A passion of mine is books and reading. I can spend hours in any book store, new or used perusing shelf after shelf looking for a good read.
I have mentioned often that I also have a strong passion for celebrating ourselves as woman and creating community among one another. We need to celebrate the female friendships and relationships that we cultivate throughout our lives.
A few of my favorite authors on these subjects are:
"It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? …As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same."
Love yourself first and everything else falls into line.
Lucille Ball
Life Lesson #1:
Take Stock of Your Life
You have a choice --- You can create a life you LOVE.
The first step in doing this is to look back over your life, not with a critical eye, but rather to discover the connecting thread that gives your life rhythm and meaning. In recalling our lives we re-collect ourselves. We gather together our forgotten priorities and passions.
We all have them. Even if we live the most satisfying life each of us pushes aside a passion or two to keep balance. We put them aside with the hopes of being able to focus on them at another time when life isn’t so busy or full.
My list of forgotten passions…
Creative pursuits: Life got in the way the last few months. I haven’t had any time to focus on connecting to myself in a creative way. I feel rejuvenated when I can create something beautiful. I vow to take this time for myself.
Connecting with other women: Gathering with a group of women who have a passion for celebration, self-growth, and sharing is a necessity for me. I vow to take this time for myself.
Journaling: I would love to learn techniques for art journaling. This is a practice that I hope to begin implementing more. Art journaling is a combination of self reflection and creativity. Both are vital for me to feel balanced. I vow to take this time for myself.
Spending time in Nature: I love celebrating the joys that each season has to offer.
I loved this book and can't wait to see the movie!! I think the Julia Roberts will play this role perfectly!
A few of my favorite quotes from the book:
"Never forget that once upon a time, in an unguarded moment, you recognized yourself as a friend."
“‘You don’t want to go cherry-picking a religion’ [a friend tells Gilbert]Which is a sentiment I completely respect except for the fact that I totally disagree. I think you have every right to cherry-pick when it comes to moving your spirit and finding peace in God. I think you are free to search for any metaphor whatsoever which will take you across the worldly divide whenever you need to be transported or comforted… That’s me in the corner, in other words. That’s me in the spotlight. Choosing my religion.”
Wise words from Elizabeth Gilbert from her Oct 5, 2007 appearance on Oprah:
Whatever you repeat constantly in your head is your mantra whether you know it or not. That is leading you on your way. So, if you're repeating, I'm a moron, I'm an idiot, I'm a failure, I'm a jerk, I'm a loser, that's your mantra. So, decide whether that's working for you? And it might be, if that's, like, your destination or maybe it's not, and then maybe you might wanna choose a different thing to try to say whenever you remember that you're thinking what you're always doing.
"At the end of every day, write down the happiest moment of every day. It's my happiness journal. And it's a way of reminding myself what really makes me happy, and what doesn't. And you know, every day also has its crappiest moment of the day, but I decided not to keep a crappiest moment of the day journal. And learn, and study, and look back and see what is it consistently.
Wake up, with a journal, and ask "what do you really, really, really want?" You have to say, really, really, really three times or else you don't believe it. And answer it truthfully and do it again the next day, and the next day, and the next.That's enough. It will come. It might be today, it might be the long term, but you start there. Because you can't set your journey if you don't know what you're for.
Last night I finished this book and wanted to share a line from the book that I love. It is for all of those women out there that are "looking for love in all the wrong places".
"Belonging to myself allows me to belong more truly to him"
Take time to commit to yourself before committing to someone else. Take time to know yourself well enough to know what will make you happy and what your needs are. That is the message of this book.
Captivating: Unveiling The Mystery of a Woman's Soul
by: John & Stasi Eldredge
Being the person I am...always questioning the deeper meaning to life and walking along a spiritual quest of knowing myself better a friend of mine suggested this book to me. I wanted to share the portions of the book that spoke to me. I have not completed the book yet, but as I do I will continue to share more.
"The mystery of the feminine heart was meant to be a good thing, by the way. A source of joy. Yet it has become a source of shame--women almost universally feel that they are "too much" and "not what they should be. And men tend to pull awya from the deeper waters of a woman's soul, unsure of what they will find there or how to handle it."
"There are reams of what you ought to do to be a good woman. But that is not the same things as knowing what the journey toward becoming a woman involves, or even what the goal really should be. The church has not been a big help here. No, that's not quite honest enough. The church has been part of the problem. Its message to women has been primarily "you are here to serve. That's why God created you: to serve. In the nursery, inthe kitchen, on the various committees, in your home, in your community." Seriously now-picture the women we hold up as models of feminity in the church. They are sweet, they are helpful, thier hair is coiffed; they are busy, they are disciplined, they are composed, and they are tired." "Every woman I 've ever met feels it--something deeper than just the sense of failing at what she does. An underlying, gut feeling of failing at who she is. I am not enough, and I am too much at the same time. Not pretty enough, not thin enough, not kind enough, not gracious enough, not disciplined enough. But toom emotional, too needy, too sensitive, too strong, too opinionated, too messy. The result is Shame, the universal companion of women. It haunts us, nipping at our heels, feeding on our deepest fear that we will end up abandoned and alone."
"We feel unseen, even by those who are closests to us. We feel unsought---that no one has the passion or the courage to pursue us, to get past our messiness to find the woman deep inside. " "Think about it: God created you as a woman. "God created man in his own image...male and female he created them" (Gen. 1:27) Whatever it means to bear God's image, you do so as a woman. FEMALE. That's how and where you bear his image."
"We think that you'll find that every woman in her heart of hearts longs for three things: to be romanced, to play an irreplaceable role in a great adventure, and to unveil beauty. That's what makes a woman come alive"
"There is something fierce in the heart of a woman. Simply insult her children, her man, or her best friend and you'll get a taste of it. A woman is a warrior too."
"And it's not just the desire for an outward beauty, but more--a desire to be captivating in the depths of who we are."
"Don't you recongnize that a woman yearns to be seen, and to be thought of as captivating? We desire to possess a beauty that is worth pursuing, worth fighting for, a beauty that is core to who we truly are. We want beauty that can be seen; beauty that can be felt; beauty that affects others; a beauty all our own to unveil."
"A woman in the presence of a good man, a real man, loves being a woman. His strength allows her feminine heart to flourish. Her pursuit draws out her beauty. And a man in the presence of a woman loves being a man. Her beauty arouses him to play the man, it draws out his strength. She inspires him to be a hero."
"The longings God has written deep in your heart are telling you something essential about what it means to be a woman, and the life he meant for you to live. Now we know--many of those desires have gone unmet, or been assualted, or simply so long neglected, that most women end up living two lives. on the surface we are busy and efficient, professional, even. We are getting by. On the inside women lose themselves in a fantasy world or incheap novels, or we give ourselves over to food or some other addiction to numb the ache of our hearts." "Something deep in my heart whipered that I too, was more than met the eye." "How deeply and universally women struggle with their self-worth" "In one last flourish creation comes to a finish not with Adam, but with EVE. She is the Master's finishing touch."
"Given the way creation unfolds, how it builds to ever higher and higher works of art, can there be any doubt that Eve is the crown of creation? Not an afterthought. Not a nice addition like an ornament on a tree. She is God's final touch, his pie'ce de re'sistance. She fills a place in the world nothing or no one else can fill."
"Step to a window, ladies, if you can. Better still, find some place with a view. Look out across the earth and say to yourselves, "The whole, vast world is incomplete without me. Creation reached its zenith in me."
"Most women define themselves in terms of their relationships, and the quality they deem those relationships have. I am a mother, a sister, a daughter, a friend."
