It is so good to be back home.
I was ready to be back by Wednesday.
I am the kind of person whose greatest enemy is my expectations. I wrestle with this demon of mine quite often. It has ruined many opportunities and adventures. Before I left for this trip I found myself becoming increasingly stressed out and anxiety ridden, for things had begun to cascade long before I even got to the airport.
So while sitting there on the plane, I took some really deep breathes and decided that I was going to stop focusing on the negative (hell bent to manifest it) and look at the bigger picture. Keep my eyes open to what this trip was really about for me.
I can not say it was a complete success, but what did happen was that I let go of the expectations and this minimized a lot of the more difficult moments.
I was able to spend some quality time with a good friend of mine who I haven’t seen in a while. I was able to read 4 really interesting books. I made sure I dragged myself to a hammock and sat with my feet dangling in the sand.
The hardest things for me to do, is live in the present. I have closed many of the doors to my past, and I am always looking into the future. Trying to figure out what comes next. It’s foolish I know, but I have my own set of survival skills thank you very much!
I have made a commitment for the month of November to write only positive things, so I can not really kavetch about my trip, and to be honest it’s not worth the breath.
So let me instead share my books with you in a mini type review.
Phantoms by Terry Goodkind. If your not into fantasy writing, just go on and skip! This is not the most recent installment in his series, the newest one comes out tuesday I think. This was however a book I was suppose to read. I was sitting on the plane and a women next to me was reading another one of his books, it was as if Karma was holding up a big sign going “NOW”. This man is a master story teller who really weaves a good tale, it’s got the whole Good vs Evil thing , wizards, spells, dragons and all that yummy stuff, but underneath all of it are many statements about mankind and our nature. The Wizards first rule is people are stupid, and they will believe anything you tell them as long as it doesn’t interfere with their comfort!
The Covenant by Naomi Ragen. Grab the WHOLE box of tissues before you start this one. It is by far one of the best books I have read in a long time. It is a fictional piece written by a women who lives in Israel, who I truly believe has a lot more insight into what is going on over there than what you read on CNN, Drudge, or Fox news. It is emotionally gripping and even though it is so incredibly sad and frightening, it leaves you with such hope. If you are looking for an awesome book to curl up with this winter, this in a Great Story!
Paths in Utopia by Martin Buber. This is not a light read. Incredibly fascinating , it will compel you to do some serious introspection. I don’t feel qualified to do an adequate mini review of this book, so in the briefest of synopsis it is about creating the Utopian model in the present world and all of the draw backs involved, and his premiss that for success we have to have a spiritual center for a socialist type community. Understand that Martin Buber is considered the ‘Godfather” of the Kibbutz movement in Israel and considered to be one of the outstanding philosophers of the 20th century.
The last book I read was a proof of a poetry book. I have a very talented friend who has already published one collected works of her poetry. This is her next book in process. I freely confess to having read many of them over the past year, as she knows what a poetry junkie I am and shares with me regularly. It was both an honor and a pleasure to sit back and enjoy.
So thats what I read while I was out in the wild world.
I spent some time last evening wandering around trying to catch up on all the special folks out in my blogosphere, and since you all seem to be some prolific dears, it will be a while before I am done. I thank Miss H for keeping the friday fires burning for me, and all the other wondermous folks who stopped in whilst I was away. It’s always nice to feel that your sharing has value with someone, and your comments have made me feel blessed. Thank you.
