Deep Relaxation

Okay, I couldn't resist. Here is the deep relaxation guided meditation from Appendix D of Thich Nhat Hanh's Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames, which the author says is essential for the body and mind to heal and should be practiced often:

Lie down comfortably on your back on the floor or on a bed. Close your eyes. Allow your arms to rest gently on either side of your body and let your legs relax, turning outwards.

As you breathe in and out, become aware of your whole body lying down. Feel all the areas of your body that are touching the floor or the bed you are lying on; your heels, the back of your legs, your buttocks, your back, the back of your hands and arms, the back of your head. With each out-breath, feel yourself sink deeper and deeper into the floor, letting go of tension, letting go of worries, not holding onto anything.

As you breathe in, feel your abdomen rising, and as you breathe out, feel your abdomen rising. For several breaths, just notice the rise and fall of your abdomen.

Now, as you breathe in, become aware of your two feet. As you breathe out, allow your two feet to relax. Breathing in, send your love to your feet, and breathing out, smile to your feet. As you breathe in and out, know how wonderful it is to have two feet, that allow you to walk, to run, to play sports, to dance, to drive, to do so many activities throughout the day. Send your gratitude to your two feet for always being there whenever you need them.

Breathing in, become aware of your right and left legs. Breathing out, allow all the cells in your legs to relax. Breathing in, smile to your legs, and breathing out, send them your love. Appreciate whatever degree of strength and health is there in your legs. As you breathe in and out, send them your tenderness and care. Allow them to rest, sinking gently into the floor. Release any tension you may be holding in your legs.

Breathing in, become aware of your two hands lying on the floor. Breathing out, completely relax all the muscles in your two hands, releasing any tension you may be holding in them. As you breathe in, appreciate how wonderful it is to have two hands. As you breathe out, send a smile of love to your two hands. Breathing in and out, be in touch with all the things your two hands allow you to do: to cook, to write, to drive, to hold the hand of someone else, to hold a baby, to wash your own body, to draw, to play a musical instrument, to type, to build and fix things, to pet an animal, to hold a cup of tea. So many things are available to you because of your two hands. Just enjoy the fact that you have two hands and allow all the cells in your hands to really rest.

Breathing in, become aware of your two arms. Breathing out, allow your arms to fully relax. As you breathe in, send your love to your arms, and as you breathe out, smile to them. Take the time to appreciate your arms and whatever strength and health are there in your arms. Send them your gratitude for allowing you to hug someone else, to swing on a swing, to help and serve others, to work hard -- cleaning the house, mowing the lawn, to do so many things throughout the day. Breathing in and out, allow your two arms to let go and rest completely on the floor. With each out-breath, feel the tension leaving your arms. As you embrace your arms with your mindfulness, feel joy and ease in every part of your two arms.

Breathing in, become aware of your shoulders. Breathing out, allow any tension in your shoulders to flow out into the floor. As you breathe in, send your love to your shoulders, and as you breathe out, smile with gratitude to them. Breathing in and out, be aware that you may have allowed a lot of tension and stress to accumulate in your shoulders. With each exhalation, allow the tension to leave your shoulders, feeling them relax more and more deeply. Send them your tenderness and care, knowing that you do not want to put too much strain on them, but that you want to live in a way that will allow them to be relaxed and at ease.

Breathing in, become aware of your heart. Breathing out, allow your heart to rest. With your in-breath, send your love to your heart. With your out-breath, send your love to your heart. With your out-breath, smile to your heart. As you breathe in and out, get in touch with how wonderful it is to have a heart still beating in your chest. Your heart allows your life to be possible, and it is always there for you, every minute, every day. It never takes a break. Your heart has been beating since you were a four-week-old fetus in your mother's womb. It is a marvelous organ that allows you to do everything you do throughout the day. Breathe in and know that your heart also loves you. Breathe out and commit to live in a way that will help your heart to function well. With each exhalation, feel your heart relaxing more and more. Allow each cell in your heart to smile with ease and joy.

Breathing in, become aware of your stomach and intestines. Breathing out, allow your stomach and intestines to relax. As you breathe in, send them your love and gratitude. As you breath out, smile tenderly to them. Breathing in and out, know how essential these organs are to your health. Give them the chance to rest deeply. Each day they digest and assimilate the food you eat, giving you energy and strength. They need you to take the time to recognize and appreciate them. As you breathe in, feel your stomach and intestines relaxing and releasing all tension. As you breathe out, enjoy the fact that you have a stomach and intestines.

Breathing in, become aware of your eyes. Breathing out, allow your eyes and the muscles around your eyes to relax. Breathing in, smile to your eyes, and breathing out, send them your love. Allow your eyes to rest and roll back into your head. As you breathe in and out, know how precious your two eyes are. They allow you to look into the eyes of someone you love, to see a beautiful sunset, to read and write, to move around with ease, to see a bird flying in the sky, to watch a movie -- so many things are possible because of your two eyes. Take the time to appreciate the gift of sight and allow your eyes to rest deeply. You can gently raise your eyebrows to help release any tension you may be holding around your eyes.

Here you can continue to relax other areas of your body, using the same pattern as above.

Now, if there is a place in your body that is sick or in pain, take this time to become aware of it and send it your love. Breathing in, allow this area to rest, and breathing out, smile to it with great tenderness and affection. Be aware that there are other parts of your body that are still strong and healthy. Allow these strong parts of your body to send their strength and energy to the weak or sick area. Feel the support, energy, and love of the rest of your body penetrating the weak area, soothing and healing it. Breathe in and affirm your own capacity to heal, breathe out and let go of the worry or fear you may be holding in your body. Breathing in and out, smile with love and confidence to the area of your body that is not well.

Finally, breathing in, become aware of the whole of your body lying down. Breathing out, enjoy the sensation of your whole body lying down, very relaxed and calm. Smile to your whole body as you breathe in, and send your love and compassion to your whole body as you breathe out. Feel all the cells in your whole body smiling joyfully with you. Feel gratitude for all the cells in your whole body. Return the gentle rise and fall of your abdomen.

To end, slowly stretch and open your eyes. Take your time to get up, calmly and lightly. Practice to carry the calm and mindful energy you have generated into your next activity and throughout the day.

I have praticed a similar meditation after yoga since I was in high school. Good stuff.

Stephen Baker's The Numerati

Stephen Baker’s The Numerati, which I first wrote about here.

The book is organized into seven chapters which describe ways that data is being analyzed in mass quantities: Worker, Shopper, Voter, Blogger, Terrorist, Patient, and Lover.

You'd think that Lover would be the most interesting but it had the least substance; Voter (about Josh Gotbaum of Spotlight Analysis) was by far the most interesting chapter.

The Numerati was such a quick read that I finished it in just a few short disappointing hours.

I felt Baker was stretching to fill out his book with examples of how mathematicians are dangerously invading our privacy by quantifying and analyzing our lives.

Still, it was entertaining; just keep your expectations low.

Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers: The Story of Success

As I anticipated, Malcolm Gladwell's latest book, Outliers: The Story of Success has quickly become a bestseller.

I have caved and decided to read it even though I thought The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference and Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking both started off good but lost momentum part way through the book.

Both those books seem like they could have each been condensed into fantastic New York Times Magazine articles and left at that.

Will write more once I start this book....

Awakening the Buddhist Heart

Awakening The Buddhist Heart: Integrating Love, Meaning, and Connection into Every Part of Your Life by Lama Surya Das was such a quick read (much faster than Awakening the Buddha Within).

I liked this book and found it inspiring but felt it lacked the serious Buddhist teachings of Surya's first book.

In fact, whereas I felt there were so many parts of Awakening the Buddha Within that I wanted to save for future reference, I only felt that way about the Appendix of Awakening The Buddhist Heart -- The Bodhicitta Practices of an Awakened Heart (Thogme Zango's Thirty-seven Practices of a Bodhisattva).

Anger and Awakening the Buddha Within

After recently re-reading Thich Nhat Hanh’s Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames, I enjoyed reading the brief section about anger in Awakening the Buddha Within: Eight Steps to Enlightenment: Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World by Lama Surya Das.

I think it's important to remember that there is nothing in the Dharma that tells us never to be angry. Anger is a human emotion; it doesn't automatically disappear. Also it has its own logic, its own intelligence and function. If you bottle up and swallow your anger too often, you are going to make yourself ill. Meeting the challenge of ill will is not about denying, repressing, or suppressing anger. It's about staying up to date with anger and other emotions by experiencing and releasing their energy moment by moment rather than storing them up. It's about not carrying grudges or blaming yourself, or turning your anger inward and becoming depressed and despondent. Ideally we should be able to be sensitive and aware enough not only to feel life fully but also to let it go.

Have you ever been in a situation where you felt that someone had treated you very badly, and you couldn't let it go? You continued to want some kind of resolution or vindication. Perhaps this went on for so long that you felt out of control, and instead of briefly befriending your anger and disappointment, you allowed these feelings to become uncomfortably close companions? The Dharma doesn't tell you to turn your anger inward. Buddhist wisdom encourages you to look at these situations realistically, experience freely and feelingly, stop grasping, and transform your attitude.

I also liked the Metta Prayer:

May all beings be happy, content, and fulfilled.
May all beings be healed and whole.
May all have whatever they want and need.
May all be protected from harm, and free from fear.
May all beings enjoy inner peace and ease.
May all be awakened, liberated, and free.
May there be peace in this world, and throughout the universe.

Click here to view the table of contents and here to read an excerpt.

Anger by Thich Nhat Hanh

As promised, here are more thoughts on Thich Nhat Hanh's Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames.

I think this book should be required reading for every man and woman.

I loaned a copy to a friend who was coping with some anxiety and anger in her professional life and she liked it so much she bought herself a copy.

We'll see if it brings about real change but at the very least this book has a calming effect that is much needed during times of anger.

Go get a copy for yourself for Christmas!

The Grandmothers: Four Short Novels by Doris Lessing

I have just read Doris Lessing for the first time! I picked up The Grandmothers: Four Short Novels at my local library and finished it in just two days.

Lessing's writing is every bit as delightful and moving as I had been led to believe. So much so that I think I'd like to read some of her more famous works such as The Grass Is Singing, or The Golden Notebook.

The little I've read about Lessing makes her sound like such a remarkable woman: born in Persia (now Iran) in 1919, raised in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize in literature, and still actively writing!

The four short novels in The Grandmothers (published 2004) are:

The Grandmothers 1
Two women, close friends, fall in love with each other's teenage sons, and these passions last for years, until the women end them, in their respectable old age.

Victoria and the Staveneys 57
A poor black girl has a baby with the son of a liberal middle-class family and finds that her little girl is slowly being absorbed into a world of white privilege and becoming estranged from her.

The Reason for It 131
Certain to appeal to fans of Shikasta and Memoirs of a Survivor, it describes the birth, growth, and decline of a culture long ago, but with many modern echoes.

A Love Child 191
A soldier in World War II, during the dangerous voyage to India around the Cape, falls in love on shore leave and remains convinced that a love child resulted from the wartime romance.

Here are some discussion questions I found about this book:

• Did Roz and Lil do something wrong in loving each others' son?
• Why is Victoria wary about Mary receiving the life she, herself, always wanted?
• Does the final note by the archaeologist vindicate the narrator?
• What is the significance of James' final thought?
• In the title novel -- The Grandmothers -- an adult Tom briefly refers to his life with his mother, her closest friend, and his closest friend in these terms: "Down there, I'm not free." Discuss the idea of personal freedom in the novel -- who is free to do what, and what choices are the characters "free” to make?
• The tone in the title novel is noticeably cool and analytical. Why do you think Lessing chooses to tell the story in this way?
• For a novel so focused on the personal, there is great care given to describing the physical worlds of these people. Discuss the importance of geographical elements in the story: the rough sea and the calm bay, the orderly, "perfect" land around it. The arid climate to which Harold and briefly Tom moves, and the brush thorns that litter the ground outside of the desert town.
• In Victoria and the Staveneys, the author chooses to withhold the fact that Victoria is black until the fourth page (after much physical description). Why do you feel she delays this revelation?
• One is tempted to level scorn on the Staveneys, and yet Lessing also shows them to be oddly touching, moral even. What are we meant to think about them? Do you find your response is of a personal, emotional nature of more removed? Furthermore, who is "good" in the family?
• Does the action of Victoria and the Staveneys feel determined, or proscribed? If this is social commentary, then what are we taught; if this is simply the hand of the author, what does this reveal about her own social vision?
• Victoria, Thomas and Edward are obviously products of their respective environments. How are they the results of their parentage? Does this parentage play into the above-mentioned notion of determination or fate?
• What parallels do you see between the world of The Reason for It and our own?
• The protagonist of A Love Child, James, goes through several transformations, the first, from England to South Africa; the second, from Africa to India. What precipitates these changes? Does James feel like the same person with Daphne as he was with Donald back in England? Is this change believable to you? What is Lessing trying to say about one's mutability, particularly as a result of one's caring and compassion for others?
• What themes connect these novels?

Enjoy!

Mind of Clear Light: Advice on Living Well and Dying Consciously by His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Yes, I'm reading yet another Buddhist book: Mind of Clear Light: Advice on Living Well and Dying Consciously by His Holiness the Dalai Lama (translated by Jeffrey Hopkins).

It's less than 250 pages so I expect to finish it quickly. Though, every other book I've read by the Dalai Lama has taken me at least twice as long as I've anticipated due to the density of the teachings...

Click here to view the table of contents or here to read an excerpt.

The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire: Harnessing the Infinite Power of Coincidence

I don't have too much more to say about Deepak Chopra's The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire: Harnessing the Infinite Power of Coincidence., which I read a few weeks ago.

Some of the concepts are kind of out there -- the need to align yourself with archetypes of gods and goddesses by surrounding yourself with their images, for example, might be something I don't try.

Still, I strongly believe in the power of intentions; I think we all would enjoy our lives more if we put more trust in ourselves and the universe.

Click here to read an excerpt.

Awakening the Buddhist Heart: Integrating Love, Meaning, and Connection into Every Part of Your Life by Lama Surya Das

After reading Awakening the Buddha Within by Lama Surya Das, I decided to check out one of his other books, Awakening The Buddhist Heart: Integrating Love, Meaning, and Connection into Every Part of Your Life.

Here's the table of contents:

Introduction  1

1 Spiritual Intelligence - Connecting to the Bigger Picture  3
2 Awakening to the Deeper Love - A Buddha's Love  27
3 Connecting to Your Life Experience  41
4 Developing Authentic Presence  61
5 Letting Go, Getting Real  81
6 The Connection Reflex - Building Meaningful Relationships  107
7 Finding Our Sacred Place in Nature  135
8 Joyfully Crazy and Wonderful Awakenings  157
9 Spiritual Alchemy - Embracing Life's Lessons  175
10 Learning to Love What We Don't Like  197

Epilogue  A Prayer for the New Millennium  219
Appendix  The Bodhicitta Practices of an Awakened Heart  221

Index  247

I have high expectations for this book and hope it's every bit as good as Awakening the Buddha Within.

Mingling Dharma with Your Daily Life (Awakening the Buddha Within)

I really liked this section about cultivating mindful awareness from Awakening the Buddha Within: Eight Steps to Enlightenment: Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World by Lama Surya Das.

Mingling Dharma with Your Daily Life

When I lived in my teacher's monastery in Nepal, the most traditional lamas had thick, handwritten books of power words or phrases known as mantras. These books included a mantralike benediction for every single activity. There was a mantra for walking through a door or eating a meal, just as there was a mantra for using the toilet. These mantras were significantly more than mere words or empty rituals performed mechanically by rote. They were used to bring a practice of mindfulness, meditation, and gratitude into everything that was done. Many Western families grow up with a tradition of saying grace before meals. In Buddhism, a moment of mindfulness is like a "grace"; these moments can consecrate every activity, waking each of us up to the sacredness of what we do, as we do it. In this way, we recognize everything we do as a spiritual activity.

Here are some ways that we can cultivate mindful awareness and bring meditation, calm, and clarity into our daily activities:

• Breathe and smile. Relax. Take a moment to let go, and just be. Enjoy it.
• Do standing meditation, while waiting in line for a movie or bus or train. Just stand there, breathe, and awaken.
• Whenever you sit down or stand up, stop and appreciate a moment of change, of freedom.
• Whenever you cross a threshold, go through a doorway, or enter a room, see it as entering a temple and do so reverently.
• Walk barefoot in the grass or on a thick carpet and feel fully each sensation with your toes and soles.
• Walk on the edge of a beach, where the water meets the sand, with your eyes closed, feeling your way along, totally vigilant and attentive.
• Walk slowly upon crunchy snow or autumn leaves, attending to the crackle of each step.
• Sing, chant, or pray till you totally forget and lose yourself; then stop and drop into a moment of inexpressible isness, completely beyond concepts, stories, and strategies.
• Experience simple, repetitive work like sewing, embroidering, or even washing dishes as meditation in action, focusing totally on the moment in hand and nothing else.
• Try doing manual labor in a sacred manner, just doing what you are doing as if it is the ultimate divine service, for it is.
• When eating, chew each mouthful fifty or one hundred times, getting the most out of the food as well as being further nourished by the richness of the moment.
• Try chewing one single raisin for several minutes and experiencing everything you can about it.
• Before speaking, notice what motivates your words.
• Set a beeper on your watch or alarm clock to ring every hour on the hour, reminding you to wake up and appreciate the miracle of every moment. Call yourself by name and say, "Wake up!"
• Recognize the Buddha-light shining in everyone and everything and treat others accordingly.
• Enjoy the indescribable joy and peace of meditation.

Click here to view the table of contents and here to read an excerpt.

Tips and Pointers for Building a Spiritual Life from Scratch (Awakening the Buddha Within)

I really liked this section about bringing spirituality to daily life from Awakening the Buddha Within: Eight Steps to Enlightenment: Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World by Lama Surya Das.

Building a Spiritual Life from Scratch

Recently I've been going through some old notebooks, looking at some of the things that I wrote down at Lama Yeshe's monastery. In one notebook, I found a "To Do" list called "Daily Necessities." If you reflect upon some of these practices and bring a few into your life every day, you will be transformed.

The living Buddha, the Sixteenth Karmapa, said, "If you have one hundred percent dedication and confidence in Dharma teachings, every living situation can be part of spiritual practice. You can be living the practice instead of just doing it."

Daily Necessities

Tips and Pointers for Building a Spiritual Life from Scratch

Pray
Meditate
Be aware / Stay awake
Bow
Practice yoga
Feel
Chant and sing
Breathe and smile
Relax / Enjoy / Laugh / lay
Create / Envision
Let go / Forgive / Accept
Walk / Exercise / Move
Work / Serve / Contribute
Listen / Learn / Inquire
Consider / Reflect
Cultivate oneself / Enhance competencies
Cultivate contentment
Cultivate flexibility
Cultivate friendship and collaboration
Open up / Expand / Include
Lighten up
Dream
Celebrate and appreciate
Give thanks
Evolve
Love
Share / Give / Receive
Walk softly / Live gently
Expand / Radiate / Dissolve
Simplify
Surrender / Trust
Be born anew

Click here to view the table of contents and here to read an excerpt.

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle Book Club Discussion Questions

As promised, here are some of the discussion questions for David Wroblewski's The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel that my book club brought up:

1. It is quite rare that a person is born mute but not deaf. How do you think the fact that Edgar could hear but not speak, added or detracted from this story and his relationships with the people and animals in his life?
2. Tell us about your pet(s) or comment on how you feel about dogs, dog breeding and training.
3. Claude is a curious presence in the story. What does he want, when did he start wanting it and how do you feel about the ways he went about obtaining what mattered most to him?
4. The book contains much symbolism and some unexplained events that are left to the reader’s interpretation to understand. Give one (at least) example of symbolism, or a mystery, and explain how you came to understand this by using your imagination and/or logic to determine how it best fit within the story.

Enjoy!

Strategy and the Fat Smoker: Doing What's Obvious But Not Easy by David H Maister

Finally read David H. Maister's Strategy and the Fat Smoker; Doing What's Obvious But Not Easy.

Here's the table of contents:

Introduction I
Strategy 1
Strategy and the Fat Smoker 3
Strategy Means Saying "No" 19
It's Not How Good You Are; It's How Much You Want It 33
Are We In This Together? The Preconditions for Strategy 47
What's Our Deal? 59
Client Relationships 75
Do You Really Want Relationships? 77
The Friendship Strategy 93
Doing It for the Money 107
Management 119
Tyrants, Energizers, and Cynics 121
Why (Most) Training Is Useless 131
A Great Coach In Action 143
A Natural Manager 159
Accountability: Effective Managers Go First 171
Selecting a Leader: Do We Know What We Want? 187
Putting it Together 197
The One-Firm Firm Revisited 199
Managing the Multidimensional Organization 219
The Trouble With Lawyers 229
The Chief Executive's Speech 243
Passion, People, and Principles 251
Bibliography 257
Acknowledgements 259
About David Maister 261
Additional Material David Maister 263
Index 267

I wish I could highly recommend this book, as I do his other books (The Trusted Advisor and Managing The Professional Service Firm).

But I just wasn't impressed. Maybe it's because my expectations were so high; maybe it's because his other books were so superb.

In any case, this book is worth skimming through but I don't love it.

Awakening the Buddha Within: Eight Steps to Enlightenment: Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World by Lama Surya Das

I am about finished reading Awakening the Buddha Within: Eight Steps to Enlightenment: Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World by Lama Surya Das.

I highly recommend this simple, well-written book that brings Tibetan Buddhism to the masses.

Will write more after I finish the book

Click here to view the table of contents and here to read an excerpt.

The Alchemist Reading Group Discussion Questions

For my own reference, I am pasting the reading group discussion questions for The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, one of my favorite books and one that I frequently recommend to friends (and which I re-read last week):

1. At the start of his journey, when Santiago asks a gypsy woman to interpret his dream about a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids, she asks for one tenth of the treasure in return. When Santiago asks the old man to show him the path to the treasure, the old man requests one tenth of his flock as "payment." Both payments represent a different price we have to pay to fulfill a dream; however, only one will yield a true result. Which payment represents false hope? Can you think of examples from your own life when you had to give up something to meet a goal and found the price too high?
2. Paulo Coelho once said that alchemy is all about pursuing our spiritual quest in the physical world as it was given to us. It is the art of transmuting the reality into something sacred, of mixing the sacred and the profane. With this in mind, can you define your Personal Legend? At what time in your life were you first able to act on it? What was your "beginner's luck"? Did anything prevent you from following it to conclusion? Having read The Alchemist do you know what inner resources you need to continue the journey?
3. One of the first major diversions from Santiago's journey was the theft of his money in Tangiers, which forced him into taking a menial job with the crystal merchant. There, Santiago learned many lessons on everything from the art of business to the art of patience. Of all these, which lessons were the most crucial to the pursuit of his Personal Legend?
4. When he talked about the pilgrimage to Mecca, the crystal merchant argued that having a dream is more important than fulfilling it, which is what Santiago was trying to do. Do you agree with Santiago's rationale or crystal merchant's?
5. The Englishman, whom Santiago meets when he joins the caravan to the Egyptian pyramids, is searching for "a universal language, understood by everybody." What is that language? According to the Englishman, what are the parallels between reading and alchemy? How does the Englishman's search for the alchemist compares to Santiago's search for a treasure? How did the Englishman and Santiago feel about each other?
6. The alchemist tells Santiago "you don't have to understand the desert: all you have to do is contemplate a simple grain of sand, and you will see in it all the marvels of creation." With this in mind, why do you think the alchemist chose to befriend Santiago, though he knew that the Englishman was the one looking for him? What is the meaning of two dead hawks and the falcon in the oasis? At one point the alchemist explains to Santiago the secret of successfully turning metal into gold. How does this process compare to finding a Personal Legend?
7. Why did Santiago have to go through the dangers of tribal wars on the outskirts of the oasis in order to reach the pyramids? At the very end of the journey, why did the alchemist leave Santiago alone to complete it?
8. Earlier in the story, the alchemist told Santiago "when you possess great treasures within you, and try to tell others of them, seldom are you believed." At the end of the story, how did this simple lesson save Santiago's life? How did it lead him back to the treasure he was looking for?

Also, here is the plot summary in the Reading Group Guide found in my copy:

Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy, has a dream about finding a treasure in the pyramids of Egypt. A gypsy woman and an old man claiming to be a mysterious king advise him to pursue it. "To realize one's destiny is a person's only obligation," the old man tells him. "And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it."

With the courage of an adventurer, Santiago sells his sheep and travels to Tangiers in Africa. After a thief steals his money, Santiago takes a job with a crystal merchant who unwittingly teaches Santiago important lessons for his long journey ahead. After working at the crystal shop for a year, Santiago earns enough money to cover his losses and return home. But then something unexpected happens. On a desert caravan, Santiago meets an intriguing Englishman. The Englishman's passion for knowledge and his relentless quest to uncover the secrets of alchemy inspire Santiago to pursue his own dream of finding the treasure. As the Englishman searches for the two hundred year old alchemist who resides in the desert oasis, Santiago falls in love with a young woman, Fatima. Exposed to the greatest and eternal alchemy of all - love - Santiago thinks he has found the treasure. But the greatest test of all is yet to come. With the help of the alchemist, Santiago completes the last leg of his journey - dangerous and infused with discoveries of the most profound kind - to find that the treasure he was looking for was waiting for him in the place where he least expected.

This story, timeless and entertaining, exotic yet simple, breaks down the journey we all take to find the most meaningfultreasures in our lives into steps that are at once natural and magical. It is about the faith, power, and courage we all have within us to pursue the intricate path of a Personal Legend, a path charted by the mysterious magnet of destiny but obscured by distractions. Santiago shows how along the way we learn to trust our hearts, read the seemingly inconspicuous signs, and understand that as we look to fulfill a dream, it looks to find us just the same, if we let it.

Enjoy!

Past Lives, Future Lives by Bruce Goldberg

Last Friday I read Dr. Bruce Goldberg's classic book supporting reincarnation, Past Lives, Future Lives. Goldberg is a dentist who also has a hypnotherapy practice, specializing in simple age regressions (childhood, etc), past life regressions, and future life regressions.

Sounds a bit nutty, huh?

While I do believe in reincarnation and have an interest in learning about my past lives and how I have previously interacted with the people I know in this life, I'm not totally convinced about the truth of this book.

Still, it's fun to read. And it contradicts the most common argument against reincarnation that I've heard -- that reincarnation can't possibly be real because people always claim to have been someone famous in a previous life (there isn't one case of someone claiming to have been a famous / historical figure in a past life in this book).

And if you always wanted to hear yet another theory on how the pyramids of Egypt were built, look no further! (Human workers using special magic ropes brought by aliens and under supervision by aliens.) Also, there are a few predictions about the future -- sometime before 2060 giant earthquakes will completely destroy New York City (renamed New City), Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Yup.

Anyway, here's the table of contents in case you want to learn more...

Introduction xi
1 The Past Lives of a TV Talk Show Host  1
2 What Is Hypnosis?  12
3 What Is Karma? Historical Foundations and Popular Concepts  25
4 Documented Proof of Reincarnation  47
5 On a Clear Day You Can See Yesterday: Age Regression with Hypnosis  57
6 Didn't We Meet in a Past Life?  70
7 Bob and the ``Light People''  81
8 Hubert Meets Aliens in Ancient Egypt  88
9 The Baby That Was 200 Years Overdue  94
10 Hysterical Blindness and a Past Life in the London Slums  100
11 Odontiatrophobia and the Blacksmith  107
12 The 800-Year-Old Synchronicity  112
13 Anorexia Nervosa: Self-Punishment for Her Last Life  126
14 On a Clear Day You Can See Tomorrow: Future Life Progression with Hypnosis  133
15 The Future Lives of Our TV Personality  137
16 Time Travel via the Airwaves  150
17 Marsha: A Career Woman of the Future  158
18 From Soothsayer to Keeper of Knowledge  167
19 Zeku: A Case of Genetic Engineering  182
20 From Greece to Moonan  190
21 A Future Life Under Glass  203
22 A Contaminated Future Life  215
23 Past Life Therapy in the Twenty-second Century  237
24 What Is It Like to Die?  257
25 Karma: When Does It All End? 264
26 Questions and Answers about Past and Future Lives Hypnotherapy  267

Enjoy!

The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire by Deepak Chopra

During the week, I read Deepak Chopra's The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire: Harnessing the Infinite Power of Coincidence. I've read several of his other books -- The Path to Love: Spiritual Strategies for Healing, How to Know God: the soul’s journey into the mystery of mysteries, and The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success: a practical guide to the fulfillment of your dreams -- and generally found them soothing.

And after reading Lynne McTaggart's The Intention Experiment: Using Your Thoughts to Change Your Life and the World and re-reading Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist, I was particularly interested to learn Chopra's views on essentially the same topic -- being in tune with oneself.

Here is the table of contents:

Acknowledgments 14
Introduction 17

Part One: The Promise of Unlimited Potential
1 Matter, Mind, and Spirit 13
2 Synchronicity in Nature 59
3 The Nature of the Soul 75
4 Intention 93
5 The Role of Coincidence 119
6 Desires and Archetypes 147

Part Two: Paving Destiny's Path
7 Meditation and Mantras 167
8 The First Principle, You Are a Ripple in the Fabric of the Cosmos 181
9 The Second Principle: Through the Mirror of Relationships I Discover My Nonlocal Self 187
10 The Third Principle: Master Your Inner Dialogue 199
11 The Fourth Principle: Intent Weaves the Tapestry of the Universe 207
12 The Fifth Principle: Harness Your Emotional Turbulence 219
13 The Sixth Principle: Celebrate the Dance of the Cosmos 237
14 The Seventh Principle: Accusing the Conspiracy of Improbabilities 243
15 Living Synchrodestiny 251

Epilogue 263
Selected References on Nonlocality 269
Appendix A 279
Appendix B 289
Index 294

Click here to read an excerpt.

The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferris

Last weekend I also read a friend's copy of The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferris.

Kind of cheesy at times -- like most business books -- but worth reading if you are interested in making a lifestyle change.

Click here to view the table of contents and to find excerpts.

The Astonishing Power of Emotions: Let Your Feelings Be Your Guide by Esther and Jerry Hicks

A few days ago, I read The Astonishing Power of Emotions: Let Your Feelings Be Your Guide by Esther and Jerry Hicks (I own and have yet to read their other bestseller Ask and It Is Given: Learning to Manifest Your Desires).

Here's the table of contents:

Preface Jerry Hicks xi
Esther and Abraham Are Ready to Begin 1
Discovering the Astonishing Power of Emotions
Abraham Welcomes Us All to Planet Earth 5
The Value of Your Faith
This Glorious Planet Thrilled You
Remembering the Big Picture 9
Your Relationship with Your Inner Being
The Universe Continues to Expand Through You 13
Even Without Words, You Are Creating
Your Inner Being Flows with New Desires
Thought Always Precedes Manifestation
You Are a Vibrational Being 19
You Have a Sixth Sense
So Back to the Big Picture
Your Emotions Are Absolute Indicators 23
Your Expansion Is Constant
It Is All about Aligning Your Thoughts
Vibrational Alignment Feels Like Relief 27
Putting Your Canoe into the Stream
Your Inner Being Has Already Become It
The Vibrational Gap Between You and You 33
The Power of Your Guiding Emotions
Emotions Indicate the Degree of Your Alignment
Nothing That You Want Is Upstream
Your Life Flows in a Natural Cycle 37
Just Let Go of the Oars
The Law of Attraction Needs No Practice 41
Living the Law of Allowing
Go with the Flow of Well-Being
You Are Adding Power to the Stream
Demonstrating the Astonishing Power of Emotions
Some Examples to Help You Let Go of the Oars 49
I Have Been Given a Frightening Diagnosis: How LongWill It Take Me to Find My Solution? 51
I Cannot Lose Weight 57
My Children Fight Constantly, and They Are Driving Me Crazy 67
I Am Totally Disorganized 75
My Former Partner Tells Lies about Me 79
My Husband Tells Me How to Drive 85
I Am Not Happy at Work 91
My Husband and My Teenage Son Do Not Get Along 95
Since My Father Died, I Cannot Find My Balance 101
I Am a Teenager 109
My Friend Talks about Me Behind My Back 115
I Have So Little Money, with No Improvement in Sight 119
I Cannot Find a Mate 125
My Sister and I Are Not Speaking to Each Other 129
My Mate Controls Me, and I Feel Smothered 135
I Am Getting Divorced and Feel Lost 141
My Children Have No Respect for Me 149
People Steal My Creative Ideas 159
My Mother Has Been Diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease 165
My Office Staff Cannot Seem to Get Along 169
My Husband Thinks This Philosophy Is Nuts and Wants No Part of It 175
I Am Considered "Old" in This Society 181
My Daughter Lies Constantly 185
I Keep Getting Passed Over for Promotions at Work 189
I Do Not Have the Time or Money to Care for My Parents, and I Feel Guilty 195
I Am Wasting My Life Stuck in Traffic 199
Now That I Know about the Law of Attraction, My Thoughts Worry Me 203
My Husband Is Very Sick 207
My Lover Left Me 213
My Pet Is Sick 219
I Have Never Had Enough Money 223
My Dog Died and I Feel Grief 229
Our Son Is Gay 233
Transcript of Abraham Live: Art of Allowing Workshop (A CD of this session can be found at the back of the book.) 239
About the Authors 261

It's kind of a crazy book but at least it was a quick read. That's all I'll say for now.

The Intention Experiment: Using Your Thoughts to Change Your Life and the World by Lynne McTaggart

Last weekend I finished reading The Intention Experiment: Using Your Thoughts to Change Your Life and the World by Lynne McTaggart. This book and McTaggart's The Field Updated Ed: The Quest for the Secret Force of the Universe were first recommended to me about a year ago and I'm glad to finally read it.

I liked this book initially but I felt that it dragged on a bit too long like all too many books.

The scientific evidence provided was interesting, but I will have to research McTaggart's sources to be convinced fully of the validity of the studies described.

Also, McTaggart's instructions for using intention in one's own life seems useful. I may paste them into an entry sometime.

Click here to view the table of contents or click here to read an excerpt.

Book Club Trouble

I found "Fought Over Any Good Books Lately?" by Joanne Kaufman published December 5, 2008 in the New York Times very interesting:

“Who knew a book group could be such a soap opera?” said Barb Burg, senior vice president at Bantam Dell, which publishes many titles adopted by book groups. “You’d think it would just be about the book. But wherever I go, people want to talk to me about the infighting and the politics.”

I am a member of several online book clubs and while I haven't actually fought with anyone about the book selections I too have been disappointed by some of my book club's selections.

But since they are all online books, I don't feel guilty skipping a book or two or just staying quiet when everyone else loves a book that I hated (or vice versa).

Any thoughts on book clubs?

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Last week I re-read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, one of my all-time favorite books.

If you haven't read this beautiful inspirational novel, first published in the early 1990s in Portuguese, you are missing out.

It is a simple book that reminds us to listen to our hearts.

If you loved Daniel Quinn's Ishmael, you will love this book too.

Interestingly, before coming across an old copy of The Alchemist and re-reading it, I started reading Lynne McTaggart's The Intention Experiment: Using Your Thoughts to Change Your Life and the World; both remind me of the importance of being in tune with yourself, something I need to be reminded of about once a year.

Which is why I like to re-read The Alchemist and Ishmael at least once every two years. I think I last read the former in 2002 and the latter in 2004 so it's been some time now. I will have to make time to re-read Ishmael in 2009.

Each time I read my favorite books, I also feel like they teach me different things. The quote that stood out to me from this re-reading is this (supposedly a proverb): "Everything that happens once can never happen again. But everything that happens twice will surely happen a third time."


Click here to read an excerpt.

Guided Meditations for Looking Deeply and Releasing Anger

I still need to write down my thoughts about Thich Nhat Hanh's Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames, but after sharing Appendix B (The Five Mindfulness Trainings) I'd like to also share the guided meditations found in Appendix C. But first, the instructions on guided meditation from Appendix C:

Begin with "Breathing in, I know I am breathing in. Breathing out, I know I am breathing out." Followed by the key words "In, out." You should always start with a few moments of mindful breathing to calm your mind. Use the first key word to accompany the in-breath, and the second key word to accompany the out-breath. Repeat these key words silently with your in- and out-breath in order to really touch the meaning of the meditation. Avoid saying the words mechanically; instead experience and feel them concretely. Allow eight to ten in- and out-breaths for each exercise, keeping the key words alive during each in- and out-breath.

Here are the guided meditations for Looking Deeply at Anger.

1. Contemplating a person in anger, I breathe in.
   Seeing the suffering of that person, I breathe out.
   Angry person / Suffering
2. Contemplating the damage from anger to self and others, I breathe in.
   Seeing that anger burns and destroys happiness, I breathe out.
   Anger harms self and others / Destroys happiness
3. Seeing anger's roots in my body, I breathe in.
   Seeing anger's roots in my consciousness, I breathe out.
   Anger's roots in body / Anger's roots in consciousness
4. Seeing the roots of anger in wrong perceptions and ignorance, breathe in.
   Smiling to my wrong perceptions and ignorance, I breathe out.
   Anger's roots in wrong perceptions and ignorance / Smiling
5. Seeing the angry person suffer, I breathe in.
   Feeling compassion for the angry person who suffers, I breathe out.
   Angry person suffers / Feeling compassion
6. Seeing the unfavorable environment and unhappiness of the angry person, I breathe in.
   Understanding the causes of this unhappiness, I breathe out.
   Angry person unhappy / Understanding unhappiness
7. Seeing myself burned by the fire of anger, I breathe in.
   Feeling compassion for myself burning with anger, I breathe out.
   Burned by anger / Compassion for myself
8. Knowing anger makes me look ugly, I breathe in.
   Seeing myself as the chief cause of my ugliness, I breathe out.
   Anger makes me ugly / I cause my ugliness
9. Seeing when I am angry I am a burning house, I breathe in.
   Taking care of my anger and going back to myself, I breathe out.
   I am a burning house / Taking care of myself
10. Contemplating helping the angry person, I breathe in.
    Seeing myself able to help the angry person, I breathe out.
    Helping angry person / Capable of helping

And here are the guided meditations for Releasing Anger and Healing Relations with Our Parents.

1. Seeing myself as a five-year-old child, I breathe in.
   Smiling to the five-year-old child, I breathe out.
   Myself, five years old / Smiling
2. Seeing the five-year-old child as a fragile and vulnerable, I breathe in.
   Smiling with love to the five-year-old child, I breathe out.
   Five-year-old, fragile / Smiling with love
3. Seeing my father as a five-year-old boy, I breathe in.
   Smiling to my father as a five-year-old boy, I breathe out.
   Father, five years old / Smiling
4. Seeing my five-year-old father as fragile and vulnerable, I breathe in.
   Smiling with love and understanding to my father as a five-year-old boy, I breathe out.
   Father, fragile and vulnerable / Smiling with love and understanding
5. Seeing my mother as a five-year-old girl, I breathe in.
   Smiling to my mother as a five-year-old girl, I breathe out.
   Mother, five years old / Smiling
6. Seeing my five-year-old mother as fragile and vulnerable, I breathe in.
   Smiling with love and understanding to my mother as a five-year-old girl, I breathe out.
   Mother, fragile and vulnerable / Smiling with love and understanding
7. Seeing my father suffering as a child, I breathe in.
   Seeing my mother suffering as a child, I breathe out.
   Father, suffering as a child / Mother, suffering as a child.
8. Seeing my father in me, I breathe in.
   Smiling to my father in me, I breathe out.
   Father in me / Smiling
9. Seeing my mother in me, I breathe in.
   Smiling to my mother in me, I breathe out.
   Mother in me / Smiling
10. Understanding the difficulties that my father in me has, I breathe in.
    Determined to work for the release of both my father and me, I breathe out.
    Difficulties of father in me / Releasing father and me
11. Understanding the difficulties that my mother in me has, I breathe in.
    Determined to work for the release of both my mother and me, I breathe out.
    Difficulties of mother in me / Releasing mother and me

The guided meditation found in Appendix D (Deep Relaxation) is also quite something so I might share that another day.

Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being

I found myself thinking about Milan Kundera's modern classic novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being today.

No reason really, it just came to mind.

I read this a few years ago because I'd heard so much about it, and because I'd enjoyed Kundera's Ignorance with its themes of memory, loss, and homesickness.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Kundera's novel of love and politics in his homeland -- communist-run Czechoslovakia -- between 1968 and the early 1980s.

It's a must-read, in my opinion.

Click here to read an excerpt of The Unbearable Lightness of Being and here to read an excerpt of Ignorance.

I didn't read either of his books for book clubs but I think they would be fascinating to discuss. In fact, I think I'll suggest one or more of his books the next time I'm supposed to lead the discussion!

Here are some discussion questions for The Unbearable Lightness of Being, in case your looking for some for your book club:

1. What kinds of being carry the attribute of lightness? How is the "lightness of being" of the novel's title presented? In what ways is it "unbearable"? What is the difference between "the sweet lightness of being" that Tomas enjoys in Zurich, after Tereza's return to Prague, and "the unbearable lightness of being"?
2. How does Nietzsche's myth of eternal return, with which Kundera opens his book, function in the novel? What does Kundera mean when he refers to "the profound moral perversity of a world that rests essentially on the nonexistence of return"? How does what he calls the unbearable burden of eternal return contrast with the "splendid lightness" of our daily lives?
3. How would you describe the three central relationships of the novel--Tereza and Tomas, Tomas and Sabina, Sabina and Franz? How do they embody Kundera's primary concerns and themes?
4. In what ways does Kundera explore what he calls "the irreconcilable duality of body and soul, that fundamental human experience." In what ways does he show this duality to be fundamental?
5. Both Tereza and Tomas repeatedly think of the series of fortuitous events that brought them together. What is the rule of fortuity, chance, and coincidence in their lives and the lives of others? What does Kundera mean when he writes, "Chance and chance alone has a message for us"?
6. In what ways may Sabina's description of her dual-level paintings--"On the surface, an intelligible lie; underneath, the unintelligible truth"--apply to every aspect of the characters' lives and relationships?
7. What meanings and importance do each of the main characters ascribe to fidelity and betrayal? In what instances, for each character, do fidelity and betrayal have either positive or negative qualities?
8. Kundera insists that "the criminal regimes were made not by criminals but by enthusiasts convinced they had discovered the only road to paradise." What visions or versions of paradise are presented in the novel? By whom? How does each vision/version of paradise affect the lives of its enthusiasts and the lives of others?

And here are some discussion questions for Ignorance:

1. As in his previous novels, Kundera isn't content to merely tell a story; he also comments on it, via digressions on themes ranging from history to etymology and music. What is the effect of this method? Does it emotionally distance you from the narrative and characters or cause you to see them in a different light? Would you describe Ignorance as a realist novel?
2. When her Parisian friend Sylvie urges her to go home to her country, Irena replies "You mean this"--meaning Paris -- "isn't my home anymore?" This exchange suggests that "home" may be a relative phenomenon, that today's home may not be tomorrow's. How is this theme developed elsewhere in Ignorance? Can any of Kundera's characters be said to have a true home, or is home in this book always changeable, unreliable, and perhaps even illusory? And is going home a guarantee of happiness?
3. Even as Ignorance questions the permanence of home, it also raises doubts about the authenticity of the self, as in this moment when Irena glimpses her reflection in a department store mirror: "The person she saw was not she, it was somebody else, or…it was she but she living a different life." [p. 31] How would you sum up this novel's view of identity? Have Kundera's characters chosen their identities or have their identities been imposed on them by outside forces?
4. Early in the novel Kundera draws a series of correspondences and oppositions: between homesickness, nostalgia, and ignorance; between the longing for a place and the longing for a vanished past or a lost love. How does he develop these themes? Is Irena's nostalgia, for example, merely an expression of ignorance? Conversely, what is the reason for Josef's "nostalgic insufficiency?" [p. 74] When do these characters confuse homesickness with other types of longing, and with what consequences?
5. What is the significance of Ignorance's frequent references to The Odyssey? Do any events in this novel parallel those in Homer's epic? Is Josef's devotion to his deceased wife, for example, meant to recall Odysseus's devotion to Penelope? Compare the way Kundera uses The Odyssey in this book to the way Joyce uses it in Ulysses.
6. "Our century is the only one in which historic dates have taken such a voracious grip on every single person's life." [p.11] In what ways are the characters in Ignorance shaped by history and their personal destinies determined by it? Are they ever able to resist history? Does Kundera's view of historical forces hold out any hope for the freedom and dignity of the individual?
7. How would you describe Irena's and Josef's relationships with their families and old friends? Why are these so often marked by suspicion, incomprehension or outright hostility? In contrast, Irena and Josef seem to share a frictionless instant intimacy, even though they are little more than strangers. Is Kundera suggesting that the intimacy of strangers is somehow superior to the stifling, conventional closeness that prevails within most families? Are some of the characters' relationships more genuine than others?
8. What role is played by Irena's friend Milada who, unbeknown to Irena, was once Josef's girlfriend? Does Josef's past treatment of Milada predict his future behavior toward Irena? Is he morally responsible for Milada's mutilation or has Milada merely sacrificed herself for a sentimental fantasy? What do you make of Kundera's use of coincidence? Does he seem to view it the way Irena does -- as an expression of fate?
9. Are you surprised by the sexual encounter between Irena's mother and her boyfriend? Does it strike you as a betrayal of Irena, who at the time is betraying Gustav with Josef? Is Josef himself guilty of betraying Irena by his silence? How would you characterize this novel's attitude toward sex?

I should probably pick up some of Kundera's other books -- any suggestions?

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle - Message from David Wroblewski

Just received this message from David Wroblewski, author of The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel, through one of my book clubs:

Message from the author David Wroblewski

In my earliest memory—earliest of any kind—I am kneeling on the couch in the living room of our house in Pewaukee, Wisconsin, looking out the picture window. Our collie, Princess, is perched on the cushion beside me, and together we are watching three women coming up the sidewalk. I can't be much more than 2 years old, and I don't recall our visitors' purpose, but I must have set my hand against Princess as we looked out the window, for I can vividly recall the warmth and reassuring mass of her body and the texture of her fur against my fingertips. I suppose that moment is the beginning of my interest in the canine world, though who can pinpoint such things? Perhaps I was just born with a kind of certainty about dogs and our relationship to them. What I know is this: in my memory of that instant, there is no boundary between us. I am me, yes, and she is her, but we are also somehow the same. We are connected as we watch the women approach. They are talking and laughing, swaying along in a friendly, triangular formation. Then they are at the door. They are wearing woolen coats: It must have been spring or fall. Fall, I think. It may have been my birthday, because they are carrying something, and there must be some reason this otherwise ordinary afternoon has stayed with me all these years. One of the women reaches out. The doorbell rings.

When I was about 12 years old, someone abandoned a half-grown pup on the road near our farm. This pup ran wild through the woods for I don't know how long, appearing to us periodically as a flash of orange and white bolting through the field. One morning, my father spied him eating the gravel off the road. In time, we were able to coax the dog into the yard, and he become "my" dog, though, considering that he refused ever to come into the house or even allow a collar to be put on him, it was difficult to know who was adopting whom. We guessed he was half collie, half German shepherd. I named him Prince. For some reason, during those years, there was an explosion in the skunk population, and Prince took it as his sacred duty to corner any skunk that trundled into our yard, keeping the animal trapped (often under the bathroom window) with what was to me a mortifying and fascinating single mindedness, an electric ferocity in his movements. My father, worried about rabies, forbade us from going outside when this happened; he would go to the gun case and fetch his shotgun and trudge out the back door. Long before he arrived on the scene, however, Prince would have been soaked with scent, repeatedly. I spent many summer mornings making Prince stand still for a bath, scolding him. I remember his response: an unrepentant, almost prideful, gaze, which seemed to say, "No regrets. I can see what's right and wrong."

A final memory: one afternoon, now years ago, as I was struggling to revise a draft of Edgar Sawtelle, my partner, Kimberly, gave me this advice: Imagine someone reading Edgar's story on a long train ride home from work. That was all she said, nothing more, yet it is probably the single most useful bit of writing advice I've ever gotten. Before she turned away, I'd already filled in the details: that person was a man, and he'd had a dispiriting day at work; he'd grown up in the country, but now he worked in the city, and on that particular day he was feeling as if he'd lost his way in life—that his life had been reduced to a train ride from here to there and back, over and over again. I understood that the man was not me, exactly, but rather some version of me, and because this was so I could remind him: you were once connected to the wild world. Don't forget what that was like. I could see him, alone in his train car. As the fluorescent ceiling lights gradually superseded the dusk outside, the window glass became a long, black mirror. The man's head was bent over his book. I badly wanted to talk to him, but it was impossible, and eventually, when I had watched him long enough, I turned my attention back to the manuscript and got to work.

These memories reflect, I'm sure, some of my lifelong preoccupations, one being the extraordinary quality of our relationship with dogs, because The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is unabashedly a dog story. A love story, in fact. Writing it has given me a chance to consider how intertwined our species have become. How, over millennia, we've changed dogs and how dogs, in turn, have changed us. How the rituals and obligations of animal companionship also grant moments that transcend human experience. Another preoccupation of mine, not unrelated to the first, has to do with the nature of wildness in the human character. We glimpse it in ourselves every day, from the surge of emotion that rises from nowhere to the flash of inspiration we can't explain. Even memory itself, the very core of our identity, remains slyly feral, heedlessly retrieving all manner of incident and image, indifferent to whether its discoveries are burdens or gifts.

Since the book's publication, readers have occasionally turned to me with questions. While it's true that I love talking about Edgar's story, I've also found myself admitting that I don't want—and don't have—any final answers, any overarching, ambiguity-smashing point of view. Writing a novel may not absolutely require losing perspective, but I nonetheless have. Edgar, Almondine and the people in their world feel as real to me as anyone I have ever known, and thus, by turns transparent, inexplicable and fascinating. It is as true for the writer as for the reader that any novel worth its ink should be an experience first and foremost—not an essay, not a statement, not an orderly rollout of themes and propositions. All of which is to say: stories, too, are wild things.

Will post some additional discussion questions from my book club over the next week.

The Five Mindfulness Trainings

I still need to write down my thoughts about Thich Nhat Hanh's Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames, but for now I'd like to just share Appendix B from the book.

The Five Mindfulness Trainings

The First Mindfulness Training:Reverence for Life
Aware of the suffering caused by the destruction of life, I vow to cultivate compassion and learn ways to protect the lives of people, animals, plants, and minerals. I am determined not to kill, not to let others kill, and not to condone any act of killing in the world, in my thinking or in my way of life.

The Second Mindfulness Training: GenerosityAware of the suffering caused by exploitation, social injustice, stealing, and oppression, I vow to cultivate loving-kindness and learn ways to work for the well-being of people, animals, plants, and minerals. I vow to practice generosity by sharing my time, energy, and material resources with those who are in real need. I am determined not to steal and not to possess anything that should belong to others. I will respect the property of others, but I will prevent others from profiting from human suffering or the suffering of other species on earth.

The Third Mindfulness Training: Sexual Responsibility
Aware of the suffering caused by sexual misconduct, I vow to cultivate responsibility and learn ways to protect the safety and integrity of individuals, couples, families and society. I am determined not to engage in sexual relations without love and a long-term commitment. To preserve the happiness of myself and others, I am determined to respect my commitments and the commitments of others. I will do everything in my power to protect children from sexual abuse and to protect couples and familes from being broken by sexual misconduct.

The Fourth Mindfulness Training: Deep Listening and Loving Speech
Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful speech and the inability to listen to others, I vow to cultivate loving speech and deep listening in order to bring joy and happiness to others and relieve others of their suffering. Knowing that words can create happiness or suffering, I vow to learn to speak truthfully with words that inspire self-confidence, joy, and hope. I am determined not to spread news that I do not know to be certain and not to criticize or condemn things of which I am not sure. I will refrain from uttering words that can cause division or discord, or that can cause family or the community to break. I will make all efforts to reconcile and resolve all conflicts, however small.

The Five Mindfulness Training: Mindfulness Consumption
Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful consumption, I vow to cultivate good health, both physical and mental, for myself, my family, and my society by practicing mindful eating, drinking, and consuming. I vow to ingest only items that preserve peace, well-being, and joy in my body, in my consciousness, and in the collective body and consciousness of my family and society. I am determined not to use alcohol or any other intoxicant or to ingest food or other items that contain toxins, such as certain TV programs, magazines, books, films, and conversations. I am aware that to damage my body or my consciousness with these poisons is to betray my ancestors, my parents, my society, and future generations. I will work to transform violence, fear, anger, and confusion in myself and in society by practicing a diet for myself and for society. I understand that a proper diet is crucial for self-transformation and for the transformation of society.

Untying the Knot

Re-reading Lori Gottlieb's March 2008 Atlantic article about settling -- after being reminded of it by reading Caitlin Flanagan’s recent article in the Atlantic about being reminded of female adolescence and re-reading Lisa Belkin’s October 2003 New York Times Magazine cover story about highly educated women choosing to leave their careers for the joys of motherhood -- has reminded me of yet another article: "Untying the Knot" by Melanie Thernstrom, published August 23, 2003 in the New York Times Magazine.

This article tells the sad story of the courtship, marriage, and divorce of Max and Kate to discuss marriage, divorce and love in modern times.

The truth is that most Americans do not marry for power, money and status. Nor do they marry out of social and economic necessity, as in an earlier era. They marry for love. Yet an enduring truth of our time is that marriage dissolves as often as it holds. So how is it that ordinary love ordinarily fails? If love is, as Wallace Stevens suggests, a dwelling ''in which being there together is enough,'' how does silence fall on a thousand evenings and the possibility of intimacy flicker and die? How do lovers become lonely?

It's a very sad article, but worth reading. A friend sent it to me when it was first published and I've kept it and re-read it about once a year since then.