"Two people can see the same thing, disagree, and yet both be right. It’s not logical; it’s psychological."

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey

currently listening to this in my car. holy shit it’s fascinating. 1 in 25 people is a sociopath. yikes! the other interesting factoid is that being a sociopath is the only condition in which the person who has it feels no effects. they wreak havoc on those that surround them, but feel no guilt, shame, remorse or responsibility.

this was a pleasant, funny and quick read. The wait list for the kindle checkout took longer than I thought it would, but it was worth the wait.

the chapter titled I Love Irish Exits was particularly enjoyable. 

“Irish exits are supposed to be subtle, a way to leave without creating a disruption, and yes, on occasion, a way to perhaps escape notice for epic drunkenness. The only snag is you have to be comfortable lying directly to the faces of the people you like.”

from the chapter titled, Types of Women in Romantic Comedies Who Are Not Real

 ”I simply regard romantic comedies as a subgenre of sci-fi, in which the world created therein has different rules than my regular human world. Then I just lap it up. There is no difference between Ripley from Alien and any Katherine Heigl character. They’re all participating in the same level of made-up awesomeness, and I enjoy every second of it.”

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picked these up at the library today along with an audiobook called the vortex. here goes nothing.

finished the paris wife today. thank goodness it had a strong ending because i just about killed myself reading some of the dialogue between hadley and ernest. i wanted her to quit being so pathetic and i totally understood why he left her. not that he wasn’t a pompous jerk himself.

currently nerding out on goodreads

my one friend on there might have gotten a shit ton in her feed because i didn’t know what i was doing.

the goodreads robot is telling me i’m 5% behind on my goal of reading 52 books this year. i got no shame, i started adding everything…including when mars and venus collide, getting to i do, and the tao of dating. i mean, i read those books.

this is a cheap version of a malcolm gladwell book. my main problem with this book is that it does NOT show or talk about how to change when change is hard. that is some false fucking advertising right there. throughout the book the authors use a ridiculous metaphor with an elephant, a path and a rider. the examples are preposterous and i just couldn’t get into it.

I started reading Hunger Games last night.

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On Dana’s recommendation I put this book in my library queue. Dana writes my absolute favorite tumblr on Feng Shui, so I figured, why not? Ohmygoodness, this book is hilarious and awesome. My absolute favorite quote from the book goes like this

“You have every right to ask me to split the cost of our dates; however, I am not comfortable doing that. I respect men who want to protect and cherish me. I feel safe and secure with them, which allows me to be more vulnerable and intimate, especially sexually. Do you want this, or do you want to find someone else who agrees with you?”

Ballsy right? A lot of what Dr. Patricia Allen says in this book makes sense. Reading it brought to the surface some regrets and helped me understand some of my behaviors that I’m less than proud of.

There were a lot of takeaway messages. I particularly liked her discussion of masculinity versus femininity. I have a career where I have to be masculine or I will get treated like a doormat. I know I’m not alone in this. What I need to learn is how to revert back to my feminine energy when I’m not kicking ass at work. It’s a delicate balance that I am going to make happen.

Garden Voices

The whole experience-both Wade’s illness and the garden-helped me grow to a deeper level of trust. I believe in prayer, and for me prayer is not petitioning to get something, but rather trusting in the flow of grace. Certainly that grace manifested itself in my garden as people appeared out of nowhere to help me create a space filled with beauty. Grace came into our lives in many other ways, too. People were always there for me when I had to face the next difficult task, like choosing equipment for the next stage of illness or navigating the maze of insurance red tape.

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currently reading this book written by a woman from my hometown. it’s making me wish i had more room to garden. i want a huge yard to plant flowers, herbs, fruits and vegetables for all seasons.

Jumpers

Jumpers are late bloomers. They have greatness thrust upon them. For many years they may appear not to be moving forward or progressing. They may even seem to be going backward. They may practice and practice but to no avail. Although it may seem that they are not learning, they are. What goes in eventually comes out.

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currently listening to both of these. the one on the left is very difficult and not for the beginner. the one on the right by pema chodron is much more accessible. both shed some light on the art of meditation. the following from stages of meditation, i listened to over and over again because it was just too much information to digest with one simple listen.

how should calm abiding meditation and special insight be practiced together?

initially, the yogi should seek the prerequisites that can assist him in actualizing calm abiding meditation and special insight quickly and easily. the prerequisites necessary for the development of calm abiding meditation are

• to live in a conducive environment
• to limit your desires and practice contentment
• not being involved in too many activities
• maintaining pure moral ethics
• and fully eliminating attachment and all other kinds of conceptual thoughts

"the statute of limitations on ‘just finished a book’ is like two weeks."

jon stewart

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finally finished the tiger’s wife. it’s a good read. very mystical and interesting and written by a young 25 year old. seems like it would make a good movie. it took a long time because i’m reading a bunch of books including swamplandia! and last night at almost one in the morning i downloaded a free sample of the marriage plot: a novel by jeffrey eugenides. so far it’s awesome and i plan on reading it in hawaii.  it starts out in rhode island which instantly captured me because of course, i have a thing for rhode island and my younger sister lives there.

this book clearly outlines the education revolution i’m talking about. if you’re interested in neurology and wanna know how the amygdala, pre-frontal cortex, hippocampus, neocortex etc. participate in sensory perception then this is the book for you. i don’t have the words to describe how awesome this book is.