Binned!

I just finished the book Power of Now by Vancouverite, Eckhart Tolle. I must say, I think this book has had a bit of an impact on me.

In the past, I have been quite a reader of the "spiritual growth" type books, but soon tired of them once most of them started saying the same type of thing... while I occasionally stumbled upon something helpful, the majority weren't really doing it for me anymore.

A very good friend of mine gave me "The Power of Now" for a birthday back in 2004 and for whatever reason, I just wasn't in the right place to read it back then. Even still, I basically only plucked it from the bookcase, because I had nothing else to read one night, while sitting with one of the kids as they fell asleep.

Tolle's words are helping me to let go of the anger I have too long held anger over the SIL and MIL incident. His words are helping me move on from past disappointments and hurts, especially about the career I planned, but never had. His concepts are really helping me let go of "stuff", which is symbolic I think, of this release of emotional baggage. I feel more capable of going with the flow, regardless of the uncertainties that still reign unclear at the present moment. I am reminding myself "in this exact moment, everything is perfect"...because it is. The past is gone, both 15 seconds ago and 15 years ago, and the future has not yet happened, this moment really IS perfect.

We have been sorting through all this stuff. We don't have that much stuff really; we are quite minimalistic people. But man...there is still all this....stuff. I love sorting through stuff I no longer need; clearing the path so to speak. It seems like it is just stuff, and yet it has always felt so freeing for me to do that.

We are having a garage sale in a couple of weeks and so there are piles of miscellaneous goods stacked in the corner of our lounge room. Tonight we have gone through the office cupboard. Every house, it seems, has a dumping ground. My parents chose their pool table. We tend to throw papers and foreign objects into the office cupboard with the intention of sorting through the clutter and filing it properly, in the ill defined time of later.

Tonight, while going through a stack of notebooks and paid bills, I found, yet again, the diary I kept while in year 12; I spoke about it a couple of weeks ago - the one that was filled with teenage angst and unintentional hilarity. I threw it out. I don't need it. Yeah, it holds some of my history in it. For sure, it talks about the emotional pain I was in at the time. It talks about parental frustrations, school struggles, boyfriend issues, stupid pranks played on school friends, bad poetry and other stuff, but why keep it? For 18 years I have kept that diary as a reminder of my youth; as a material snippet of my journey thus far; perhaps even as a testimony to or evidence of my very existence.....I don't need it anymore.

Glass Castle

I just started reading The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls. It is quite an astonishing read. I am a bit hooked on it right now, with wild horses practically having to drag me away from it.

I must say, I was desperately trying to find something to read. I had started several books; The Red Tent by Anita Diamant, which I had been meaning to read for many years after a couple of recommendations. I was quite taken by the first part, it was very interesting to read about the women of biblical times and their experience with child bearing, but since it is written in the voice of Jacob's only daughter, Dinah, it lost me a bit when the focus moved on to Dinah's early childhood. When I am in the mood I will pick it up again and see where it goes from there.

I am still on and off with the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche...it is a hard slog, what more can I say, and I have been reading more of Memories, Dreams, Reflections by Carl Jung, as previously mentioned, and what a crazy bastard that guy was! Yeah, yeah Carl, we all know you were a genius and whatnot, but geez! It is yet another book I will have to read more of when I am in the mood. It is an extremely interesting read about the inner workings of a famous mind, who studied minds, motivations and behaviour, but I am not in the mood for it right now....another time Carl mate.... I promise.

I also started the The Resurrectionists by Michael Collins, but quite frankly, it did nothing for me. I didn't get far into it, and I am probably doing it an injustice by not seeing it through to the end, as I have read that the beginning is the weakest, but I did not find the dialogue between Frank and Honey overly convincing, and besides, I was really looking for something that gripped me from the first line and reverberated throughout the day (not too much to ask is it?).

Well, apparently not, because The Glass Castle managed to do just that. This is the opening sentence of the book and first chapter entitled "Woman on the Street":

"I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening, when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a Dumpster".

The next couple of pages goes on to describe this well-to-do woman's homeless mother; the feelings she has about sighting her and her thwarted attempts to "help". The next chapter simply entitled "Desert" describes a truly remarkable and stunningly dysfunctional childhood.

I think the fact that this "woman on the street" was called Mom by the author, was what really shock me, freezing me in the moment, in such a way that I had to consider why, but so often, the homeless are the nameless, peripheral characters in a story. They are never someones Mom, and yet, in reality, many of them are mothers or fathers, or Grandparents.

There was a book a friend once lent me, about a homeless shelter in Calgary. I can't remember the name of it, but the book paid tribute to some of the homeless people who had spent time in that particular shelter, providing a background of information about these people and revealing the road that lead them to become homeless, as told in their own words. it was incredibly interesting and certainly provided a voice for many a homeless person.

Getting back to The Glass Castle...this book is a memoir of author Jeannette Wall's life. I haven't actually finished the book and therefore, should not be recommending a book that I have not yet finished, but I am going to anyway, because I am finding myself totally mesmerised by this story, so if you see it around, check it out.

What are you trying to tell me....

Ok, this takes the cake!

I stumbled across this odd little website called The Psychic Book Project.


The site asserts that Madame Lola and her robotic dog, Pietro (yeah...) will psychically select a book "that will shape your upcoming destiny". All you need to do is fill in the psychic survey and "Madame Lola will then use her intuitive powers of divination to find the book you need".


So, curious as I am, I decided to fill in the questionnaire, to see what Madame Lola and her robotic dog, Peitro might churn out.


The book Madame Lola and Pietro felt was suitable for me, was none other than - One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest - I kid you not. Intriguing...

Take a look for yourself and see what comes up - it'll be good for a laugh, if nothing else.

Passion and sorrow

You need to have passion to end sorrow,

and passion is not bought through escape.

It is there when you stop escaping.

J. Krishnamurti in, Gerber M.E (2005) E-Myth Mastery, HarperCollins Publishers, New York, pg 12.

The Birth House

I am almost done reading The Birth House by Canadian author Ami McKay. I have to say - I love it. In fact, by page 9, I was in love with it.


I don't want to give too much away about this book, but I would imagine that this story would appeal to many woman, mother's in particular.


It is a fictional story set prior to, and during World War One. The main character is a woman - Dora Rare, who is trained and practices the traditional healing arts concerning women's health and child birthing practices - the way it used to be done, by women, before science ousted such practices and demonised both those who practised it and those who prefer and trusted it as a health option.


It is kind of mystical, and also explodes many of the "innocent", stuffy-coated Victorian notions of women during those times. I like that many of the female characters in this book are complex - not all, but many.


I also liked reading about the superstitions and practices of "those in the baby business" and also laughed at one supposedly scientific method to assist "hysterical" women.


I will say no more, other than to recommend all who may be interested to read it and don't forget to let me know what you think. Go on...give it a go ;)

Animalia

For Christmas, my brother and his wife gave our 4-year old a book we all love; a book thousands of people apparently love - Animalia.


This book, authored and illustrated by Graeme Base, was first published in 1986. But 20 years on, it continues to be the visual feast for all who behold it.


What we loved about this book, is the detail. Each page or so offers a tribute to a letter of the alphabet. There are many such books around, but the detail of this book is fabulous and exciting, turning it into a game of hide and seek.


While "A" appears to be about alligators and aardvarks, a closer look reveals a virtual swag of "A" delights to be visually lured from the page; an apron, an abacus, an alien, an ace, and album, with pictures of apes, admirals, athletes etc. on the open page, there were ants, an accordion, an ambulance, an alarm clock with the picture of an archer on it, an antenna, an anaconda, apples, asparagus, an aeroplane, an astronaut and an anchor...I am sure there were other things that we missed...and that is just the letter "A".


This book is well known, I am aware of that now. But if you are like me and had not heard of this delightful book for kids and their parents (because some objects are a bit obscure), then see if your library has a copy or perhaps the book store. I love books that prompt a child's reaching, over and over again. Don't you?