This past week, I read A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, by Betty Smith. This particular passage resonated with me, “Sometimes I think it’s better to suffer bitter unhappiness and to fight and to scream out, and even to suffer terrible pain, than just to be. . .safe. At least we know we are living.” With those words in my head, I revisited yoga for the first time in many, many years. My struggle to embrace an authentic peace are often [...]
Books
When I was a little girl, white encyclopedia books filled the space of our brown bookshelf. Sometimes I would pull a random encyclopedia and flip to a page and absorb something that wasn’t a part of my current world. I learned so much within the confines of my room. I believe that’s when I really felt the power of the written word. Books can do more than transport you. They can provide a place of conversation, refuge, and relaxation. I often [...]
I love reading books. Why? The turn of the page, the sentence that resonates, or the lingering feeling that you remember even after you’ve finished reading a book almost two days ago. It’s a place where you can consume yourself with a vast array of emotions, resounding sadness and raucous laughter, sparkled with nuances of disappointment, anger, contentment, and most importantly, escape. Once I’ve experienced a good book, I am eager to converse about it. This is what I am [...]
During my junior year of English, I recall underlining passages in Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. If you look at my bookshelf, a copy of that old and wrinkled paperback still sits in the second tier. My English teacher emphasized how we were reading a classic and that it was important we understood the gravity of Mr. Twain’s insights. As a sixteen year old, I failed to understand the magnitude of Twain’s words in Huck Finn. The combination [...]
