The New Earth

Just finished reading (for the second time) The New Earth

The New Earth by Eckhart Tolle 

LOVES IT:  life changing, fantastic, brilliant, start reading it today!

Yes, The New Earth is so insightful and powerful that I had to read it for a second time.  And I am sure that I could read it several more times and get even more out of it.  It is well written and the concepts presented are explained in a way that makes them easy to understand and apply in your own life. 

I am not going to summarize the book…as it would be extremely difficult.  But I thought I would share some of the concepts that I connected with in reading it this time around. 

1.       Live in the NOW.  This means focus on what you are doing and feeling in the Now.  Constantly focusing on the past or the future takes you away from what you are doing and feeling in the Now, which is not good.  (ps. This idea is illustrated by the Alice in Wonderland quote below).

2.      Be Present or conscious.  This means to be Present, physically, emotionally, mentally and spirituality when in engaging with people.  This must happen in the Now. 

3.      Ask yourself “what is my relationship with life? What is my relationship with the Present Moment?”

4.      See and feel the positive/good in your life.  Don’t focus on the negative/bad and do not generate negative feelings…very similar to The Power.

5.      There are 3 responds you can have to any situation you encounter- acceptance, enjoyment or enthusiasm. 

Books, Books, Books

In the last few weeks I read….

Dead Aid- Great- solid, entertaining, engaging, a must read!

Into the Wild—Good (well written, interesting, informative, wouldn’t hurt to read it)

Wisdom of Whores—LOVES IT:  life changing, fantastic, brilliant, start reading it today!

Just finished reading…. Exile

Exile by Richard North Patterson

Rating:  GREAT!

Exile was interesting, well written, compelling and very long- it was over 700 pages.  I actually started reading Exile over 2 years ago, got half way through and then just got side tracked with other books, grad school and my crazy/fantastic life.  Then when I was packing for the Peace Corps, I found it and decided to take it to finish.  And I am very glad I did. 

I am not even going to try to summarize the book…as it is extremely detailed.  But it revolves around an Palestinian mother accused of assassinating the Prime Minister of Israel and the Jewish lawyer who defends her. 

Besides it being a great story, what makes the Exile so interesting is all the information about the Middle East and specifically the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, which has been going on for decades, that is interwoven into the lives of the characters.  The author does a good job of painting an accurate and balanced picture of the conflict. 

Although I do not claim to know all that much about the past or current situation between the Israelis and Palestinians, I do know this much:  That both the Israelis and Palestinians have a great amount of hate and disregard for the other.  That both justify their cause with their religion.  That both, yes both the Israelis and Palestinians have engaged in acts of horrific violence and terrorism against the other.  And that the fighting and violence and oppression and death has gone on far too long, allowing generations of Israelis and Palestinians to know nothing else.

So read Exile.  Or learn a little more about what’s happening over there.  Because what happens “over there” has a direct impact on what happens in other parts of the world, including the U.S. 

What is the What

I just finished reading What is the What by Dave Eggers.

And it was amazing!   LOVES IT!

 

What is the What tells the true and beautiful story of Valentino, one of the thousands of “Lost Boys” of Sudan.  Eggers chronicles Valentino’s life from his peaceful childhood in a small village in southern Sudan, all the way to his adulthood in the United States.   

But it is what happens to Valentino inbetween this time that is truly unbelievable.  What is the What takes you with Valentino as he flees his town and becomes separated from his family because of the war in southern Sudan.  As he, along with hundreds of other “Lost Boys” walk on foot, hundreds of miles through Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya.  And as he spends over 12 years in refugee camps.  All the while introducing the people and places that shaped Valentino’s past and future.  It is truly an inspiring story.  You all should definitely read it. 

However, the most interesting thing about reading What is the What, right now, is the fact Sudan is now gearing up for a vote that would finally make southern Sudan a separate country.  This is so major!  All of what Valentino experienced was because of the war in southern Sudan.  A war, waged by the government of Sudan, in the north of the country, to control southern Sudan and their precious natural resources, including oil.

Anyways… I have been wanting to read What is the What for many years now…but just never got around to it.  And now I know why.  It has been way more meaningful and interesting in light of the history that is unfolding in Sudan right now!  If you are interested at all in violent conflicts, refuges, peace studies, Africa, Sudan, religious conflicts, children’s rights or humanitarian affairs I would high suggest you read What is the What. 

Furthermore I would encourage anyone who is interested in anything in this post to learn more about Sudan.  It has a fascinating story.  It is the largest country in Africa and plays a large role on the continent.  And follow the history in the making that will be happening in the coming days! 

I have THE POWER!

One of the MANY joys of being a Peace Corps volunteer is that I get lots of time to do things that I love to do....such as reading.  Peace Corps volunteers have been known to read lots and lots of books…I mean some have read hundreds while volunteering.  I don’t know if I will read that many but I do love to read and plan to do a lot of it.  So I thought it would be informative and fun to let you all know what I am reading and more importantly what I thought of said book. 

My book rating system is as follows:

LOVES IT- life changing, fantastic, brilliant, start reading it today!

Great- solid, entertaining, engaging, a must read!

Good- well written, interesting, informative, wouldn’t hurt to read it.

Alright- okay, passes the time, read it if your bored and there is nothing else to read.

Ewww- confusing, slow, weird, not well written, could be good to use a decoration.

Terrible-waste of time, very bad, don’t ever read and pass the word to others.

ps… I would LOVE it if you sent me a book or too (paperback only) as books in English are nearly impossible to find.  I am on www.goodreads.com which is a social networking site for books and where you can find a list of the books I want to read, have read or are currently reading.  Look for me!

Anyways, onto my first book!  THE POWER. 

Rating:  LOVES IT

The Power by Rhonda Byrne is the follow up book to Byrne’s best seller The Secret.  For those of you who have not read The Secret, you definitely should.  In a nutshell, The Secret teaches its readers to understand, appreciate and use the law of attraction to make their life better.  It says that what you put out into the universe you will receive back to you.  Since I have become aware of The Secret, I see it at work throughout my life all the time.  The Secret has become such a large a part of life that when The Secret happens to me or around me…I immediately name it as The Secret, saying out loud “that’s The Secret”.  My mom, sister and gramma name it as well.  We’re pretty much obsessed.  Which is why when I learned about The Power, I couldn’t wait to read it!

In The Power Byrne takes The Secret and the law of attraction one step further.  Essentially, The Power claims you can have everything that you want to have in life.  You can have a wonderful job, great relationships, strong health, etc. All you have to do for this to happen is tap into The Power.  And The Power, is the greatest law of all… the law of LOVE. 

The Power maintains that if you project LOVE into the universe and feel that LOVE you will be able to have whatever you want.  Having The Power means putting out LOVE, in the form of good feelings, such as Love, Gratitude, Joy, Passion, Hope and Positivity.  Once you project and feel these good things, good things will happen for you.  Just as The Secret, the guiding principle of The Power is that what you give out to the universe you receive back to you.  So if you give out LOVE and Positivity then you will receive LOVE and Positivity back.

So obviously the above explanation of The Power is very abbreviated.  But hopefully you get the general idea.   I know that this whole concept might seem a little too weird or out there for some of you reading this.  But the reason I rated this book so high is because the idea of loving everything and projecting and feeling positivity speaks to me deeply. 

I am by nature a pretty optimistic person, but reading this book reminded me the importance of being positive and engaging in things that bring happiness and good feelings into the world.  Because not only do those things impact others in a positive way but it also will impact me in positive ways…ways that I might not even be able to imagine. 

So projecting and feeling LOVE throughout life might not be for everyone…but it seems like a brilliant idea to me.  I mean what could be wrong with that?  And so I am going to do my best to think and feel LOVE more times a day than I don’t.  I am going to tap into The Power.  And I think you should too…or at least read the book.