Category: Sources of Inspiration

Thinking about my own sources of inspiration and what I would pass on to my kids as choices for carrying with them. Like a coin for tossing when decisions are required, I have carried the warm guidance of a quote from St. Augustine over the years, a touchstone that helps when the next step is unclear. “Love is the weight by which I fall.” I savour this image of tumbling into the next place using love (compassion) as the impetus for movement. Which way to go? Pick the faltering step that seems to generate more compassion, fall into the right action of responding to love’s call.

I was privileged to be part of a workshop with Joanna and mostly Whitehorse folks at Mount Lorne Community Centre in September. (Thanks to Jill Pangman for arranging this encounter!) Joanna’s books (and life) are important guideposts as we move out of the madness our society has created and move into our own bodies and lives and saving the planet. I can’t do justice to describing what she offers, so if you are curious just check out her website link.

If you are OK with letting a mother cat grip your mind in her teeth and give it a good shake as she carries you to a new place… then you will enjoy John Tarrant’s introduction to Zen koans. He affectionately helps us shake up our perspective on… everything. Including calligraphy in malls.

Thanks to Clare E. for sharing this with me. I found it very thought provoking and affirming, as a way of encouraging myself to trust “right brain” experiences of interconnection and also to hold out the possibility of learning to live with more coherence and equanimity between the kinds of awareness offered by the two different sides of my own brain.

Click here to view 18 min video by Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor

By Sue Monk Kidd (the Secret Life of Bees). A book about mid-life change and I found it resonated deeply. She writes from a progressive Christian perspective that not all may appreciate, but for me it was a great reminder that these journeys have companions.

After 20 years of marriage, this book by Dr. Sue Johnson was a lifesaver! We only regret not reading it 20 years earlier…

I found this book by Sarah Susanka very helpful this year, especially for changing my relationship to time. A good working ‘hotch-potch’ of reflections and exercises strung together with her architectural metaphors and experience – she offers to help with a “life remodelling” and I found the renovations very beneficial!