rough edges

With every passing encounter there is a chance to grow or inspire.

Our rough edges can be sanded and smoothed by helping others and by allowing ourselves to be touched by others. We learn then heal then laugh.

Whatever you are going through today - big or small - someone somewhere has been through it and survived. Ask for help. Share your fear with a friend. Feel. Embrace the pain. Inhale grace. Grow. Bloom. Stand vulnerable in the moonlight.

photo: landscape photographer Cliff Lambson

rewards of the simple life

To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter... to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird's nest or a wildflower in spring - these are some of the rewards of the simple life. ~John Burroughs

a favorite thing to do alone

http://smithsonian.org/visit/whatsnew/

one of my favorite things to do alone is wander around the Smithsonian Institute. if you haven't done this lately, here is a current link with new events and exhibitions. click, plan, visit, and get lost in thought.

best of all... all the museums are FREE.

here are two that look extra cool:

I Do Solemnly Swear: Photographs of the 2009 Inauguration
here until July 12, 2009

and

Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn: Jazz Composers and Their Signature Works
here until June 28, 2009

Find Somebody to Help

If you have no troubles of your own, go out and find somebody else’s. They are not half so hard to carry and your heart and soul need the exercise. - Hazelden Foundation

Green Pastures

Yes, there is a nirvana. It is in leading your sheep to a green pasture, And in putting your child to sleep, and in writing the last line of your poem.
-Kahlil Gibran

If what's in your dreams wasn't already inside of you how could you even dream it?
- Kobi Yamada

to feel free...true freedom

“There are only two kinds of freedom in the world; the freedom of the rich and powerful, and the freedom of the artist and the monk who renounces possessions.”

- Anais Nin

One of my favorite places

There is Poetry Here....
www.brookfarminn.com
The Brookfarm Inn, located in Lenox, Massachusetts is one of my favorite places. If you have the opportunity to attend this poetry event, or stay at the Inn for a weekend, you will LOVE it. Linda and Phil are amazing, intellectual and kind hosts. The kitchen is worth a gourmet look - very cool decorating style - and the poetry, bookshelves and literary knowledge at the inn is outstanding. Visit www.brookfarminn.com

Each morning you are greeted with a quote of the day - the rooms have Hawthorne and the like - copies of books on the nightstands, maps of hiking trails and Kripalu down the street. Here is a personal invitation if you can make it...

Dear Treasured Guests,
We're pleased to invite you to Brook Farm Inn for a special event on SATURDAY, MAY 16, 2009, at 3:00. Read the details below and stay overnight if you can.
- Linda and Phil Halpern, Innkeepers

"The Four Seasons of Edna St. Vincent Millay" at Brook Farm Inn
You are invited to celebrate the life and works of Edna St. Vincent Millay, at an event on Saturday, May 16, 2009, at 3:00 PM. At Brook Farm Inn, in Lenox Massachusetts, Peter Bergman, Executive Director of the Edna St. Vincent Millay Society at Steepletop, will present a program entitled "The Four Seasons of Edna St. Vincent Millay." The program will begin with an unknown, 1920's work, and will end with Millay's final published piece

acceptance

Meditation for the Day
Be calm, be true, and be quiet. Do not get emotionally upset by anything that happens around you. Feel a deep, inner security in the goodness and purpose in the universe. Be true to your highest ideals. Do not let yourself slip back into the old ways of reacting. Stick to your spiritual guns. Be calm always. Do not talk back or defend yourself too much against accusation, whether false or true. Accept criticism as well as you accept praise.

what do you ache for?

THE INVITATION

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you ache for
and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.



It doesn’t interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon...
I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened by life’s betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed
from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”

It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like the company you keep
in the empty moments.
© Mountaindreaming, from the book The Invitation published by HarperSanFrancisco, 1999

the future never comes

getting tired of hearing the current buzz phrase, "live in the moment." even if people aren't doing it they are saying it, "stay in the day." i'm guilty too, telling others to "experience the now." it can get old... and annoying. yes, we know, forget about yesterday, don't worry about tomorrow, just live in today.
i get it.

but i didn't REALLY get it until i read this passage, "All we have is the present. The past is gone forever and the future never comes. When tomorrow gets here it will be today. Am I living one day at a time?" it clicked.... if there is only right here right now...there is no worrying about the future or regret about the past. right now is the present, the past and the future all in one single day. and it is the only one i have, for today, and up to me how to best savor it. worry or regret or love and truth? it's up to me (and my freewill) to choose.

source: AA Thought for the Day, 24 hour book
image credit: The Mountain of Tomorrow's Sunrise by William Crump

donate to my friend Eddie & MADD

please help my friend Eddie walk to raise money for Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Eddie spends his life helping addicts get clean and sober and he does everything he can to support recovery and MADD. here is his information:

go to: www.walklikemadd.org
go to: Houston
go to: donate to a walker
then: enter "Eddie deRoulet"

thank you

atomic energy

why i came here, i know not:
where i shall go it is useless to inquire -
in the midst of myriads of the living and the dead worlds, stars, systems, infinity,
why should i be anxious about an atom?

-Lord Byron

eternal point

when there is no more separation between this and that, it is called the still point of the Tao. at the still point in the centre of the circle one can see the infinite of all things. -Chuang Tzu, China

inspiration comes when it comes

can't always say where it is going to find me - but inspiration comes when i'm ready to grow. sometimes in nature, or places like a secluded winter island, an old barn holding memories, fields of poppies, in people, in painting, or writing, and in love.

what to do when inspired? wish i knew. feel it i guess. let it be. see what comes to the surface. let inspiration penetrate you deeply in space and time you are unaware of. perhaps a creative spark ignites something new, or who you really are. or just quiet contemplation of a better, more authentic path. if inspired then turn to it, face it, and decide to walk down it.

don't always wonder where it could lead.

Trust yourself, then you will know how to live. -Goethe (1749 - 1832)

three things about life

three things cannot be long hidden - the sun, the moon, and the truth. -Buddha

life isn't about finding yourself. life is about creating yourself.

real . risk . love . hurt . worth it?

vulnerable & authentic -
yes or no?
love - are you open to it?
gentle - welcome the quiet moments?
risk - play it safe or open your heart?
pain - can you endure?
alive - do you feel it?
real - are you real?

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit. "Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?" "It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time.

That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept.

Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby.

But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

- Margery Williams, from The Velveteen Rabbit

IT GOES ON - appreciating life today

And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years. - actually said by Abe Lincoln


In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life. It goes on. - Robert Frost


There is only one happiness in life -- to love and to be loved.
- George Sand, French Romantic Writer

Mom's Little Angel

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Gregory E. Lang (of Daddy's Little Girl and Why a Daughter Needs a Dad fame) hits big this month with his very marketable new release titled: Mom's Little Angel: Stories of the Special Bond Between Mothers and Daughters (HarperOne, an Imprint of HarperCollins).

Doesn't the book title, like the cover, conjure up happy angelic times between a Mom and a daughter? Well, this Mom (of daughters) opens her mail today to find a copy of Lang's new book for review in an envelope. It then gets thrown in a royal blue J. Crew leather bag, stuffed under backpacks and lunches, and later found again on the kitchen counter making a nice stand for the leaky Children's Tylenol fever reducer. Lucky me, my angel Tess is home from preschool (again) after a very long weekend. Did I mention this weekend was long?

Now, as Skye (9) works on her homework reluctantly, screaming "Mom do you have a calculator" from rooms away, and Tess is complaining about her eyelids burning (fever reducer is just kicking in again), and this Mom-doctor-writer is wondering how to carve out the quiet space to give the book the attention it deserves - I finally breathe. The liquid medicine does get wiped off at some point and I grab snippets here and there.

Lang's book does deserve the attention it will get because it accurately highlights this special bond between a mother and daughter, whether in angelic moments or in chaos and insanity, the underlying emotion is love. Love! You will feel this love as you rip through the pages. Most stories (and I've perused most today stealing opportunities as they revealed themselves) give those mommy-heartstrings a tug. But more often than not, my reaction is more like a chill or shiver followed by a welled-up-tear. The selected stories bring forth pure emotion.

Lang says whereas Dad's are the heroic figures for daughters, Mom's are more like the constants in their daughters' lives (as I write this I am of course mindful of the exceptions & sad losses). This book celebrates the constants with applause. The author, being a parent himself, cheers for the daily moments rather than the superhero events. Mom's are the everyday life of the family. This resonates to the core with me since my Simple Grace Book Series is all about celebrating the daily moments in life and feeling the simple grace when it comes.

What comes to mind? Everything you would think - the obvious - heartwarming tales, teary times, warm embraces, skinned knees and Band aids. But Lang delivers more, which readers will welcome, with quotes like: "Too many times I've saved the good stuff for tomorrow, only to find out it was yesterday" and "I never thought I would be good at being a mother, but the moment I looked at my newborn daughter's face, I knew I would do anything and everything for my beautiful baby."

No doubt Mom's Little Angel will become the staple for the Mother's Day and new baby gift market, but it is more than that.

It is a tribute to the struggles mothers and daughters face that are often not mentioned in our sweep-it-under-the-carpet-sunshine-and-roses-world. No, not all the good stuff is spoon fed here. What I like most is the realness of his writing and the stories showing the difficulties in all our lives. We learn that angels aren't pretty and pink with lace and wings but they do come in the form of our little girls - muddy and sloppy and funny and silly and, like mine, with aches and pains and fevers.

Swallow this: "Any woman who survives raising a daughter like me deserves an award!" Well, here you go Mom. Thank you! You are the angel! Would I be a bad Mom if I went and told my daughters that one day they might be grateful too?

No? They'll find out on their own one day? OK, I'll file the blog and go start cooking dinner.

Book Bonus:
- gorgeous black and white imagery
- two dozen intimate stories only 1-3 pages long that will touch your soul
- a couple blank "share your memory" pages
- and my personal copy is signed - "To Beth and her Angels: Peace and joy be with you always!" Gregory E. Lang

Simple Grace - Miracle Moments

C.S. Lewis wrote about amazing miracles. This topic, miracles, never gets old for me. I could devour miracle stories. This is why I'm writing my next book about miraculous moments that happen to all of us. Miracles!

Submit your miracle moments now! My next book (2010 release) is Simple Grace Miracle Moments. Every person has one. You have one. These are simple moments of grace that happen to you, often without even realizing it.

You might brush a miracle moment off as "a coincidence." Or you may assume that miracles only happen to saints. But look around you, share your story. What miracle has happened in your life.

There could be a miracle unfolding right now.

Simple Grace Miracle Moments is to be a collection of miracle stories and moments that happen to all of us - everyday "folk" who live "ordinary lives." Watch for the extraordinary in your life.

Send it in. 50 words to 5 pages. It's up to you. If it fits in nicely with this book it may be used in print. Only send if you are okay with seeing your miracle in a book. Names can be changed - and this can be a miracle moment you "heard" happened to someone else. The best kinds of stories are the ones that are passed on through friends and family.

The only rule here: It should give the reader goosebumps! Or, as a friend of mine calls them, Godbumps. You can email me directly: bethjannery@gmail.com

allowing love to come into your life

When you are present in this moment,
you break the continuity of your story, of past and future.
Then true intelligence arises,
and also love.
The only way love can come into your life
is not through form, but through that inner spaciousness that is Presence.
Love has no form. - Eckert Tolle

a gift of grace

gifts come in funny ways and they are not always wrapped with a pretty bow. they arrive daily if we have our eyes open. one was given to me today; it appeared in my email inbox.

a reader of of one my books, Simple Grace - Living a Meaningful Life, sent a letter from the heart. it was her blog posting highlighting a couple thoughts that touched her. we're having coffee together one brisk february morning.

besides it always being a gift to hear from readers, she showed me how thoughts can be put into actions. read on. and let me know when you come up with your theme song. we're still working on ours.

blog of sharon rainey
www.sharonsnook.blogspot.com

the perfect moment

have you ever experienced a perfect moment? if you think you may have then you haven't. if you have you know with every bone in your body. these moments are rare.

it is the opening of your heart where before it was sealed. it is lifting your eyes and knowing, absolutely, that life is greater than you can imagine. time stands still.

euphoria.

nirvana.

your inner truth is revealed in a blink. if you capture it and prolong it you will experience more and intensity burns but it is alright.

for a girl who can't live in grey - it is too uncomfortable - for a girl who has the defect of creating boxes and needing to put people, places and experiences into compartments - the perfect moment is a gift.

it is a gift that brings breathing space where all is right with the world. there is no anger or resentment and all hurt is healed. the past is meaningless. i let go of anything negative. the future doesn't exist. the perfect moment is when my heart is vulnerable.

stars are brighter. the air is more crisp. the mountain's peaks are sharper than they were. the tides flow in rhythm. music is heightened and every note revealed.

maybe love is felt for the moment. i'm still, for once, space in time - and i wait for another. it gives hope i can be better than i have been. maybe the boxes open a bit more and the grey is less fearful.

facebook, time and energy drains

today i shut down my facebook. it is a fairly silly thing, the decision to do it or not, but i debated it for a day or two. pros: nice to connect, reconnect, share funny happenings and see what my little piece of the world is up to. cons: why? why bother? how about picking up the phone. call a friend or shoot an email if you want to connect. fb could easily become a time waster. and here is a big reason why...some fb lurkers who have nothing better to do than let you know they are:

wiping their kid's snotty nose - or going out to dinner - or watching The Office - or listening to "the old" Clash - or - or - or - or...

i make a rule in my life to avoid toxic people and energy drains.

then there were those who got pissy if i didn't respond right away...

"didn't you get my kidnap invite to share your top five favorite cooking secrets that helped you catch that special guy who needed your 80's quiz to know if you liked polka dot leggings or v-nectk forenza sweaters better so you can watch the Breakfast Club dvd or listen to Blister in the Sun and grab a fruity pina colada while you do this together or perhaps your more of a dirty martini girl or maybe you like...... "

you can block or ignore but that only works for so long. odd little subculture. and i'm guilty of it too. looking back over my posts i see how i once was "reading" or i want "off for the weekend" or i'd post pageant pictures or kid pictures that really, who cares?! i will admit is was a lot of fun to gear up for my 20th reunion. a useful tool.

imagine a quick, fun, harmless pop-in to take a looksie... say, ten minutes a day. well, seven days a week and there goes at least an hour of my life.

hhmm, next blog could be: ten ways to use an extra hour per week.

or, i could write about blogs are top time wasters, but then i wouldn't be very "2009" now, would i? plus, i'm an author. we are supposed to write and pontificate.

Calm Forgiving

You know I can't resist sharing a quote I stumbled across in my weekly reading. Here is a lovely one... This by Mark Twain - Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.

In other words, no matter the situation, the phone call, the email, the traffic, my response should always be - Bless Them. Heal Me.

healing

Two weeks ago I heard someone speaking about how cruel people can be. His suggestion, say a short prayer for the other person. Even if in traffic and some driver cuts you off, instead of getting angry which is what you want to do, simply stop, breathe and say this: "Bless Them. Heal Me."

Repeat as often as necessary - in traffic, in response to rudeness, after being treated unfairly, or even when you have justified anger or you know you are in the "right" and the other person has been clearly cruel, mean, or just plain wrong.

Bless Them. Heal Me.
Bless Them. Heal Me.
Bless Them. Heal Me.

Guess what? I tried it. So did a girlfriend of mine. We put it to the test. And, it works. It saves emotional energy. It reminds me what is important and if I get spun up about little rude things then I am wasting my precious time. Better for me to say, "Bless them. Heal me" and move on.

live in truth

A reminder to speak and live in truth -

I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certainties through my love for the truth; and truth rewarded me.
- Simone De Beauvoir

A reminder to love and be kind to each other -

This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.

- Dalai Lama

Help Ever Hurt Never

Love all serve all... help ever hurt never...

Today I was reminded of something I hadn't heard in a long, long time. Help ever, hurt never. I believe the saying goes something like, "Love all, serve all...help ever, hurt never."

Got me thinking about how closed off we (I) can be, that is to say I close off love, unconditional love, and keep it, don't share it, am not of service as times, and how selfish is this? It can be a quiet prison of sorts. And something I must be very watchful and mindful of is my isolating. Isolation = not a good thing! It starts me on a spiral down. But if I'm helping and not hurting others then I am of use and purpose and outside of my isolated self, more free from ego and less self-centered.

Some ramblings I found here and there that make sense to me-
People have forgotten the meaning of love and affection. They don't know to love people, serve people. They are lost. Is this ego? Ego is another problem that has raised because of this. Once if a person has ego he loses his character and once character is gone every thing is gone. Is this a way a human should behave?

Follow these lines "love all serve all... help ever hurt never". This is said by SaiBaba. Its absolutely true. If you start loving people unconditionally, you will never hurt any one. Helping tendency flows within you and you will begin to serve people.

If we all start doing this we will have peace and harmony in this world. Transformation is necessary in me, and you, and you to over come this problem. It can be transforming.

I'm thankful for hearing help ever, hurt never again today.
It was too long. It is good to remember.

Slow Down You Crazy Child

People have told me to take off my rose colored glasses since I first moved to Washington DC in 1991 when I began my

communications career at CNN. I wore my optimism on my sleeve, and I do to this day. Many times I was told to: "Slow down you crazy child You're so ambitious for a juvenile...."

Wouldn't I rather be disappointed and never give up than to give up without ever taking a risk. Always turning any setbacks or disappointment into a growth experience. Whenever there is pain, or a lack of comfort, there is an opportunity there.

The energy here in the nation's capitol captivated and captured me. It does to this day. I breathe it in, sometimes I left to move out to the country for a quiet retreat - to Connecticut, to New York, but always back again.

Again starting on a new path - a career change - having another book released in 2009and returning to the woman I once was becoming. It is a beautiful thing and my rose glasses are back on - big lenses to look at the world. Damn, it is a good life.

These lyrics to Billy Joel's song Vienna have always touched me in that sometimes unreachable place we all protect and nurture. Again, I'm revisiting this inner fire and won't let it go this time.

18 years later, excitement in the air as we transition power without bloodshed, let's appreciate optimism, hope and a the sunshine. Won't you put your glasses back on?

Slow down you crazy child
You're so ambitious for a juvenile
But then if you're so smart tell me why
Are you still so afraid?
Where's the fire, what's the hurry about?
You better cool it off before you burn it out
You got so much to do and only
So many hours in a day

But you know that when the truth is told
That you can get what you want
Or you can just get old
You're gonna kick off before you even get halfway through
When will you realize...Vienna waits for you

Slow down you're doing fine
You can't be everything you want to be
Before your time
Although it's so romantic on the borderline tonight (tonight)
Too bad but it's the life you lead
You're so ahead of yourself
That you forgot what you need
Though you can see when you're wrong
You know you can't always see when you're right(you're right)

You got your passion you got your pride
But don't you know that only fools are satisfied?
Dream on but don't imagine they'll all come true
When will you realize
Vienna waits for you

Slow down you crazy child
Take the phone off the hook and disappear for a while
It's alright you can afford to lose a day or two
When will you realize...
Vienna waits for you.

And you know that when the truth is told
That you can get what you want
Or you can just get old
You're gonna kick off before you even get halfway through

Why don't you realize...Vienna waits for you
When will you realize...Vienna waits for you

2009 Inspiration - Time to Change the Road You Are On

Hold on to this for your new year.







Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run
There's still time to change the road you're on.
And it makes me wonder.

from the strangest source: lyrics, stairway to heaven

The Complete List of the Top 100 Novels
See how many you've read.

A - B
The Adventures of Augie March
Saul Bellow

All the King's Men
Robert Penn Warren
Read the Original Review

American Pastoral
Philip Roth
Read the Original Review

An American Tragedy
Theodore Dreiser

Animal Farm
George Orwell
Read the Original Review

Appointment in Samarra
John O'Hara
Read the Original Review

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret
Judy Blume

The Assistant
Bernard Malamud
Read the Original Review

At Swim-Two-Birds
Flann O'Brien

Atonement
Ian McEwan
Read the Original Review

Beloved
Toni Morrison
Read the Original Review

The Berlin Stories
Christopher Isherwood
Read the Original Review

The Big Sleep
Raymond Chandler
Read the Original Review

The Blind Assassin
Margaret Atwood
Read the Original Review

Blood Meridian
Cormac McCarthy

Brideshead Revisited
Evelyn Waugh
Read the Original Review

The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Thornton Wilder
Read the Original Review

C - D
Call It Sleep
Henry Roth
Read the Original Review

Catch-22
Joseph Heller
Read the Original Review

The Catcher in the Rye
J.D. Salinger
Read the Original Review

A Clockwork Orange
Anthony Burgess
Read the Original Review

The Confessions of Nat Turner
William Styron
Read the Original Review

The Corrections
Jonathan Franzen
Read the Original Review

The Crying of Lot 49
Thomas Pynchon
Read the Original Review

A Dance to the Music of Time
Anthony Powell
Read the Original Review

The Day of the Locust
Nathanael West
Read the Original Review

Death Comes for the Archbishop
Willa Cather

A Death in the Family
James Agee

The Death of the Heart
Elizabeth Bowen
Read the Original Review

Deliverance
James Dickey
Read the Original Review

Dog Soldiers
Robert Stone
Read the Original Review

F - G
Falconer
John Cheever
Read the Original Review

The French Lieutenant's Woman
John Fowles
Read the Original Review

The Golden Notebook
Doris Lessing
Read the Original Review

Go Tell it on the Mountain
James Baldwin
Read the Original Review

Gone With the Wind
Margaret Mitchell
Read the Original Review

The Grapes of Wrath
John Steinbeck
Read the Original Review

Gravity's Rainbow
Thomas Pynchon
Read the Original Review

The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Read the Original Review

H - I
A Handful of Dust
Evelyn Waugh
Read the Original Review

The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter
Carson McCullers
Read the Original Review

The Heart of the Matter
Graham Greene

Herzog
Saul Bellow
Read the Original Review

Housekeeping
Marilynne Robinson
Read the Original Review

A House for Mr. Biswas
V.S. Naipaul
Read the Original Review

I, Claudius
Robert Graves
Read the Original Review

Infinite Jest
David Foster Wallace
Read the Original Review

Invisible Man
Ralph Ellison
Read the Original Review

L - N
Light in August
William Faulkner
Read the Original Review

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
C.S. Lewis

Lolita
Vladimir Nabokov
Read the Original Review

Lord of the Flies
William Golding

The Lord of the Rings
J.R.R. Tolkien
Read the Original Review

Loving
Henry Green
Read the Original Review

Lucky Jim
Kingsley Amis
Read the Original Review

The Man Who Loved Children
Christina Stead
Read the Original Review

Midnight's Children
Salman Rushdie

Money
Martin Amis
Read the Original Review

The Moviegoer
Walker Percy
Read the Original Review

Mrs. Dalloway
Virginia Woolf

Naked Lunch
William Burroughs
Read the Original Review

Native Son
Richard Wright
Read the Original Review

Neuromancer
William Gibson

Never Let Me Go
Kazuo Ishiguro
Read the Original Review

1984
George Orwell
Read the Original Review

O - R
On the Road
Jack Kerouac
Read the Original Review

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Ken Kesey
Read the Original Review

The Painted Bird
Jerzy Kosinski

Pale Fire
Vladimir Nabokov
Read the Original Review

A Passage to India
E.M. Forster

Play It As It Lays
Joan Didion

Portnoy's Complaint
Philip Roth
Read the Original Review

Possession
A.S. Byatt
Read the Original Review

The Power and the Glory
Graham Greene

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Muriel Spark
Read the Original Review

Rabbit, Run
John Updike
Read the Original Review

Ragtime
E.L. Doctorow
Read the Original Review

The Recognitions
William Gaddis
Read the Original Review

Red Harvest
Dashiell Hammett

Revolutionary Road
Richard Yates

S - T
The Sheltering Sky
Paul Bowles
Read the Original Review

Slaughterhouse-Five
Kurt Vonnegut
Read the Original Review

Snow Crash
Neal Stephenson

The Sot-Weed Factor
John Barth

The Sound and the Fury
William Faulkner

The Sportswriter
Richard Ford
Read the Original Review

The Spy Who Came in From the Cold
John le Carre
Read the Original Review

The Sun Also Rises
Ernest Hemingway
Read the Original Review

Their Eyes Were Watching God
Zora Neale Hurston
Read the Original Review

Things Fall Apart
Chinua Achebe

To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee
Read the Original Review

To the Lighthouse
Virginia Woolf
Read the Original Review

Tropic of Cancer
Henry Miller
Read the Original Review

U - W
Ubik
Philip K. Dick

Under the Net
Iris Murdoch

Under the Volcano
Malcolm Lowry
Read the Original Review

Watchmen
Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons

White Noise
Don DeLillo
Read the Original Review

White Teeth
Zadie Smith
Read the Original Review

Wide Sargasso Sea
Jean Rhys

source: Lev Grossman from TIME

truth . love . grace

“What, gone without a word? Ay, so true love should do; it cannot speak, For truth hath better deeds than words to grace it” - Shakespeare

Kahlil Gibran...." But let there be spaces in your togetherness...and let the winds [flow] between you....and stand together yet not too near together; for the pillars of the temple stand apart, and the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow." -The Prophet

Lions, Tigers and Obamas

Making an Appearance....

The Veterans Inaugural Ball
Let me know if you are attending...
www.presidential-inauguration.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=66&Itemid=32

Washington, DC is Buzzing

The President's Ball... let me know if you'll be there.
www.presidentsball.com

The President's Inaugural Ball

Come if you can!
http://www.presidentsball.com/sponsors/

Hope Has Feathers

"Hope" is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all,

- Emily Dickinson

-dedicated to the women in my life struggling with addiction - hoping for the miracle of sobriety - and willing to do the work

Where the Parties Are

Best Link In My Opinion










http://www.washingtonian.com/blogarticles/people/capitalcomment/10034.html

Ms. Virginia 2008 (Int'l Galaxy) to Attend President's Inaugural Ball in Washington, DC

http://www.presidentsball.com/

VIP appearance by Ms. Virginia International Galaxy 2008
(Ms. Congeniality Winner in International Pageant)

Photos to Come.
Now, the big question.... "who will she wear?"

January 21st - Inauguration Day of President-Elect Barack Obama
7:30 - 1 a.m.
See receiving line/VIP table for photo ops.

illusion of our separateness

These came today from a friend for me to ponder. Join in.







We are here to awaken from the illusion of our separateness.
— Thich Nhat Hanh, French-based Vietnamese Buddhist monk, peace activist and author (b. 1926)

A human being is a part of a whole, called by us _universe_, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest... a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. –Einstein

In separateness lies the world's great misery; in compassion lies the world's true strength.-- Buddha

I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world.— Mother Teresa

It is so fatally easy to confuse an aesthetic appreciation of the spiritual life with the life itself—to dream that you have waked, washed, and dressed and then to find yourself still in bed. - C.S. Lewis

in need of grace

I do not at all understand the mystery of grace - only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us.


Anne Lamott is one of the most graceful and "in your face" writers I've come across. When I sit to write she is with me sometimes, when I'm not being honest enough. She's rough around the edges. She likes to live in her head. She likes to isolate. She likes to be alone with her HP. We are a lot alike.

She encourages me to stop holding back too much. And when I've given too much away, something I've done just recently, she lets me see it at a learning experience - one I won't repeat. I can grab it back, claim and own it, and make it mine again. Not doing it the same way twice.

She says to get what I need from within. To not look to others to find the answers I need - or to give me the validation that must come from within. This, all in her books about grace. If I stick to her definition of grace I won't lose my sense of self... and neither will you.

She inspires me to want to "get" grace. I look up to her as another women in recovery of addictions, and I hope to pass on what she's passed on to me.

In her words....

I do not at all understand the mystery of grace - only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us.

Booking 2009 Speaking Engagements!

Simple Grace -...

By beth jannery

Book Preview

SIMPLE GRACE BOOKS & SPEAKING IS FILLING THE 2009 CALENDAR!
If you are looking for a motivational speaker for an event this year, please send an email or visit www.bethjannery.com to request a date. Beth Jannery is a nationally known author and speaker on the topic of putting grace into your life and work. Her most popular speaking engagement, Simple Grace - Living a Meaningful Life, moves audiences from all backgrounds to look within and discover their authentic purpose.

Join an event or book the speaker.
Book a 2009 Speaking Engagement/Event today.

Popular with:
Women and Leadership Conferences
Non-Profits
Churches and Ministries
Groups of all Faiths
Corporations
Retreats
Staff Trainings
Empowerment Conferences
Keynote Addresses

what are you wearing inauguration day??!!

inauguration info below.... since many of you know i'm in the dc area i have been overwhelmed with excited questions about what the big events are all about....where will they be.... what will i wear.....where am i going..... how many balls are there? here's the best info i could gather. of course, in a "list."

oh, Valentino, of course :)

Presidential Inaugural Balls
A Celebration of Change Gala
A Time For Hope Inaugural Jazz Gala
All American Ball
American Indian Ball
Arizona Presidential Inaugural Ball
Arkansas State Society Ball
Be The Change Inaugural Ball
Black Tie and Boots Ball
Bytes and Books Ball
Change Has Come Inaugural Gala
Commander-In-Chief Ball
Constitution Ball
Democracy Ball
Freedom Ball
Garden State Inaugural Gala
George Washington University Ball
Hawaii State Society Inaugural Ball
HBCU Inaugural Gala Ball
Heroes Red, White, and Blue Ball
Historic Inaugural Ball
History in the Making Inaugural Ball
Illinois Presidential Inaugural Gala
Inaugural Peace Ball
Independence Ball
Indiana State Society Inaugural Gala
International Conservation Caucus Foundation Gala
Kentucky Bluegrass Ball
Land of Enchantment Inaugural Ball
Liberty Ball
Link Live Presidential Inaugural Gala
North Carolina Society Inaugural Gala
Ohio Inaugural Celebration
Patriot Ball
Pearl Presidential Inaugural Gala
Pennsylvania Inaugural Gala
South Carolina Inaugural Ball
Spirit of Hope Inaugural Ball
Stars and Stripes Ball
Sunshine and Stars Florida Ball
The Change Has Come Presidential Inaugural Gala
The Creative Coalition Gala Inaugural Ball
The Inaugural Purple Ball
The Presidents Ball
Unity in Service Inaugural Ball
Veterans Inaugural Ball

Other Inauguration Events
Inaugural Parade
Swearing In Ceremony

Try this LINK
http://www.greatseats.com/inauguration/inaugural_ball_tickets.htm

i want to know what you ache for

The Invitation

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living
I want to know what you ache for
and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool
for love
for your dreams
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon...
I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow
if you have been opened by life's betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed
from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your
fingers and toes
without cautioning us to
be careful
be realistic
to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand on the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
"Yes."

It doesn't interest me
to know where you live or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after a night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.

It doesn't interest me who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the center of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like the company you keep
in the empty moments.

gratitude to my mentor Oriah

being in silence...waiting

the theme in my life in 2008 is, and has been, indecision. suggestion is "just sit in it." so i do. i sit and listen and the answers come.

when in it, i sit and wait. this helps. it is what i am doing.

No answer is also an answer.
–Danish proverb

sometimes the answers aren’t immediate or guaranteed. Sometimes the best answer is no answer, meaning we need to stay in an uncomfortable situation a little longer.

perhaps there is something we need to learn that can’t be learned unless we find it on our own.

we aren’t abandoned when our prayers & meditations & thoughts are answered by silence.

silence teaches us to listen closer, observe longer, and learn more in order to find our answers.

silence is a most difficult place for me. but when i don't have the answer an acceptable answer for the moment is: nothing. letting the silence wash over me. waiting.