From My Bookshelf- Inner Courage

me wrapped in my snuggie and soaking in this great book!

Hey Lovely Souls!

Since I have an obsession   love of books, I like to share some things that  I have found inspiring in a book I have read or am reading. The current book I am digging into is “Finding Inner Courage by Marek Nepo. I knew as soon as I was a few pages in and I was already highlighting and dog earing the pages it was a good sign!

Some things taken right from the book that have inspired me:

He talks about quite braveries all the ways in courage shows up that are overlooked often….

Thinking about courage in this way opens us to an array of small and constant efforts that no one ever sees, but which have changed the world: the courage to feel, to see, to accept, to heal to be. Efforts of this nature often go unnoticed and unrecognized. Like the courage to break life-draining patters and the story of our lives unfold. Like the courage to persevere through the doorway of nothing into the realm of everything. Like the courage to choose aliveness over woundedness, to remember what matters most when  we forget and to build on the past instead of hiding in it. Like the courage to choose compassion over judgment and love over fear, to withstand the tension of opposites and to give up what no longer works in order to stay close what is sacred.

(In another part of the book… ) Can we find the courage to listen and follow our questions?

My word this year is Courage and this books is reminding me to step into that more fully, but also to look at where I may have overlooked how courage has shown up for me or I have showed up for courage.

I am sure I could come up with much more to share with you from this book and I might at a later date.. But for now I will leave you with the above!

Here is to living Inspired, Creative and Empowered

Heather

The Artists Way… From my bookshelf…

Hey Creative Souls!

I am sure most of you have at least heard of the book “The Artists Way”  If not, I urge you to go look it up, it’s amazing! Well so far it is, and I have no doubt the rest will be! I have just started reading it recently.

So as part of a series I have decided to pick back up “From my bookshelf” I thought I would share a little bit of what I have loved so far!

She has what she calls “Basic Principles of the Artists Way” There are 10 of them, I will share a few that I loved here.. Though I truly love all of them!

-Creativity is the natural order of life. Lie is energy: pure creative energy. (#1 from list)

-We are, ourselves, creations. And we, in turn, are meant to continue creativity by being creative ourselves. (#4 from list)

-Creativity is God’s gift to us. Using our creativity is our gift back to God.(#5 from list)

-Our creative dreams and yearnings come from a divine source. As we move toward our dreams, we move toward our divinity.  (#10 from list)

I love those! If you are not comfortable with some of the words here, then fill in with what is comfortable for you. But really take a few minutes to soak in what she is saying..

I am curious have you read “The Artists Way”? Is it on your to read list?

Here is to living Inspired, Creative and Empowered

Heather

Fear… From my bookshelf

Hey Wonderful Souls! I have a fairly large obsession  collection of books, I love them! And frankly with Borders closing I have collected even more in a short time then I normally would have ( and in that found some real gems!) So I thought I would “bring back” my category of “From My Bookshelf”. I often have this mindset that I have to for each blog post think of something all my own. But while I want to do that a good amount of the time, there is nothing wrong with sharing inspiration that I have found surrounding me in various ways!

I have even started a journal that is for my books, I always fold pages and mark up the book in some way or another for the great lines, quotes , ideas etc.. that I find in books. So I started a journal that can capture those, makes i much more likely I will reference it again.

Hand Wash Cold…care instructions for an ordinary life. by: Karen Maezen Miller.

I am really enjoying this book and was struck by the following quote on fear.

Fear is our first, and if we we’re not careful our last love. It is our most enduring relationship.It never leaves our side.It tells us where to go, what to wear, what to say and what not to say. We surrender all other options to it. Before, after and during most of our relationships, we are concerned above all not with other party but with the fear of what he or she will do…(she goes on to explain the different ways fear can show up)…We are unavailable for any truly loving and fulfilling relationship as long as we are trapped in a committed relationship with the most controlling part of our mind– our fear.

It goes on to say some other interesting things.. And while it references relationships with other people I personally feel that it can be so true for our relationship with our dreams and with the life that we have and the life we want to create.  The thing is, we are going to have fear in many situations, but the point for me is, do we act anyway, do we let it run us, knowingly or not? How committed are we to our fear?

Here is to living Inspired, Creative and Empowered

Heather

Callings.. From my Bookshelf

Frankly I am having a bit of bloggers block.. Lots on my mind , but getting it out in words that make any sense is a different story! So I will give you a bit of food for thought from the book Callings .

By turning on our devoted attention , by becoming students of our lives, archivists of life’s details, we may distinguish the calls that are raining on us constantly, though they are obscured by our inattention.

This is just a little bit from one of the many great paragraphs in this book.. Really makes me think.. How many times do we get the messages about our callings at any given time and we just are looking for it to be different? What small ways is your life trying to get your attention right now? Are you paying attention? I like to think I have been, but I know there are times where I am not listening because of fear of all sorts of things.. I will make a point , starting now that I will be better about being  open and wiling to hear what life has to tell me, the good and the not so good.. It’s all part of the journey..

hmmm , food for thought..

Here is to an Inspired, Creative and Empowered weekend..

Heather

Past… From My bookshelf

I was reading ” You Can Heal Your Life” by Louis Hay today and doing the work in it.. Very revealing but not so fun! But I read this line and it’s simple but really powerful..

Would you really dig into yesterday’s trash to make tonight’s meal?  Do you dig into old mental garbage to create tomorrow’s experiences?

Let that marinate for a while.. Where are you digging into your mental garbage ? What one small shit can you do to start the process of letting go of that?

Have an Inspired, Creative and Empowered day

Heather

From my Bookshelf: Empowered

This is a new section on my blog: For those of you who do not know me, I love books.. So I am putting some of  my favorite snippets from some of the books I have read and loved! I hope you enjoy!

From Debbie Ford’s book “The Right Questions” :

From the chapter with the question:

Will this choice Empower Me or Disempower Me?

Asking this right question will quickly move you out of the past and into the present moment, because you can actually feel the experience  of empowerment inside your body. You know that your choices empower you when they leave you feeling strong and secure inside. You know you have made a disempowering choice when you feel insecure , inadequate, and resigned.

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I love this one, our bodies will tell us much more then we think they will if we just listen to what they have to “tell” us.