Summer Reading For Your Soul

Summer is here and that means summer reading!  I don’t always have a lot of time to read these days but when summer comes along we do spend a little bit of time up at the cottage and I always have a book for the dock. This summer I am focusing on a few books from my online circle of friends and books that make my life lighter, brighter and more abundant. 

One thing to note here is that when I say read sometimes I mean listen. I have a relatively long commute to work every day. Sometimes it can take me an hour and a half to two hours to get from my house to my office.  I decided a while ago that I needed to use that time to improve my life rather than just get angry while being stuck in traffic so I use the time to LISTEN to audio books.  It is a great way to spend my commute time because it helps me stay sane while driving in bumper to bumper traffic. 

Here are a few books on my summer reading/listening list.

Money Love by Kate Northrup

This book is still in my NEED-TO-GET-TO pile. I follow Kate on Twitter and Facebook and enjoy her philosophy about money and finance. I am looking forward to reading her book. It is all about charting your own map to financial freedom! 

The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor and Before Happiness by Shawn Achor

I loved both of these books. Both deal with happiness, how to get happy and how being happy benefits your personal and work life. It had me rethinking a lot of things in my life.

The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown 

Brene Brown is a leading expert on shame, authenticity, and belonging. Be sure to check out her TED Talks, she is amazing. In this book she shares ten guideposts on the power of Wholehearted living. It is a way of engaging with the world from a place of worthiness.

A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle

I listened to this book for hours on my commute to work. It really got me thinking about how I talk to myself and how I interact with others.  It is worth a read or a listen to for sure. 

Success Through Stillness: Meditation Made Simple by Russell Simmons

This one is on my must-read or rather must-listen-to. I have tried meditation. It is still a work in process. I always feel better, more focused and thankful after meditating but I feel like I am still learning to be still and focused. I am hoping this book will help me learn to find success in meditation. There are real mind, body, spirit benefits to meditation so I am looking forward to this book. 

What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast by Laura Vanderkam

This was a quick listen for me. It is a fun book about helping readers (listeners like me) build habits that lead to a happier and more productive life.

I would love to hear what you are reading right now or have on your must-read list. I enjoy anything that is about improving my life, helping me become happier, healthier and more productive!

I NEED A VACATION FROM MY VACATION

Has this ever happened to you before? You go on vacation and you come home almost more tired than before you left? That's kinda how I am feeling right now.

The hubby went to San Diego for the Comic-con( you will find more about that at his blog www.ledkillaloves.blogspot.com in a few days) Anyway I digress. So I decided to take the week off from work and head up to the cottage with the girls. My folks headed up too. It was going to be a great week of sun, sand and relaxation. Or rather that was the plan!

Firstly, the sun seemed to take a vacation on my vacation. It made only brief appearances. The rain on the other hand, it made a grand showing. It poured rain for hours and hours on end. And you can only guess what that did for the mood in the cottage, especially when a 4 year old and a 6 year old were cooped up inside for hours and hours on end. There is only so long we could listen to the same songs over and over again as the two little dancers strutted their stuff. And even the two of them could only dance for so long before they started to go after each other. I was a mediator or rather referee more often than I was a member of the audience.

Don't get me wrong there were some good points. I did get to read a pretty good Nora Roberts book called Brazen Virtue. It was a fast read. I also got a chance to remember why I love Vanity Fair magazine once again. It seems the only time I get to really read the magazine is at the cottage. They are always old issues, like 2 years old but they are just as good as they ever were. I get up to the cottage and almost read each issue from cover to cover. This cottage visit I read an article on Katherine Heigl, Pitcairn Islands where the mutineers from the Bounty settled, a tragic piece about a couple called the East Village Suicides, just to name a few. It was a great week for reading. The weather sucked but the reading was good. I was feeding my brain after a long, long literary diet. It has been so long since I have been able to savour some good writing, or any writing for that matter. I feel much better for the chance to get some reading done, I needed the brain nourishment. My brain was starting to die of starvation, so too was my imagination I think.

The reading aside, I must admit the kids were actually starting to drive me a bit insane. They were at each others throats almost all week. The fighting, quarrelling, squabbling, whatever you want to call it, was nearly more than I could take. And by the time we go home today I was ready to lock myself in the bathroom, screaming! The fighting continued and my oldest daughter was more than a little bit emotional. I think we all need a vacation from the vacation.

Tonight at bedtime, in the quiet of their bedroom, my oldest daughter said to her sister and me, "Isn't it so good to be home?!" She must have said it 4 or 5 times in the minutes as she drifted off to sleep. What does that say? To me that says it all.