Books on my coffeetable for January 2021
For some this may be a morbid thought, but I worry about when I die where will my books go? Will they go to good homes rather than be tossed out? I am surrounded by books. I can’t imagine life without books. Anyway, I digress…
Been awhile since I posted the book pile I’m currently reading. As much as I’d like to say I just hadn’t been sharing it out, it’s more accurate to say I hadn’t had the energy to read more than the daily digest of shitshow news. I also broke my hiatus on binge watching over these last 6 months so that’s honestly how I’ve spend many evenings when I used to read after the kiddo fell asleep.
But, hey, I’m not judging myself (much anyway.) Now I’d say my energy comes in spurts compared to the pre-pan world. Well, here we go….
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
I love so much about this book and her work that I’m taking it in slowly, chapter by chapter, and pausing to marinate my mind and heart in her words. Her writing is scientific, storytelling, and poetic. Her foundation is that “we understand a thing only when we understand it will all four aspects of our being: mind, body, emotion, and spirit” (p. 47). Something I have felt viscerally for the last few years that she articulates so beautifully is that scientific academia separates us artificially from nature and ourselves. It is only through (re)connecting with plants and the natural world that we can begin to understand the lessons they show us humxns. Without these lessons we continue to feel isolation and in that isolation we artificially separate ourselves and will continue to do that’s that degrade our Earth. Thanks, Stephanie for the gift of this book/teaching.
Beyond Obedience: Training with Awareness for You and Your Dog by April Frost
What a breath of fresh air this book was to better understand how to nurture a relationship with my dog (coming home soon!) and how to train in a respect and conscious way. I can’t yet speak to how well it will work or rather how well I will do with putting her lessons into action. She reminds me of the importance of our thoughts and emotions and how they are received and exchanged with others through energy, body language, tone, etc. It is a much more holistic approach inclusive of physical and psychological awareness. Wish me luck!
When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times by Pema Chödrön
I think the title says why this book has stayed in my book pile for almost a year now.
Things falling apart is a kind of testing and also a kind of healing. We think that the point is to pass the test or to overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don’t really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. They then come together again and fall apart again. It’s just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy. (p. 8)
And there you have it. The spirals of breaking open and healing and round and round. As the pandemic carried on, I got less good at being in the present moment and letting whatever emotions and thoughts pass through and feeling all the feels of those. I actually got quite taken with anxiety and fear as I let go of the practices that I know ground me, like reading, yoga, meditating, nature, and the like. It reminds me of a recent Unlocking Us podcast by Brené Brown on FFT’s (fucking first times) in which she quotes two folx and both blew my mind.
Jim Collins, a researcher on humxn behavior and organizations, said:
Uncertainty is chronic; instability is permanent; disruption is common; and we can neither predict nor govern events. There will be no ‘new normal’; there will only be a continuous series of ‘not normal’ episodes, defying prediction and unforeseen by most of us until they happen.
And the amazing poet, activist, educator, Sonya Renee Taylor, further this false notion of normal:
We will not go back to normal, normal never was. Our pre-Corona existence was not normal, other than we normalized greed, inequity, exhaustion, depletion, extraction, disconnection, confusion, rage, hoarding, hate, and lack. We should not long to return, my friends, we are being given the opportunity to stitch a new garment, one that fits all of humanity and nature.
Wrapping all that up – things will always be falling apart, because each moment is new and different from the last and the only thing constant is change. So embracing the idea that I don’t want our normal back, I don’t want what we had in the past. And maybe this topic needs to be it’s on separate post…so back to the pile.
My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem
Another book that deserves careful read and processing – in part because Menakem, therapist and licensed social worker, offers body practices in each chapter. I first learned of his work during the pandemic last summer when I was weeding the backyard (it’s meditative and healing) and listening to an On Being podcast Notice the Rage, Notice the Silence. I found myself sitting in the yard, crying, feeling the rage of the world, the discomfort in my body. The work he outlines is critical for these times – working with the traumas (individual and collective/generational) located in our bodies from white supremacy. I feel like it’s no wonder the world of academic works so hard to disassociate folx from their bodies – it’s because the body always speaks the truth of emotions and trauma yet the cognitively, our brains (other people’s brains) rationalize the toxicity and -ism’s away. A must read and do kind of book!
All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis edited by Ayana E. Johnson, and Katharine K. Wilkinson
For 2021, I’m inviting myself to play in the intersections of feminism, climate crisis, and social injustices. This collection of essays, art, poetry – all written and created by womxn working on this new climate movement in the world. It grounds itself in how patriarchy and capitalism oppresses nature and Earth just as it does womxn, girls, and non-binary folx. The climate crisis is worsening how these folx primarily are the ones who feel the deeper struggle for health, education and financial security (p. xviii). I feel a call to this work - “a commitment to responding to the climate crisis in ways that heal systemic injustices rather than deepen them.” Circling back to Kimmerer’s work – the need to reconcile science with soul – head with heart – is what is needed to heal this world from the traumas we enact on planet and people.
I’ll be working this year on a couple new endeavors that I’m really excited about. One is I’m starting a certification on climate change and health. And the second is I’m starting a Climate Feminist Community to bring together folx who want to discuss and create ways of improving our local community.
Last but not least, a favorite of mine that I’m (re)reading and working through with a couple friends…
The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity by Julia Cameron
Some old blog posts remind me that it was exactly a year ago that I finished up the 12 weeks of The Artist’s Way. It was shifted my perspective on creativity to a broader one that we are all born creative and for most of us, we have it socialized or conditioned out through family, education, society, etc. It also changed how I approach working with PhD students and who badly I want to integrate creativity recovery into my coaching work and general living.
I’m actually working right now to create a group process around this book tailored for folx in higher education (grad students, faculty, professionals). If you’re interested, here are some more info I’m drafting up….
(Re)Connect to Creativity Group (12 weeks commitment)
Creativity is who we are at our core underneath all the socialization and programming. Creativity is how we play and connect to the world. We may or may not identify as an artist, yet creativity is a gift that we all have within ourselves. In these busy chaotic times, it is easy to lose connection with our purpose and inner inspiration. The GROUP is great for folx who crave weekly accountability paired self-paced activities in an online group setting with other higher ed people. We use the 12-week framework from The Artist’s Way by Julie Cameron and apply it to our work in and out of higher ed contexts.
The (Re)Connect to Creativity Group package will include:
Two 1:1 60-minute sessions (video or phone) a pre- and post-connection
Weekly group discussion sessions tailored to higher ed folx (options for days/times available)
Self-paced weekly reading and activities
You commit to daily journaling pages
Weekly activities selected from each chapter
That’s all for now. I’ll be continuing on with creativity, climate crisis, and racial injustices for awhile now. If you have good reads, let me know! If you ever wanna talk books, let’s do it!
