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Animal, Vegetable , Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver is my new favorite book. I don't get much chance to read a book through but I "listen" to them in the car while I drive all day for work. I had listened to this one earlier in the year and I just re-listened to the whole thing and I love it even more. This is one that got me motivated to do the garden. She is an award winning writer who decided to write about her family's experience homesteading and eating mostly local foods in western Virginia. They moved from Tucson where things don't grow easily to the lush mountains of Appalachia. They gave up things that they could not find locally like bananas and mostly ate what they grew themselves or bought from local sources. It took them about a year to get the resources set up and they started the next spring. They even raised their own chickens for eggs and meat and started a flock of heirloom turkeys for the meat. Parts of the book are very funny like when her turkey hen started to woo her husband since they imprinted on humans as their "family". It also explained the current politics and growing practices of the 99% of our current food supply. Most of which I already new was bad for the planet and for people. It turns out that the majority of food grown conventionally (with pesticides, herbicides, growth hormones, antibiotics, and herbivore meat animals forced to eat other animal remnants) is much, much less nutrient forcing us to take supplements to meet our nutritional needs. Like regular eggs have a lot of cholesterol and saturated fats. But free range (not the same as cage free, believe it or not) chickens produce eggs with more of the good cholesterol and unsaturated fats and are naturally high in omega 3 oils ( I used to wonder how they got those omega 3s into the egg with cartons labeled "higher in omega 3s").
I have to say that we are really enjoying our garden produce and are already planning for the fall garden. This book is well written as are all her books and was a big inspiration to getting out there and just doing it. My new prescription of Nasonex also helped since I don't have the side effects of allergies like I did last summer. I would even think of getting a few hens for the eggs but I think at this point that would be biting off more than I can chew. Maybe when I "really" go part time. She also has a nice little website with meal ideas and recipes.
A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle is one of the first new age type books that I really connected with. And it would have not been as enlightening without the discussions that you can watch or listen to on Oprah's website or iTunes. The ideas that I learned in the book that at least partly influence my life now are:
1. I am less irritated by people. I now know why people complain or get upset about things that are not in their/my control. Most of the time I can step back and see that reacting to things only fuels the fire.
2. I have a better vision about what I want to do with my life. I have been doing the same exact job for over 9 years (home health physical therapist) and I love it. But to advance means that I have to do less patient care, so I have declined all "job" opportunities to advance. I now know that I will need to make my own parallel opportunities instead of moving up. I started this when I decided to write a book and I didn't put it together with this concept until I read this book.
3. I appreciate and look for more "stillness" in my life. Not so much the running around and to do lists where every moment is planned. Now it's okay if things don't get done when I planned. (Do they ever work out that way anyways?)
There has been an overwhelming amount of controversy about this book online that mostly comes from fundamentalist Christian's and I suspect very few of them have actually read the entire book. There are a few parts (very few) that discuss religion, Jesus, and the existence of other religions and their parallels with Christianity. Of course you can't please everyone all the time no matter what your opinion. But like with any instructional, self-help book, you have to take the parts that apply to you and leave the rest. The three big influences that I listed above can be applied to anyone and have nothing to do with religion.
I recommend this book to anyone wanting to make more peace in their life.
Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of time to read, but I have been trying to fit it in a little every day. I feel like I'm missing out with so many great books out there. I really like the self help/motivational type books. Please share your favorites with a review in the comments!
My current read is A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle. It's the new Oprah book club book and she is starting an online "class" with it starting March 3. So far I have read the first four chapters and it really makes you think about the way we live our lives day to day. It changes your focus from the mundane things we do to fill our time that are negative to a more positive energy.
Charles has started The Success Principles: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be, a book I bought for myself, but I'm already reading A New Earth. I'm not a fast reader and this is a thick book. I did not want to try and read them both at the same time. I am really surprised he started this one so quickly because he has a stack of books he has bought in the past year but hasn't gotten to. You see Charles buys books then lays on the couch after everyone has gone to bed, has the tv on and tries to read. He always falls asleep in about 29 seconds. After reading the first chapter (there are many chapters and most of them are pretty short.), he has made an effort nearly every morning to read some of it, and for the past two weekends he has woken up at 5:30am to read it. I was wondering how this book started because it has really gotten him motivated to read it when he is awake rather than by "osmosis." The first chapter is called "Take 100% Responsibility For Your Life." I'm not sure how that hooked him but it did and I have seen a big change already. So without even reading the book, I can say I recommend it!
