Two good easy reads....
Judith Michael Acts of Love (Wife and husband co-author)
Elin Hilderbrand Silver Girl a new author to me and I will get getting more of her works.
Left to read in my book bag,
The Way We Eat Why Our Food Choices Matter Peter Singer
Coffin Man James D. Doss
Dead Last James W. Hall these are new authors to me
The Paid Companion Amanda Quick this is a no thinking reading book..
Against All Enemies Tom Clancy (756 pages! my kind of book!!) and I have read lots of his work already
Perhaps I will start another book before bed....yeah I have time! See ya!
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Friday, December 9, 2011
Two Books Read
I have read 2 more books this week, as well as baked cookies, bread and banana bread....lots and lots!
Enough of the baking...
Nothing Left to Lose by Allan G. Johnson
This book was a good read, not a happy read, but a good one. Will most likely look into his other works.
Kindred Spirits by Sarah Strohmeyer
This book was also a good read but also not a happy read. I really do think the author intended readers to find comfort and happiness in her story, but overall I found it rather depressing. There were good things in this book, not all bad things, good martini recipes!! She also wrote The Cinderella Pact which I may look at but then she has a series of books Bubbles Betrothed, Bubbles A Broad etc....who knows? Another drink book or a character called Bubbles? May pass on these.....who knows
Enough of the baking...
Nothing Left to Lose by Allan G. Johnson
This book was a good read, not a happy read, but a good one. Will most likely look into his other works.
Kindred Spirits by Sarah Strohmeyer
This book was also a good read but also not a happy read. I really do think the author intended readers to find comfort and happiness in her story, but overall I found it rather depressing. There were good things in this book, not all bad things, good martini recipes!! She also wrote The Cinderella Pact which I may look at but then she has a series of books Bubbles Betrothed, Bubbles A Broad etc....who knows? Another drink book or a character called Bubbles? May pass on these.....who knows
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Broken Music
Broken Music by Marjorie Eccles
A Mystery....a new author to me and one I enjoyed tremendously. I definitely will be looking for her other works. Enjoyed to the last page!
A Mystery....a new author to me and one I enjoyed tremendously. I definitely will be looking for her other works. Enjoyed to the last page!
Monday, December 5, 2011
The Road Less Travelled
This homework from my therapist and the following statements, excerpts are for me to be able to look back and re-read if wanted. Don't want to buy this book. According to my therapist, this is his best book, has written several. He is M.Scott Peck MD
Life is difficult. Once we truly know life is difficult, once we truly understand and accept it, then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult, no longer matters. ((I am having difficulty with that statement!))
Discipline is the basic set of tools we require to solve life's problems. Yet it is in this whole process of meeting and solving problems that life has meaning.
What are these tools, these techniques of suffering, these means of experiencing the pain of problems constructively that I call discipline. There are four: delaying of gratification, acceptance of responsibility, dedication to truth, and balancing. The problem lies not in the complexity of these tools, but the will to use them.
Yet more important than role modeling is love. When we love something, it is of value to us, and when we value something, we spend time with it. Good discipline requires time. The feeling of being valuable is essential to mental health and is a cornerstone of self discipline. When one considers oneself valuable, one will take care of oneself in all ways that are necessary.
Problems do not go away. They must be worked through or else they remain, a barrier to the growth and development of the spirit. We must accept responsibility for a problem before we can solve it.
The neurotic assumes too much responsibility; the person with a character disorder not enough. When neurotics are in conflict they assume they are at fault. The character disorder person assumes the world is at fault. Neurotics make themselves miserable; those with character disorders make everyone else miserable.
It is only through a vast amount of experience and a lengthy and successful maturation that we gain the capacity to see the world and our place in it realistically, and thus are enabled to realistically assess our responsibility for ourselves and our world.
Lying can be divided into two types; white and black. A black lie is a statement we make that we know is false. A white lie is a statement that is not in itself false, but that leaves out a significant part of the truth. The fact that a lie is white does not in itself make it any less of a lie or any more excusable. The more honest one is, the easier it is to continue being honest, just as the more lies one has told, the more necessary it is to lie again.
We are incapable of loving another unless we love ourselves. We cannot be a source of strength unless we nurture our own strength.
No matter whom we fall "in love" with, we sooner or later fall "out" of love, if the relationship continues long enough. This is not to say we invariably cease loving the person with whom we fell in love. But it is to say the feeling of estatic lovingness that characterizes the experience of falling love always passes. The honeymoon always ends. The bloom of romance always fades. Real love often occurs in a context in which the feeling of love is lacking, when we act lovingly despite the fact we don't feel loving. Love is not a dependency. When you require another individual for your survival , you are a parasite to that individual. There is no choice, no freedom involved in your relationship. It's a matter of necessity rather than love. Love is free exercise of choice. Two people love each other only when they are capable of living without each other but choose to live with each other. If being loved is your only goal, you will fail to achieve it. The only way to be assured of being loved is to be a person worthy of love. The person who truly loves does so because of a decision to love, this person has made a commitment to be loving whether or not the loving feeling is present.
The principal form that the work of love takes is attention. Having to beg for attention won't make a person feel valuable.
The need for one's parents to listen is never outgrown. While it is true one's capacity to truly listen may improve with practice, it never becomes an effortless process.
People handle their fear of change in different ways but the fear is inescapable if they are in fact to change. Courage is not the absence of fear, it is acting in spite of fear.
GRACE---It is hardly remarkable that we sicken and die, what is truly remarkable is that we don't sicken often and we don't die very quickly. It is a major thesis of this section that grace, manifested in part by "valuable or agreeable thing not sought for" is available to everyone, but that while some take advantage of it, others do not. A powerful force originating outside of human consciousness which nurtures spiritual growth of human beings. This force has been consistently recognized by religions who have applied to it the name of grace. Goodness of God is ever whole. Love is conscious, grace is not. Many are called, few are chosen...(his interpretation of that statement is as follows) all are called to and by grace but few choose to listen to the call.
To be aware of grace, to personally experience its constant presence, to know one's nearness to God, is to know and continually experience an inner tranquility and peace few possess. This knowledge and awareness brings with it enormous responsibility...to experience the obligation to be the agent of His power and Love.
For the existence of this force (once we perceive it) indicates with incontrovertible certainty that our human spiritual growth is of utmost importance to something(one) greater than ourselves.
Whew!! that is a long post!! I did get through it this time before it went to "save" as I have not figured out how to edit posts!!
Life is difficult. Once we truly know life is difficult, once we truly understand and accept it, then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult, no longer matters. ((I am having difficulty with that statement!))
Discipline is the basic set of tools we require to solve life's problems. Yet it is in this whole process of meeting and solving problems that life has meaning.
What are these tools, these techniques of suffering, these means of experiencing the pain of problems constructively that I call discipline. There are four: delaying of gratification, acceptance of responsibility, dedication to truth, and balancing. The problem lies not in the complexity of these tools, but the will to use them.
Yet more important than role modeling is love. When we love something, it is of value to us, and when we value something, we spend time with it. Good discipline requires time. The feeling of being valuable is essential to mental health and is a cornerstone of self discipline. When one considers oneself valuable, one will take care of oneself in all ways that are necessary.
Problems do not go away. They must be worked through or else they remain, a barrier to the growth and development of the spirit. We must accept responsibility for a problem before we can solve it.
The neurotic assumes too much responsibility; the person with a character disorder not enough. When neurotics are in conflict they assume they are at fault. The character disorder person assumes the world is at fault. Neurotics make themselves miserable; those with character disorders make everyone else miserable.
It is only through a vast amount of experience and a lengthy and successful maturation that we gain the capacity to see the world and our place in it realistically, and thus are enabled to realistically assess our responsibility for ourselves and our world.
Lying can be divided into two types; white and black. A black lie is a statement we make that we know is false. A white lie is a statement that is not in itself false, but that leaves out a significant part of the truth. The fact that a lie is white does not in itself make it any less of a lie or any more excusable. The more honest one is, the easier it is to continue being honest, just as the more lies one has told, the more necessary it is to lie again.
We are incapable of loving another unless we love ourselves. We cannot be a source of strength unless we nurture our own strength.
No matter whom we fall "in love" with, we sooner or later fall "out" of love, if the relationship continues long enough. This is not to say we invariably cease loving the person with whom we fell in love. But it is to say the feeling of estatic lovingness that characterizes the experience of falling love always passes. The honeymoon always ends. The bloom of romance always fades. Real love often occurs in a context in which the feeling of love is lacking, when we act lovingly despite the fact we don't feel loving. Love is not a dependency. When you require another individual for your survival , you are a parasite to that individual. There is no choice, no freedom involved in your relationship. It's a matter of necessity rather than love. Love is free exercise of choice. Two people love each other only when they are capable of living without each other but choose to live with each other. If being loved is your only goal, you will fail to achieve it. The only way to be assured of being loved is to be a person worthy of love. The person who truly loves does so because of a decision to love, this person has made a commitment to be loving whether or not the loving feeling is present.
The principal form that the work of love takes is attention. Having to beg for attention won't make a person feel valuable.
The need for one's parents to listen is never outgrown. While it is true one's capacity to truly listen may improve with practice, it never becomes an effortless process.
People handle their fear of change in different ways but the fear is inescapable if they are in fact to change. Courage is not the absence of fear, it is acting in spite of fear.
GRACE---It is hardly remarkable that we sicken and die, what is truly remarkable is that we don't sicken often and we don't die very quickly. It is a major thesis of this section that grace, manifested in part by "valuable or agreeable thing not sought for" is available to everyone, but that while some take advantage of it, others do not. A powerful force originating outside of human consciousness which nurtures spiritual growth of human beings. This force has been consistently recognized by religions who have applied to it the name of grace. Goodness of God is ever whole. Love is conscious, grace is not. Many are called, few are chosen...(his interpretation of that statement is as follows) all are called to and by grace but few choose to listen to the call.
To be aware of grace, to personally experience its constant presence, to know one's nearness to God, is to know and continually experience an inner tranquility and peace few possess. This knowledge and awareness brings with it enormous responsibility...to experience the obligation to be the agent of His power and Love.
For the existence of this force (once we perceive it) indicates with incontrovertible certainty that our human spiritual growth is of utmost importance to something(one) greater than ourselves.
Whew!! that is a long post!! I did get through it this time before it went to "save" as I have not figured out how to edit posts!!
Sunday, November 27, 2011
An easy read
Fern Michaels....Return to Sender
One of those for entertainment only books....won't need to re-read this.
One of those for entertainment only books....won't need to re-read this.
Have done it again!!
I really feel stupid when I read a book and don't realize I have already read it until the end!!
Dreams of the Dead by Perri O'Shaughnessy is one that I have read twice and the second time, enjoyed the book until the end and had the "duh" moment of "wait, I have already read this! I remember this ending!"
Oh well! Guess that means it is a good enough book to read twice!! Especially for people like me with the senior moments going on!
Dreams of the Dead by Perri O'Shaughnessy is one that I have read twice and the second time, enjoyed the book until the end and had the "duh" moment of "wait, I have already read this! I remember this ending!"
Oh well! Guess that means it is a good enough book to read twice!! Especially for people like me with the senior moments going on!
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Judge Judy Sheindlin.....every girl should
I just finished Judge Judy's book Beauty Fades, Dumb is Forever. Good good read! Every pre-teen girl should read this book!! I don't agree with every thing but she does make a lot of sense. She also made me laugh out loud. My co-workers wanted me to share what I was enjoying so very much. One of the "nuggets" of wisdom, not humor, is If your relationship isn't working and you are considering a break-up, stay realistic about that too.
You have to say, "I'll be happier alone." Be sure that is what you are thinking, not "I'll be happier with someone else." If you're truly unhappy, you'd better hope you have the self-confidence and resources to go out on your own. You need a spirit of self-esteem. If your grievance is that your mate isn't as wonderful as another man might be, you're running on the same treadmill."
You will have to read the book yourself to find the humor!! My sense of humor is a little twisted so won't post what I find hilarious.....trust me, there is a lot of humor in this book!
You have to say, "I'll be happier alone." Be sure that is what you are thinking, not "I'll be happier with someone else." If you're truly unhappy, you'd better hope you have the self-confidence and resources to go out on your own. You need a spirit of self-esteem. If your grievance is that your mate isn't as wonderful as another man might be, you're running on the same treadmill."
You will have to read the book yourself to find the humor!! My sense of humor is a little twisted so won't post what I find hilarious.....trust me, there is a lot of humor in this book!
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