Colossally bad idea

When Kurt and I got cold walking downtown, we tucked into Borders to browse a bit and warm up. While he was checking out the business mags, a book called All About Us caught my eye. It's a book of questions meant to be filled out as a couple. It sounded like a great way to get to know each other and document your good times together. I got quite a surprise when I opened it. Not only does it ask about things you don't like about your partner, it also asks you go to into great detail about past relationships. Bad bad bad idea. It reminded me of that honesty game we played at slumber parties in junior high. It starts off in good fun, but by the end everyone has hurt feelings and isn't speaking to one another. Kurt and I had a good laugh looking through it and agreed that it was a disaster waiting to happen. Honesty is good, of course, but sometimes you can have too much of a good thing.

(Yes, I know it has 4 stars at amazon.com. Mind-boggling!)

Book recommendation: Left To Tell

This disturbing news out of the Congo brought to mind one of the most moving books I've ever read. Left To Tell by Imaculee Ilibagiza is the true story of a woman who survived the Rwandan holocaust by hiding in a small bathroom with 6 other women. She has been called Rwanda's Anne Frank, and her story of survival, faith, and forgiveness is powerful and inspiring. Her mission now is to make sure the world understands and remembers, so that such a tragedy never happens again.

Kindergarten redux

One of my Artist's Way exercises this week was to collect leaves or flowers and press them in a book between sheets of wax paper. Pretty much what we all did in kindergarten. I was skeptical, but it turned out to be a fun exercise! It was amazing to pay closer attention and take note of the variety of shapes and colors that the leaves have turned right here on my street. It's an excellent way to become attuned to the beauty all around us that we usually take for granted. I'm doubly lucky since fall is the perfect time of year for a project like this. Maybe those kindergarten teachers knew what they were doing after all ...

Who needs books anyway?

For the past month, I've been working through The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. The goal of the book is to stimulate creativity and "awaken the artist within." Sounds good to me! I promised at the beginning of the course that I would suspend my natural skepticism and do all of the assignments, no matter how nutty they may seem. Like all good intentions, this one came back to bite me.

Everything was going well until week four when I encountered the reading deprivation assignment. She admits in the book that she's always the bad guy when she gives the assignment in class. Rightly so, I say. She has instructed us not to read for a week. No books, no email, no news articles, no magazines. Nothing. Nada. In addition, she says that filling the void with tv, radio, and "gossipy conversations" (hello! the best kind!) isn't in the spirit of things and should be avoided as well.

In the words of Dr. Kurt ... BUSH LEAGUE!

The theory behind the exercise is that blocked creatives often overindulge in the words and ideas of others and that a week without those distractions will open you up to try new activities and listen to your inner voice. While it is eye opening to realize how much time I spend reading (alot!), at this point my inner voice is mostly saying that it wants to check its email.


(In case you were wondering, blogging is writing, so it's allowed. At least that's what I'm telling myself ...)