each chance (or blessing) gives me the opportunity to try something new, to throw off what isn’t working, to play and imagine. In other words, to really live and keep on living.  I’m happy for my second chances. Are you?

 

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Life’s Highway

20 Wednesday Apr 2016

Posted by Pat in Gratitude, Reading, Sabbatical

≈ 1 Comment

Here’s an intriguing thought I’ve been pondering this week: where is my slow switch?!?  I must have one, but apparently it’s not easy to find. I have no doubt that the lane I was in on life’s highway was a passing lane (by default, a fast lane), heading where I didn’t really want to go, but I couldn’t see any exit signs. So I went and went and went, like the Energizer Bunny. Until I just ran out of juice. Today is the  5 month mark since I left my job, and I’m STILL not too good at being fully present in the moment.  I like being active, I like learning, I like puzzles and challenges.  It seems like I’m still making daily choices between “go” or “stop.” Where is my “coasting” gear?

In a backwards way, this week I have tried to coast, with mixed results. camping 1sst timeOn Sunday  I took my camper out on her inaugural trip. I came back home for things I forgot (can opener for the baked beans, and charcoal, among others) on Monday.  Tuesday (yesterday)  I came back for a short conference call for a work assignment I have accepted for next month, and dog food.  Now I am home again for a Go To Meeting this afternoon.  Tomorrow I will pack up and come home. Unless I extend for a few more days.

I definitely have upgraded my thinking for a smoother ride and greater flexibility in avoiding the potholes or construction zones on this Reimagined Life  Highway.( I have taken time to read 4 books in the past 3 days. One was called “Crones Don’t Whine.”)  I am ready to scoot myself back into the flow, only this time I will rely on my personal GPS to get me around. I will take the exits to Reflection and Exploration, and especially to Acceptance. (And the next campground will have a pond or lake or river or something.)  I am sure I will sometimes take the Express Lane and sometimes I will take the scenic routes; if I also take a few detours that will be just fine.  As much as I am able, I will trust that that is where I need to be.  Intellectually, I know that life is full of possibilities and that the world is my oyster, so to speak.  Figuring out what I really want to do and how to do it continues to be a challenge, mostly because I want it all!!

Camping is not the same without Kevin, but nothing is the same without Kevin.

Vaughn learning how to clean fish
Vaughn learning how to clean fish
Eww! Buddy kissing Kevin
Eww! Buddy kissing Kevin

Yet it gives me confidence that if I wanted to, I could take off and do some major traveling in her, and I’d be fine.  Camping used to be our weekend get-away, our chance to let go of the accumulated stress and spend some time together or with family.  Now I don’t have a lifestyle I need to escape, so I’m treating it as a guilty pleasure.  Being able to identify my feelings is another huge accomplishment for me, and being grateful is an especially good feeling to have.

What about you? Are you a fast lane, slow lane, highway or byway, kind of person?  Do you make time for the scenic overlooks now and then?  Or do you need the conditions to be perfect to even begin? I’m learning that reimagining my life is more of a doing thing, trying this and that, and then trying some more .  As Max De Pree said, “You cannot become what you want to be by remaining what you are.”  I still don’t know what that is exactly, but for me,  I’m not waiting to get started finding out.

 

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Books, books, and more books

28 Thursday Jan 2016

Posted by Pat in Reading

≈ 2 Comments

I’ve always been an avid reader. It started with Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, moved on to Kathleen Woodiwiss,  Danielle Steele, and Harlequin romances, and then to biographies or autobiographies of strong women (think Katharine Hepburn and Eleanor Roosevelt), and before I knew it, I now have six bookcases and other random places filled with books, books, and more books.  I just recently bought at an auction 3 years’ worth of back issues of a particular trade magazine!  Mostly I have leadership and “success” books, with a few shelves reserved for self-help and inspirational books.  Kevin was also a reader, and his preference was either thriller or historical non-fiction…although I did get him to read my all-time fave, The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran (unfortunately, he didn’t get it).

I keep telling myself I need to utilize my local library instead of buying books, but I have a severe weakness in that regard apparently.  Don’t get me wrong – I still get the trashy romance novels from there, but I buy a LOT of books still.  I probably have over 20 cookbooks (stashed in a kitchen cupboard), at least 14 books by John Maxwell, about a dozen on public speaking, and lately I’ve been collecting books on writing (I’m up to a half dozen, and two should be arriving tomorrow from Amazon. I like having books around, writing or highlighting in them, re-reading them, stacking them here and there, and getting comfy by the fire with a blanket, a book, and a vanilla latte.  Occasionally I come across a book that makes no sense or I think is stupid or hasn’t hooked me.  I’ve been known to purposely leave books in the airport or a hotel room because I can’t make myself throw them in the trash.  I am always interested in recommendations, so let me know if you have a favorite I should check out (or buy). This morning I was referred to Falling Upward by Richard Rohr, so that’s next on my list.

I’ve also been given books as potential self-help for dealing with my grief.  Two of the better ones are A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis, and The Way of Transition by William Bridges. Both men suffered the loss of their wives, and these are about their experiences.  One coming tomorrow is A Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion about her loss of a spouse.  Novels like Mitch Albom’s The First Phone Call From Heaven also appeal to me at this time of my life.

Just this morning I was looking for Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way on accessing your creativity is around here somewhere, but I can’t find it.  My books are not organized much anymore.  They used to be – before I moved, and then moved again, and then brought home books from the office when I started this sabbatical.  I think that is what I should do today – organize my books.  I keep saying I’ll do it “someday” when I have time, and I have that in abundance right now.

WIN_20160128_11_46_16_Pro

An unorganized library

You can tell a lot about a person, I think, by the books they read, by what’s hidden and by what’s out in the open, by what is on the top shelf or at eye level, by which ones are obviously well read and those that haven’t cracked the spine yet.  Looking at my books right now would tell an observer that I’m probably spending a lot of time alone (if I’m actually reading them), and that I’m interested in writing a memoir (given those are the ones not on a shelf), and that I am not a student of library science (because of the shelving system..or lack of one).  Reading is not a haphazard activity for me, but I do go in spurts according to genre.  Yes, I’ve just decided: today is going to be Book Organization Day for me.  One shelf at a time, one bookcase at a time, one room at a time, and it will be all be done.  Like life, like grief, like a lot of things – one at a time keeps me from being overwhelmed.

And when that is done, I might think about tackling the DVDs and the CDs next.

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Que Sera, Sera

19 Saturday Dec 2015

Posted by Pat in Reading, Sabbatical

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I envy those who have known since they were kids just what they wanted to do when they grew up.  Back then, we didn’t distinguish between “doing” and “being,” although the question was commonly interchangeable: “What do you want to be/do  when you grow up?” Doris Day’s answer in her song, Que Sera Sera was “whatever will be, will be.”  I am dissatisfied with that answer still.  I feel like I am spinning my wheels trying to figure it out before it’s too late for me to do (be) something great.

In my analysis of the possible options, I have listed all of the jobs I have held since I was a kid, from babysitting to volunteering at the library, detassling corn, cashiering, legal secretary, analyst, administrator, and sometimes consultant and presenter.  I’ve looked for themes, for peak times, for common threads, for some light to shine on the path and show me what’s ahead  Nada. Zip. Zero.  I can’t see the forest for the trees, apparently.

I’ve also reviewed older and more recent journals I kept. I have looked at the titles of the books I’ve collected. I considered how my musical tastes have changed. My favorite places. The most fun pasttimes. Movies I watch and watch again and again. Who I like to spend time with. How I spend my money.  While that trip down Memory Lane has been an interesting one, so far there has been no revelation.

Except one: I like happy endings, which are almost always the result of some productive change along the way. And I always seem to find one, whether it’s at the end of a book, a project, a j ob, or a move.  So I trust that there is another happy ending in store for me.

That kind of trust is hard to come by sometimes. It’s a knowing, a sense of fait accompli, a foregone conclusion.  I just have to be patient. I can’t just wait around, and I also can’t force the reveal.  I have to make myself ready for that eventuality. Which is what this sabbatical is about.   I keep reading, keep learning, keep observing, keep resting, keep reflecting, keep meeting people, opening myself (preparing myself) a little more each day.  As William Bridges said in his book, Transitions, first there is the ending, then the wandering in the neutral zone, when there is a letting go of something, and finally a new beginning.  I’m wandering toward that new whatever-it-is, but remember, all who wander are not lost!

BTW, I’m reading an interesting book, Wander Woman, by Marcia Reynolds.  It’s about How High Achieving Women Find Contentment and Direction.  Unfortunately, no easy answers. I guess I will have to still do my own wandering, and accept Doris’ answer: Que sera, sera!

 

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Reading, so far

03 Thursday Dec 2015

Posted by Pat in Reading

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I’ve always been a reader, and a fairly quick reader, too.  I don’t often retain a lot when it’s a novel, but I use highlighter pens and colored ink when it’s a book I do want to remember details of. In the past few weeks, I’ve read the following:

Maeve Binchy, novel, A Week in Winter (so-so)

Elizabeth Berg, two novels, A Year of Pleasures (love it, second time I’ve read this one) and Say When (okay)

Nicholas Sparks, a novel, See Me (okay, a mystery more than his usual relationship type book)

Kahlil Gibran, spirituality sort of, The Prophet, (spectacular, best book ever!, have read it dozens of times)

Natalie Goldberg, spirituality, Long Quiet Highway, Waking Up In America, (a little hard to get into but quite good once you do, about her search for inner peace, studying Buddhism and Zen, and on writing).

Since I want to write (as evidenced by this blog, and the book I have in mind), here are a few of the key concepts from Goldberg’s book:

Writing is a way to connect with our own minds, to discover what we really think, see, and feel, rather than what we think we should think, see, and feel. (p71)

(about good teachers) … learning from the whole person, not from a lecture in front of a class… (p83)

Only something alive can die. (p84)

The funny thing is you don’t learn how not to think, you slow down and let thinking be thinking, walking be walking, crying be crying, dying be dying, and writing be writing. (p91)

Oh, yes, I do love to read.  And to think.

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