Books I'm Reading
Calling it reading is grossly misleading. I really haven't read a book all the way through since Sophia was born. So when I say "read" I really mean where I open a book and glance at the page in the amount of time it takes my husband to fiddle with our airport and Apple TV, run a few speed tests, and get Netflix up and going so we can stream a TV show or two and totally check out. Once he's got it up and running I put the book down zone in on
Pawn Stars or Storage Wars
. And if this weren't a nightly occurrence thanks to our unreliable internet connection, then I wouldn't really read at all. I'd just w
atch. All-Night-Long.
But thanks to our intermittent internet and kind souls who purchased books for me for Christmas, this girl, who-used-to-be-an-English-teacher is reading again.
by Amanda Blake Soule has given creative shape and structure to our days. You may or may not know her from her blog
, a place where she documents the life she lives with her husband and five children on a farm in Western Maine. There is a peaceful, inspiring way about her writing both on her blog and in her book. It is evident that her family strives to live each moment, connected to each other and to the world around them. For them it is their farm and the woods of Maine. The Rhythm of Family takes you through the calendar year month by month with things to do, things to make and reflections that pertain to the season at hand. Her husband also adds his perspective every month, and there are several activities to choose from including recipes and crafts.
Here's an excerpt of her January reflection:
"Like the beating of a drum-in and out, out and in-we follow the push and the pull of where these days take us. Outside, inside, outside, inside. This is the steady rhythm of a midwinter's day."
I remember living this rhythm as a kid in the winter: bundling up, going out, playing for hours in the snow, carving snow forts and making snow men. Coming back inside for a cup of hot chocolate and to hang dripping hats and mittens by the wood stove, only to head back out again moments later. As an adult this rhythm seems inconvenient, messy. The in and out of winter seems like a hassle. But she encourages to embrace it, build it in and make it part of every day.
The activity for January is to create a sun catcher made of ice and found objects from around you. Here's a look at our sun catcher project:
Sophia gathered sticks, pinecones and leaves from the woods outside our back door. And added leftover cranberries from Christmas.
We let the catcher freeze overnight and then hung it on our railing.
It's a little cold isn't it?
It is an excellent precursor to homeschooling (for preschool aged children) or a great addition to any curriculum. I'm sure the same is true of her other books:
and
Her husband also adds his perspective every month, and there are several activities to choose from including recipes and crafts.
The second (and totally unrelated book) that I'm reading is
The mind body method of running by feel
by Matt Fitzgerald (the author of Born to Run, an equally good book). The general theme of this book is exactly as the title suggests: learning to run by "feel." The principles behind it are based in the connection between the mind and the body, perceived ability, perceived effort and the affect they have on performance.
In the past I've always used structured training plans, generic ones, printed from major running websites. Or I've adopted ones from other books that I've read. They have always yielded disappointing results (falling short of my goal of running a Boston qualifying time). But this fall I ran my fastest marathon, due to the fact that I ran by "feel." I pushed the math and the numbers and the analytics out of my head and listened to my body. The results were not only a faster time but a more enjoyable marathon, the best I've ever experienced. I'm only a chapter in, but what I've read so far I've found to be true (from personal experience) and also encouraging:
"Confidence is not some nonphysical quality snatched from the spiritual dimension and installed in the mind, It is the feeling that arises when the body's knowledge of itself is in harmony with the person's dreams."
The story's an anecdotes of professional runners are helpful: like the one of Kara Goucher, when her coach sent her home from a track session with the instruction to take a nap and come back later.
It's all about being in tune and learning to listen to your body, like this morning when my alarm went off at 6 and I felt awful. I was dragging badly. But got myself dressed and out the door and in the car to go to the gym for a treadmill run. I made it almost all the way there. Stopped turned around and came home. I was hungry, tired and unmotivated the perfect recipe for a bad training session. So I'll do it later today when I'm fed, rested and motivated.
I'm looking forward to getting through both these books 8 minutes at a time, and applying the insights I find. Should make for a more peaceful, faster, creative, thoughtful, mindful, in-tune with my body, my family and the world around me kind of life. Right?
--Sarah
