Ask and it is Given

I spend a bit of time commuting each day, so I've taken to listening to books on CD in my car. My most recent play is Ask and it is Given by Esther and Jerry Hicks. The book is written in the voice of "Abraham", who from what I can gather, is a collective entity of spirit guides that speaks to and through Esther. It definitely sounds wacky, I know, BUT who am I to judge? One of my new year's resolutions is to be more open and receptive. So, I am listening to "Abraham" every day now. And it's funny because the messages are aligned with what I've been reading in The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.

Anyway, from what I've been reading and listening to it's crucial to live in the moment: The past no longer matters and can't be altered, and the future isn't even real. Additionally, Abraham highly suggests raising oneself to the highest level of vibration. I was in a particularly cranky mood this afternoon because I knew the insurance adjuster would be arriving to evaluate a claim of damage caused by this malicious and unrelenting winter and I was unprepared. Thankfully, my husband jumped in and offered to help relieve some of the pressure I was feeling. I ran my necessary errands and everything seemed to be going wrong - people were driving too slow and monopolizing the photo kiosks I needed to use to print the pictures of damage.

I could have spiraled into a very negative energy vibration, but instead I chose to remember what I've been learning through the CD. I took a deep breath and re-centered myself. I drove back home, straightened the house, and got ready for the adjuster. The adjuster turned out to be a very amiable and friendly person and my husband and I ended up talking to him about non-insurance things for a fair amount of time. What could have been a stressful and unpleasant time actually turned out to be a very enjoyable experience. And we got to meet someone new with an an interesting story to share. I don't believe that would have happened if my energy had been in a negative place. So, thank you "Abraham" and Jerry and Esther Hicks!

The Happiness Project (Part 3)

Well, I am a little more than halfway through this book right now. As I was reading today in the gym, I cam across what I believe to be an amazing truth: When you do for others, you feel happier, and when you feel happier you do more for others. How many of you also find this to be true?

Interestingly, as I was driving home from the gym I was listening to an audio CD of Ask and it is Given by Jerry and Esther Hicks and a piece jumped out at me: The greatest gift you can give to anyone is your happiness. It makes perfect sense to me! If I'm unhappy it will show through my attitude, behavior, and actions, thereby affecting the same of the people around me. BUT if I am happy, my thoughts, actions, behaviors, and attitude will reflect that and the people around me will feel happier in turn. Amazing that a simple concept can have such powerful impact. Imagine if more people lived their lives according to this principle. I think the world would be a very different place!

Goal for tomorrow? Exude happiness and infect others with joy :) I dare you!

(Update: I was unable to share any kind of happiness today because I allowed the first few people I encountered on my way into work to steal my joy. Consequently, I could not get myself into a realm of happiness and good thoughts for the remainder of the day. I intend to be better tomorrow, and to bring myself to a higher frequency of thought! Good feelings, good feelings, good feelings.....!)

The Alchemist

What do I say about this book? I'd been meaning to read it for a while now, so when it appeared on a reading list I was perusing recently I had to check it out form the library. I had very high hopes before starting this book. I read about it in depth before even opening the cover. I read the reviews on goodreads.

Once I started reading, I liked where it was going. It's written like a fable, a genre I thoroughly enjoyed as a kid. About halfway through the book it started to become dull, though. Maybe it was due to translation (Spanish to English)? Or maybe it would have been better if I had read it from cover to cover in one sitting instead of four? It just didn't hold my attention.

However, I think the messages I pulled out of it were very important and true:

1) Stop looking outside of yourself for answers, especially when it pertains to your life's purpose (The alchemist tells the boy, "Where your heart is, there lies your treasure."

2) When you realize your life's purpose (Personal Legend, as it's referred to in the book), you must follow it. The Soul of the World (life) rewards those who seek and pursue their purpose.

Recently there has been a lot of synchronicity in my life. This book falls into that category as well (recent books read have been: You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay, The Power of Intention by Wayne Dyer, Conversations with God by Neale David Walsch, and Ask and it is Given by Jerry and Esther Hicks). Every book has had the same message: Follow your heart to find your true purpose, pursue that purpose, we are all One and we are all connected, you don't need to look outside of yourself for answers because you were created by your source (I happen to call that 'God')and you have your source in you so all the answers and healing you need are in you.

So even though The Alchemist won't make it onto my top ten list of great books, I will take the messages with me that I believe were meant for me to know. So, thank you Mr. Coelho for that!

Have you read it? What did you think?

The Hunger Games

Ever since I devoured the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer, I have been searching for a series that would not only appeal to me but that would again pull me into the story and create a connection between me and the characters. My husband recently introduced me to The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, a book that many of my sixth grade students have been urging me to read, and I am totally sold.

I started the book just a few days ago, reading it in small increments before dozing off to sleep each night. I had reached the halfway point in the book last night before turning out the light and burrowing under the covers. Unsettling dreams and nightmares followed (for those of you who have read the book, surely you understand why). Upon waking this morning on the first day of my spring vacation, I immediately grabbed the book off my nightstand and continued reading from where I left off last night. Two hours later, I was staring at a blank page, and in a zombie-like trance reached for my cell phone and kindly, yet desperately, asked my husband to buy the second book, Catching Fire, on his way home. A half an hour later, sadly, he called with the news that Barnes and Noble was all sold out. ALL. SOLD. OUT. Of the hardcover edition. There is no paperback edition yet. Disappointment washed over me. I checked our library's online system. 43 copies available but all are checked out. I put in a hold request and nervously tap my fingers awaiting its availability. This is like torture! (Although, nothing like that experienced in The Hunger Games.)

Here's a quick synopsis of the book for those of you who haven't yet read it but might be interested. The setting is post-apocalyptic North America. There are 12 districts surrounding a capital, and each district is known for something. District 12 is known for coal mining. Katniss Everdeen is the main character and she is from District Twelve. She is no stranger to hunger, neither are most people from District 12. They have only had one tribute in seventy-three years win the Hunger Games. The Hunger Games is an event put on by the government, the Capitol, in which two representatives (tributes) from each district participate. The goal is to be the last surviving tribute. There is killing, trickery, manipulation, and of course, romance, albeit not entirely believable, amongst other things. Each chapter of the book ends in a cliffhanger so intense that it's nearly impossible to stop reading. Kudos to you, Suzanne Collins. Ya done good!

I am left with some heavy questions and concerns after reading the book. First of all, what inspires someone to write such a book? How does one create a story with such themes?
I am somewhat frightened by the possibility of something similar to the Hunger Games actually happening in our current society due to our most recent obsession with reality television (which doesn't really reflect most people's realities anyway). The book most closely resembles the reality TV show Survivor, except that the characters in the book are actually fighting to survive. The threat is most definitely real in the book. But, in both the audience rallies behind their favorite and most capable contestants. Sadly, I don't think we're far from conducting something like the Hunger Games, but I'm fervently hoping nothing like that will ever manifest. Still, the fear is there.

So, what are your thoughts? Have you read The Hunger Games? What's your reaction? How are the next two books in the series - are they just as captivating? Do you have another series that you'd recommend?

The Happiness Project Part 2

In the remainder of the chapter on marriage and remembering love from The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin states her happiness formula that she created on the train: "To be happy, I need to think about feeling good, feeling bad, and feeling right." I have to be honest, I didn't really understand this in the context she was using to explain it. However, I have been reading a number of books about positive thinking and the power of being in the moment, and what I brought to this formula (or took away from) is that in order to feel and know happiness maybe we need to know unhappiness. So to know what it's like to feel good, we have to know what it's like to feel bad. And maybe from that we can start to notice how we feel when we feel "right". I think feeling 'right' is different for every person, and Rubin agrees. She states, "'Feeling right' is about living the life that's right for you..." Here's what I think: Life is experience. It's up to us to decide what to make of each experience. Our reactions to life's experiences help to create and determine who we are as people. And I think that's what life is all about, figuring out who we are and who we want to be. If a person wants to remain stuck in a world full of drama and unpleasantries, then that's okay for them if that is who they want to be. But if another person wants to elevate their consciousness, meditate, and simplify their life to gain a better attitude about life, then that's ok, too. So, in your daily thoughts and decisions decide who you are and focus on the person you want to be. Our time on this earth is short, so we might as well make the best of it! Eat, pray, love? Peace, love, happiness? The path you take to get there doesn't matter as long as you get where you need to be.

The Happiness Project

Yesterday I began reading a book I first picked up at Barnes and Noble a while ago. It's titled The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. Interestingly, it wasn't the title that drew me in but rather the cover. It may not be advisable to judge a book by its cover, but it is almost always the cover that first grabs my attention. So, here I am reading my library copy of The Happiness Project.

The book begins with an introduction to why the author chose to write such a book. She wasn't depressed, but she didn't feel she was as happy as she should, or could, be. She felt angry a lot of the time, and she realized the impact this was having on her life. So, she set out to research the meaning of happiness and how to add more happiness to her life. After some initial research she decided to borrow an idea from Ben Franklin (she really did a bit of research) and focus on 11 areas that would improve her overall happiness. She would start in January with one area to improve, then add another in February, another in March, and so on until she reached December, during which she would score herself on practicing all 11.

January's theme was Boost Energy (Vitality). She had read that acting as if you feel more energetice can actually make you feel more energetic. She vowed to get to bed earlier and wake up naturally without the use of an alarm. She did this at least one time with success. She bought a pedometer and walked more. She joined a gym. I can relate to this. I go to the gym several times a week and find that it helps tremendously with reducing my stress levels, particularly after work. I've also started waking up earlier to do a brief yoga session. I have found that this results in a smoother transition into my day. Plus, I have added several days of swimming before work. That definitely makes me feel more energized and ready to start my day. She also decided to stop wasting time thinking about all the things weighing her down and went on a closet cleaning rampage. Four garbage bags later she felt free-er and calmer. From creating a sense of order, she felt more peaceful and focused. I plan to try this during my spring vacation as I sweep from one end of the house to the other, getting rid of stuff that could be better used by others rather than collecting dust in my house.

February's theme was Remember Love (Marriage). She realized she was a "nagger". She also realized she didn't like being a nagger because it didn't make her feel good (and we all want to feel good). After one incident involving a pile of Valentine's Day cards and her husband's refusal to help address and seal them, she realized she felt better when she chose to complete something herself instead of nagging than when she nagged her husband to do them. I call this Taking One for the Team.
She also noticed that her husband hardly ever praised her for things she did or let her know he appreciated her. After much contemplation and more research, she decided to stop expecting praise for things she did. Instead, she vowed to do things for herself without expecting other people to react in a particular way. An interesting observation she had was that when she was happy her husband was also happy, and he would do things to try to make her even happier (take notes, ladies!); but when she was unhappy her husband would go into a "funk".
I found this to be an interesting perception. It makes sense because when people are happier they want to do things for other people, but when they're unhappy it's very easy to shut oneself off from the world and become more self-centered. For today I vow to remain focused on my attitude toward all people I encounter. If I can be helpful in spreading a little more cheer in this fearful, angst-ridden world, then I'm willing to do my part.

What's this all about, anyway?

Well, I realized today that I spend a considerable time on my computer, but to no real productive end. At the end of any session I have checked my facebook account at least a gazillion times, and have checked both email accounts to make sure I haven't missed an "urgent" message (because people with urgent messages would surely relay them via email). And occasionally I will have checked my goodreads acount, always remembering to add new books I want to read to the ever growing pile I will probably never get to - because I spend my precious free time checking all my internet accounts! (And still people ask me why I haven't upgraded my cell phone to an iphone, or at least a phone with internet access. Isn't the answer obvious? Because that's how I would spend all my time - tinkering with non-productive technology!)

So, here I am creating a new blog, one that will hopefully make much better use of my computer time. To those of you that know me well, it is no surprise that I love to read. In fact, I could imagine nothing more enjoyable and calming that settling into a comfy spot with a good book. In the sun. With a drink. And if that were my entire job and purpose on this earth? Well, let's just say I'd be a happy little camper. I think. I'm pretty sure.

Which brings me to my point. This blog (as opposed to Approaching Dirty Thirty, which will always have a special place in my heart, and Je rêve en français, to which I intend to contribute more regularly but just am not there yet) will be devoted to the Three R's - reviews, reflections, and reactions - to what I am reading at any given time. Mostly it will involve books, but occasionally could pertain to articles, websites, other blogs, short stories, et cetera.

If you care to check it out - good, become a follower - great, respond to entries and engage in literary conversation - even better! If not, that's okay, too, obviously. But I hope you stop by to see what I'm reading and give a shout.

Take care :)