Summer Reading for your Creative Soul
I've always loved the slowed-down pace of summer and its opportunity for creative renewal. Even when working a full-time job, the energy of the world is more languorous with the heat and humidity and time spent outdoors and emphasis on vacations. With little kids, I often find the most relaxing vacations to be time spent alone with a good book, so here are my suggestions for some great summer reads! Not only will they inspire you or transport you away from the everyday, they just may change your life.
Rise Sister Rise by Rebecca Campbell
This book is all about stepping into the power of the feminine. Male or female, we all have elements of the masculine and feminine within us, and this is a powerful wake-up call to the feminine within, calling us to be true to our heart-yearnings, invoke the potential within through our words, and return to a life of flow and balance between being and doing, offering and receiving, intuiting and rationalizing. I dog-eared almost every other page!
The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks
I've talked about this book before, as it was a game changer for me this past year. The Big Leap talks about the Upper Limit Problem, or the amount of happiness (or abundance or success or creative abilities or... ) we are programmed to allow ourselves. Essentially, because of our various upbringings and societal programming, each of us has a threshold for the amount of good we can tolerate in our lives. If we get too close or go over that amount, we can start to do things like self-sabotage, get sick, worry and squabble, or deflect. The book talks about how to reset our personal threshold so we can enjoy expanded love, abundance, success, and happiness. As applied to my own life, this concept has been enlightening and his tools have definitely created a shift. I'm feeling bolder and happier and more abundant on an almost daily basis!
The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
This novel tells the saga of the legends of King Arthur from the women's perspectives, in particular the women of Avalon, the legendary mystical home of Celtic priestesses during a time when Christianity was on the rise and taking over the traditional ways of living, loving, and worshiping. It's an engrossing read and does an incredible job of giving these women a voice. It also paints an enlightening picture of the dichotomy between the matriarchal and patriarchal ways of living and worshiping and the role and respect toward women in each.
The Highly Sensitive Person and The Highly Sensitive Child by Elaine Aron
In short, these books opened my eyes and totally changed the direction of my parenting and my ability for self-compassion. As an introverted, empathic, highly sensitive person - who never realized I was one - parenting one of the same, the world can sometimes feel incredibly harsh and extremely overwhelming and chaotic. Reading these books helped me to see the extreme gifts in mine and my daughter's temperaments and provided tangible tools for helping us both cope. Whether you feel especially sensitive yourself of teach, live, or work with those who are, I highly recommend checking it out. She also has her quiz online so you can see for yourself if you're one of the sensitive souls before investing in the book.
Happy reading, happy connecting, happy creating, and happy summer!
