Can we access Nirvana?
I was reading an interesting article on intuition being a product of your right brain, and ended up watching the full twenty minute TED Talks video posted there. I love TED Talks. Do you watch them? I always end up crying listening to the inspiring speakers.
This particular TED Talks featured Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, a neuroscientist. At age 37 she suffered a stroke which completely rendered the left side of her brain useless. She moved into a world dominated by her right brain. In other words, she moved into a world of pure energy. She had no physical form and processed the world as pure spirit. In her own words she lived in Nirvana.
I encourage you to watch the entire video and I won’t give away any more details, but her message at the end is what I want to elaborate on.
Dr. Taylor did not have a choice about living as pure spirit. But while she was, she was connected to anything and everything. There was no boundary between her physical body and the world around her. She was the world around her. What she discovered is that we are all capable of living as pure spirit. It’s all there in the right hand side of the brain.
In my post on Intuition versus Logic, I suggest that you need more than the left hand side of your brain for solving problems.
What if we made a concentrated effort to access more of the right hand side of our brain and more often?
What if through techniques like meditation and Tarot we learned how to easily jump from the left side to the right side of the brain?
What if just for a minute, or even a fleeting moment, we experienced the Nirvana Dr. Taylor knows exists?
What would we bring back to the left hand side of our brain we ‘returned’?
Well, if we bring back even an ounze of the insight and passion and compassion that Dr. Taylor brought back from her journey, I would say it is worth the effort.
Wouldn’t you?
A bit more on this …
Ever wondered about the science behind mediation. Have a listen to my short audio explanation.
Catch the Wave with Meditation
Book Review: The Beginner’s Guide to Chick Night
The Beginner’s Guide to Chick Night is a quick read that I think the women in the Silver and Grace community will really enjoy. The author, Colleen Kleven, shares lessons she’s learned about the importance of female friendships and self-care with a light and humorous writing style.
Chick Night is defined as “any evening that creates the opportunity to bond with other Chicks for the purpose of mutual self-discovery.” This guidebook explains the 10 simple rules for Chick Nights and how to make these wonderful evenings happen.
My favorite three rules are:
1. All Chick Nights Must Involve Chocolate.
“Chocolate serves as a reminder that you deserve to be treated.”
2. The Confidentiality Clause.
“Being able to actually say what you are thinking is an extremely liberating experience. . . . You can speak from your heart, completely uncensored.”
3. Never Pass Up a Chance to Have Fun.
“Remember, anything that makes you laugh is fun—no matter how silly or ridiculous or undignified it seems.”
Like the idea of Chick Nights so far? The other rules are just as easy to follow. As I read on, I kept thinking how Kleven is encouraging readers to create a group in the off line world that mirrors our online Silver and Grace community.
Beyond the joy of sharing time with close friends, Kleven reminds us how important bonding with other women is throughout our lives. She also makes an important point about how many women “lose themselves” as they take on multiple roles in society today — wife, mother, grandmother, employee, employer, volunteer and/or business owner. This book will help all women examine that concept in their own lives, and how they can rediscover their authentic selves by sharing experiences with a caring circle of girlfriends.
Kleven mixes how-to advice with personal stories from her own life, from other women in her Chick Night group, as well as close family friends. These different voices all add to the richness of this book.
You can download a free chapter at MyChickNight.com.
Linda Abbit is an official Silver & Grace Book Reviewer. Linda’s experience as a family caregiver led to her to start her business, TenderLovingEldercare.com. When not working, she loves dancing, yoga, reading and going to the theater.
Products for Women by Women
The Beginner’s Guide to Chick Night has the Silver & Grace Seal of Approval as an excellent book for women. It is available through Amazon.
The Beginner’s Guide to Chick Night
You might also enjoy
The Girls from Ames: A Story of Women and a Forty-Year Friendship
I Love You and I’m Leaving You Anyway: A Memoir
For more Silver & Grace approved books check out Eliza’s Recommendations.
A bit more on community …
Darn Near 50: Do you have a community?
Until recently, I was never a part of a community. Nor did I feel any desire to be.
- I am not a church goer
- I do not belong to any charitable organizations
- I am not a member of a sorority
- I do not belong to club or group
Of course, now I belong to the Silver & Grace community and I cannot imagine my life without it. But, I still didn’t fully get the importance of community until my dad’s accident.
He is at home, paralyzed from the neck down and bed ridden. My mother has a team of support workers, but she is the primary care giver. To say it is exhausting for her is an understatement. But she is not isolated, because over their lifetime my parents have been involved in communities, both social and professional.
The 10th Line Ladies is a perfect example. My mother implemented a much loved tradition of inviting all the women on her country road over for an annual meal. These ladies took care of the house and cats when my parents were stuck in Spain where the accident occurred. These ladies have driven my mother to hospital visits when she was too tired or too scared to cope.
An even longer standing community was started sixty years ago, when my grandfather brought the property my parents now live at. He encouraged his gang from Port Credit to buy properties on the same stretch of country road. He and my grandmother created a weekend community of fun and frivolity. The children of that original gang, my mother’s peers, are showing up on her doorstep with food and very important hugs. Their adult children, my peers, are coming along too to help out.
I am not saying that we should belong to a community just in case we experience hardship. But in times of hardship, that is when the incredible support of a community is glaringly evident.
I have a community of women at my government job. We cry and laugh together. We have pooled our resources and sent women on spa weekends when we knew they were at their wits end. Interestingly, but not surprisingly, these women have joined the greater Silver & Grace community. And although the Silver & Grace community is wide spread and global, I experience the same crying and laughing together, and the same caring gestures.
I may not have been part of a community in the past, but I sure am now.I may not have had any desire for community in the past, but I sure do now.
I can’t imagine not belonging to a community.
My theory is, this is part of me becoming darn near 50. After years of struggling to have a connection with myself, now that I do, I crave the connection with others.
And I belong to a pretty awesome community chock full of connection.
Be part of my book Darn Near 50!
Your valuable feedback will be used indirectly in the content of the book, or directly as quotes. Before the book is published, I will contact contributors to verify if they want to be anonymous, or if their real names can be used.
Ready?
- What are your thoughts on belonging to a community?
- Do you? Have you always? Is this relatively new?
- What do you get from belonging to a community?
You can provide your thoughts
- right here in the comment section
- email me directly at eliza@silverandgrace.com
- by using this convenient form
A little bit more on this
I invite you to watch this video honouring the Silver & Grace Community.
Book Review: Heartbreaker
Laura Taylor’s gift for creating lucid imagery is complimented by her skill of developing intriguing characters and rich story content. Her captivating book HEARTBREAKER The Warriors / Book 3 is set in the dreamy Caribbean; I am still trying to understand how Laura’s descriptive talent convincingly conjured up the sea breeze to waft through my reading chamber.
We meet Bliss Rowland in her studio where her adept fingers are putting the last swirl on …
“A life-sized impressionistic piece, the sculpture possessed the flowing curves and hollows representative of the reclining figure of a naked woman. Partially submerged by an advancing tide, the woman appeared as an integral part of the ebb and flow of the sea. Bliss knew she was her own worst critic. She demanded the very best of herself, and she never settled for less.”
Ah the keys words are ebb and flow and as undertows surface we must find out if her personal strength to overcome her mother’s emotional fragility and her father Cyrus, an international figure who has purposely created emotional distance, is enough.
Enter Micah Holbrook…oh ladies, you will love getting to know him!! At once, we are flawlessly blended into their story but we never feel like an intruder upon their lives. Will their duty-bound past, Micah’s recent accident and now polished-pride keep Bliss at bay or does his hot-heat passion free him from his tightly interpreted world?
OH so much to find out; the quest is worth every twist and turn. These highly complex characters and beautifully evolving story are perfect for the big screen, in the meantime, its memorable characters and story continues to play out in my heart and head.
HEARTBREAKER was my first foray into the Romantic genre, but if the wonderful Laura Taylor has written it, I am so ready for another adventure of the soul. It is certain that HEARTBREAKER will light up your world from the inside out…its sensuality is deeply moving (literally and oh honey, this is oh so ooooohh la la as in Yummy and oh so well done!) which she tells you up front.
HEARTBREAKER The Warrior goes beyond a summer read; it is a timeless story for all seasons.
Sharyn Jordan is an official Silver & Grace book reviewer. When she is not reading, she teaching the world about Feng Shui. Check out her own great book, The Home Whisperer.
Products for Women by Women
Heartbreaker has the Silver & Grace Seal of Approval as an excellent book for women. It is available through Amazon.
You might also enjoy
Bonds of Blood &Spirit: Loyalties
The Widow’s Walk League
For more Silver & Grace approved books check out Eliza’s Recommendations.
You need more than logic to solve a problem
I read an interesting article on intuition and creativity — two things I love — and this sentence jumped out at me:
“You can’t always find a way to solve a problem by using logical or rational thinking.”
Seems obvious, but is it?
Our society loves facts and statistics. Here are just a few examples:
- games like Trivial Pursuit and Cranium
- sports stats like batting average and shots on goal
- the average number of people who <fill in the blank with just about anything>
- mean rainfall for the month May
- the lowest recorded temperature in Canada; -77.5 °C (-108 °F) by the way, which is freaking cold!
In business we have process flows and decision trees and financial forecasts based on the previous years’ actuals.
Facts. Logic. Rational thinking.
I used to try and solve all my problems by thinking them out. I wrote down facts. I analyzed pros and cons.
This worked okay for deciding which car to buy, but that was about it. In fact, I made some pretty bad decisions. Ridiculously horrible decisions.
The problem was, I was only working with half the information. Maybe even less.
I was not accounting for:
- how I feel about something
- how other people feel about something
Nor was I connecting the dots between seemingly disparate events and experiences.
Until the day I picked up a Tarot deck and discovered a whole wealth of information available to me that I didn’t know existed. Then I added in meditation which added even more. Next I added in stream of consciousness writing. Even more information.
What all these techniques have in common is they accessed my intuition and they freed me up to think creatively. It turns out, my facts where just the tip of the iceberg. Good information, but only what I could see on the surface.
For truly inspired problem solving, I now start with the facts, then springboard from there to my intuition. In fact, ever since I started doing that, I have made some really awesome decisions.
How do you approach problem solving? From a place a logic? From a place of intuition? Or a blend of both?
A bit more on this …
For more on how I use Tarot to help solve problems watch this fun video.
Book Review: Courage and Croissants
Woo hoo! The joyful romp of Courage and Croissants, by Suzanne Saxe-Roux and Jean P. Roux, begins with a label stuck on the inside cover:
Bon Courage – Go with Courage We hope this book inspires you to live your dreams and create a life full of joie de vivre.
Suzanne and Jean.
Awesome quotes head up each chapter, and Life Guidebook Tips follow the end of their story.
This fun, informative book chronicling much of the journey of this dynamic couple gave me a wonderful read, and I hope you’ll pick it up to enjoy it as much or more than I did.
This tale is one fast-reading, well-written joy-ride filled with honesty, humor, and delicious descriptions of French meals, plus the inner and outer terrain of this international couple and their daughter Zoe Pascale.
American Suzanne and South African Jean were living one of our typical American dreams in the Bay Area. Big jobs, big travel, big
bills, a lifestyle they were pretty invested in.
Along came the death of Suzanne’s wonderful business partner, the intense tragedy of 9/11, and the late pregnancy and birth of their daughter Zoe.
After too many airplanes to catch, too many walks in the park by their nanny and not them, and a feeling that life could be more fun than this well-worn path, they began to explore options.
Lo and behold, they realized how lit up they became when they considered going to France for a year, expanding on their summer jaunts to the 11th century home they’d bought years before.
This forward thinking duo created a notebook of tasks to turn their dream into a reality, and they set about doing one thing at a time until they could move to the French countryside to settle in for a year. (One year that grows into three, and then some more French living for their family….)
I imagine this book resonated so much with me, since I’m a Francophile from way back . In second grade, my class was given French lessons, and Le Petite Prince is an absolute favorite of mine.
Then there’s the gratitude, creativity, and love-the-moment philosophies of the authors, which deeply match my own.
They want to inspire joyful living, and my work in the world is to inspire peace and joy. We match!
May you find joy in your life every day, and may you pick up Courage and Croissants, an inspiring and well-written story of living your dreams.
Joy Resor is a Silver & Grace book reviewer. When she is not reading, she is spreading joy and providing beautiful batik scarves at Joy On Your Shoulders.
Products for Women by Women
Courage & Croissants has the Silver & Grace Seal of Approval as an excellent book for women. It is available through Amazon.
Courage and Croissants, Inspiring Joyful Living, A Story and Life Guidebook
You might also enjoy
The Beauty Blueprint: 8 Steps to Building the Life and Look of Your Dreams
The Diva Doctrine: 16 Universal Principles Every Woman Needs to Know
For more Silver & Grace approved books check out Eliza’s Recommendations.
Book Review: Searching for Sassy
Searching for Sassy is the true story of a psychic who learned to use her own gift to find the right relationship while working in helping others answer their love life question. She used Tarot cards for most part. I am learning to read Tarot cards , so this prompted me to read on and learn what I could, or relate to what she had to say.
In the author’s, Alyson Mead’s, life it was a win /win tool to have this knowledge and in reading the book I have had a lesson or two unfold based on the theme each chapter, covering a month and astrological sign for that month. The book starts with July/Leo and ends with the twelfth chapter titled June/Cancer. If you are reading the book with no knowledge of Tarot and understand astrology a little, the story will still lure you.
Her own journey to find Mr. Right kept my interest and the final epilogue clears up any question as to how it all turned out for her.
The final paragraph in the epilogue let’s you know why you should read Searching for Sassy. It says
“Our fascination with other worlds, with spirits and messages from the other side, isn’t likely to go away anytime soon. Feed a psychic, or better yet, develop you own intuition. Someday, it may help you make decisions, cope with difficulty and yes, even manifest a new relationship.”
Please read and enjoy Searching for Sassy by Alyson Mead.
Kathy Weber is a very active member of the Silver & Grace community and one of our official Book Reviewers. She is 64 years old, retired and loves to read informative, self help, nonfiction books. She is a wife, mother, and grandmother and now enjoys her free time to do what makes her happy. Reading is one of them.
Products for Women
Searching for Sassy has the Silver & Grace Seal of Approval as an excellent book for women. It is available through Amazon.
Searching For Sassy: An L.A. Phone Psychic’s Tales of Life, Lust & Love
You might also enjoy
The Girls from Ames: A Story of Women and a Forty-Year Friendship
I Love You and I’m Leaving You Anyway: A Memoir
For more Silver & Grace approved books check out Eliza’s Recommendations.
Book Review: Don Juan in Hankey, PA
In her book Don Juan in Hankey, PA, Gale Martin has weaved a fun and thoroughly entertaining tale in this book, set in the fictional rust-belt town of Hankey, Pennsylvania. From beginning to end, the characters are fun to follow through this operatic themed romp. Each character had a quality that fed humorously into the next character’s idiosyncrasy..how fun!
I am not an opera fan, but have participated in “small time” theater productions and this type of craziness is really what unfolds behind the scenes…something wonderful, wacky and usually weird! Gale has done a wonderful job in portraying the mayhem. In addition to the hijinks and fun, it was clear that the author was teaching the reader some fun facts about opera, and the crazy behind the scene occurrences to bring Opera to stage.
I highly recommend this book for a fun 300 page read.
Laura Clancy is a Silver & Grace book reviewer. When she is not reading, she is helping women get into fantastic shape at Muffin Toppled.
Products for Women
Don Juan in Hankey, PA has the Silver & Grace Seal of Approval as an excellent book for women. It is available through Amazon.
You might also enjoy
The Widow’s Walk League
Bonds of Blood &Spirit: Loyalties
For more Silver & Grace approved books check out Eliza’s Recommendations.
Book Review: When All That’s Left of Me is Love
I adore books, so when I was asked to become a “book reviewer”, I jumped at the chance. But I have a dirty little secret..I especially adore books that have a happy ending. Naturally, when I opened up the envelope holding my new book to review, I thought “OMG….this is a book about a woman dying. This does not have a happy ending!” Well, I was right and I was wrong. This book is the personal journey of the last year of a woman’s life, written by her daughter. What it doesn’t focus on is dying. Instead, the author shares how she took a vow, when learning of her mother’s terminal cancer diagnosis, “living while dying”, and writes what her family did to live this vow.
From buying a calendar to record events and memories, to celebrating happy hour, to trying new things, and even buying a recliner, Linda demonstrates how it is possible to take a devastating diagnosis and turn it into a valuable, meaningful way of life. It explores what helped her become more at peace with the journey and its final outcome, in the hopes that other families might embrace both their attitude and the practical applications that made this a way of life. Love in action, to coin a phrase.
Linda’s story is a gift of love…to her mother, to her family and to us. It demonstrates how to have ‘no regrets’ and it shows us all what we can do to ease both ourselves and our loved ones when the time comes….as it comes to all of us eventually.
So…the happy ending? Knowing that when everything has been stripped away, you can have a profound journey of love and hope. Knowing that there are things that can be done to make the journey easier. Witnessing a daughter’s love for her mother. I will tuck this book away until I need it…….because I, too, want to practise ” living while dying”.
Jill Graves is a Silver & Grace Book Reviewer. Jilly-Bean is Eliza’s go to gal when she needs reassurance that men, children, bosses, co-workers, and pets are all insane; whereas, Eliza is clearly not. Every woman needs a friend like that.
Thank you to TLC Book Tours for sponsoring this review.
Products For Women By Women
When All That’s Left of Me is Love has the Silver & Grace Seal of Approval as an excellent book for women. It is available on Amazon.
When All That’s Left of Me Is Love
You might also enjoy
The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are
The Beauty Blueprint: 8 Steps to Building the Life and Look of Your Dreams
For more Silver & Grace approved books check out Eliza’s Recommendations.
Book Review: Invisible Bars – Why Women Won’t Leave
In Invisible Bars, Lisa Oliver wrote about what she experienced first hand, not just once, but twice. This book was her personal attempt to try and help society understand the complex issues surrounding domestic abuse.
In the 77 pages of this book Lisa writes about the abuse she and her children suffered and offers valuable information on what steps to take and how to get help should this be happening in your own home or to someone close to you and how you can help if you suspect abuse of a neighbor or casual acquaintance.
Lisa’s book supports my views about the subject of abuse. It was a familiar story to me, having suffered an abusive childhood and then an abusive relationship. Thankfully I was strong enough to be able to get myself out of the situation. I just knew he would end up killing me. And that is what Lisa’s real fears were also. It took a little more strength for Lisa to break herself and her children away from her relationship. I was at an economical disadvantage at that time which may have helped in my decision to leave. That and having blind courage with two children under 2 to keep safe.
There are many factors that come into play when you talk about abuse and how it is handled. I don’t feel we can fault anyone for not getting out unless we know what their entire circumstances are. There is still a stigma of shame attached to domestic abuse and so little understanding for the victims.
Lisa tries to help us understand the abuser’s patterns and gives resources for us to turn to. She also gives warning signs that the person you are dating might be abusive which may or may not be an eye opener for someone in the rosy eyed stage of a relationship!
One of the last things Lisa wrote in her book reached out to me:
“…. if I get depressed about what I am trying to do I think again of the woman in my dreams, isolated and alone hoping someone “out there” will care. I was that woman once and while I know that I am now in a safe environment there are literally thousands of women in our society getting beaten TODAY and I wrestle with my own demons and keep on writing.”
Keep on writing Lisa. Women and children need your voice.
Definitely not an uplifting read but I would recommend Invisible Bars; Why women won’t leave, to anyone who knows or suspects of an abusive situation involving women and/or children.
Mary Becker is a very active member of the Silver & Grace community and one of our official Book Reviewers. When she is not reading, she is busy handcrafting beautiful tea cozies and scarves.
Products for Women
Invisible Bars has the Silver & Grace Seal of Approval as an excellent resource for women. It is available through Amazon.
Invisible Bars: Why Women Won’t Leave
You might also enjoy
The Shadow Effect: Illuminating the Hidden Power of Your True Self
Finding Your Best Inside: How to Persevere and Become the Person You Are Meant to Be
For more Silver & Grace approved books check out Eliza’s Recommendations.
