Book Club~follow up

Since starting our book club in the beginning of the summer,  something interesting has happened. My Super-mom-enthusiasm that got them interested has waned, as I'm not really super woman at all....I try, but... 

I've been tired at night when the girls are finally ready to settle down and read {and I want to sleep} but their enthusiasm has gained momentum, since we've gotten into the story, and they are the ones driving me to keep on reading. I figure this ebb and flow will be necessary to make this work...I can't always be the one driving this train. 

My oldest went to a sleepover, and missed a night of hearing the story. I didn't think she'd even notice, but before I started reading the other night, she said, "wait you guys have to tell me what happened last night, I missed it!!".   Music to my ears. 

So I asked each of the girls what they think of book club, and here's what I got...

Me: What do you think of book club so far?

The Oldest: I like that you read it. I like using the flashlight to read. Why are you asking me questions?

The Middle: It's great I guess. I have no idea why. I like the flashlight part...can you stop asking me questions?

The Youngest: It's fun, I like when you read. I like when you talk and I think about the story that you do. I imagine that I am Harry Potter and I see the story in my eyes and my brain, like, its cool and it calms me down. 

Invigorating, ladies, really.  Thanks for your insight.  I'm just going to take it for what is is.  FUN.  And try my best to keep it that way.

Just last night, as I was reading to them with my eyes closing and was about to close the book for the night....they begged me to keep going. 
"Just a few more pages, Mom?  Please?!" 
How could I stop?  So I propped open my eyes, and kept reading.  After all, this is what I wanted, right?  That "intrinsic motivation to read" switch flipped to the "on" position.  It's on.  And tired or not, I'm thrilled :)

Read to your kids, even if all you want to do is sleep.  You're teaching them something they will keep with them for a lifetime.  And one night, when they're reading to their children, they will remember the nights you plowed through, and read to them.

Have a great day

{Jenn}

Insight

I'm an "energy" kind of person. 

Like many people, if I walk into a place where people are positive, and have good energy, I feel it.  If I walk into a room with people who have crummy energy, I feel that too, on a physical level.  It's almost like bumping into a bubble that pushes you right back, and keeps you at a distance. 

I've always been this way, and it's probably why I'm not a fan of big crowds.  So many people, so much conflicting energy, and my insides get what feels like tangled-up.  I think I'm just so open to others energy, that in the past, I have allowed it all in.  I'm learning how to keep that from happening so easily through meditation.

But people don't really don't talk about this kind of stuff.  We may know those gut-level feelings, but you rarely hear people talking about "energy", or at least I didn't growing up.  As a right-brained person, who sits mostly in the creative side of my brain, I have enough of a left-brain twitch that makes me want concrete proof for what I have always experienced.  You know, so you don't make yourself an appointment with the doctor for all the "fru-fru" talk.

Thanks to Oprah, I have been introduced to Caroline Myss, Dr.Deepak Chopra, Dr.Wayne Dyer, Dr. Christiane Northrup.....I could go on and on.  All of these people are well respected, and all of them think in a way that I understand.  They all have found a way to match their spirit up with the hard facts that science can offer.  That makes me happy.

The most beautiful book I read {that verifies the whole energy experience for me} after seeing the author interviewed by Oprah, was "My Stroke Of Insight" by Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor.  She is  Harvard-trained neuroanatomist who experienced a stroke, and because of her training and extensive knowledge of the brain, she was extremely aware of the processes she was experiencing during the hemorrhage that took her by surprise.  The beauty of her story is that while she was in a coma-like state in the hospital, where she was unable to verbally communicate, she experienced everything and everyone as energy.  I do not have the book in front of me, but I am recalling the pages where she describes the doctors and nurses who entered the room to care for her.  Because of the area of her stroke, Dr. Taylor no longer had the ability to perceive boundaries, as in where she physically began, and ended.  Her body, and the bodies of those around her no longer were "contained" in physical forms.  She described in detail the amount of her own energy it took to even keep her eyes open.  If the hospital worker came in calmly, in a caring manner, the energy was beautiful, and welcoming.  She wanted to try to follow the persons instructions, and fight her physical body which wanted to remain 'asleep'.  But when a person came into the room who had too much on their mind, was in a bad mood, or was just aggravated in general, she felt that too~and it was uncomfortable, repelled her and made her physically cringe.
Hearing from a neuroanatomist that she perceived those energies so distinctly made me realize that I haven't been completely been nuts all of my life.  When science backs up the fru-fru talk, I listen.

So when my sister Jessica became a nurse {which we were all so proud of her for achieving} recently, I told her about this book, and shared Dr.Taylor's experience with her.  {Let me just say I bow to nurses, because if an injury requires more than a band-aid, I can't handle it}   Many of her patients in the ICU aren't there because they are doing great, and are responding.  I could imagine that most of them are in a state like what Dr.Taylor describes experiencing in her book.  A physical body in a bed, reliant on others and machines for every function.  They are still there.  There is a soul locked in there.  Maybe they are perceiving everything around them, or maybe they are not.  I think this applies to anyone who we think is not able to understand us because they can't communicate.  After reading that book, I have only one suggestion...

Pretend that they are. 

Whether you are a medical professional, or just a regular person in your everyday life, do what Dr.Taylor says, and "be responsible for the energy you bring into a space".  I'm sure if the person in that hospital bed could thank you, they would...

Have a great day!

{Jenn}