Tag Archives: Books

How Time Flies When You’re Having Fun

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“My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.” ~Dalai Lama

Year of Living Kindly cover for FrankfurtPlease indulge me while I gape at the mind-boggling fact that my book turns five today. Born out of this blog, it continues to find new readers and, I hope, inspire kindness.

Many of you have been part of this community since the YOLK blog started in 2015. Your interaction and encouragement spurred me to attempt to turn my ideas into a book. I am so grateful.

No one is more surprised than I by its success. Like the little engine that could, it continues to chug along. It is now in its 9th printing, with three foreign language editions out (take a gander at the covers below!) and two more currently in production. It’s been honored with more than a dozen literary awards.

Most important, it’s touching lives. I often hear from readers who tell me YOLK inspired them to extend a kindness or withhold a snarky comment, or that they more readily recognize the kindnesses all around them. I can think of nothing more satisfying.

I wish I could claim that nine years of studying, writing, and speaking about kindness have made me a paragon of compassion, patience, and understanding. But no, I’m still learning. There are still times when I’m bitchy, cranky, and oblivious, but those occurrences are less frequent. I think I am kinder, and I am so much more aware of kindness all around me. I’ve seen also that there is a direct connection between kindness and happiness. Continue reading →

Good Riddance, Norman Mailer

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“I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.” (Jorge Luis Borges)

Lately, I’ve been purging a lot. No, not the stomach-heaving purge of despair or disgust (though ask me again on November 4), but merely the welcome elimination of excess paper, emails, and detritus surrounding me.

While thus engaged, I came across a wonderful article I first encountered in 2017, “The Man Who Doesn’t Read Women.” This is a meaty article—definitely worth your time and attention—but I will only address one part of it here.

The author, Lorraine Berry, describes a conversation she had with her neurologist while he was treating her for severe migraine headaches by injecting Botox into the muscle next to her eye. Knowing that Berry was a writer, the doctor engaged her in chat about books and authors—he being a voracious reader. During the conversation, she was shocked to hear him admit quite matter-of-factly that he had never read a book written by a woman.

Then he corrected himself to say that oh, yes, he had read one: Charlotte’s Web. Continue reading →

The Gifts of Winter

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“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” (Dr. Seuss)

Attribution: Donna CameronWhile much of the country suffered through the bitterest winter ever, we in the Seattle area watched wide-eyed, sympathetic, and thankful for our own temperate winter. By our household’s unscientific analysis—the frequency of having to thaw the water in the birdbath or replace frozen hummingbird water—it was a mild winter, indeed.

But early February brought us both humility and snow—lots of snow. More snow than most of us have ever seen in these parts. For an area as hilly as this, even an inch or two of snow can wreak havoc. And when it’s 18-24 inches, with brief thaws that then refreeze to create sheer ice slides, all but the most essential services come to a standstill. Kids have missed a week or more of school. To compound the problem, the fact that snow is such a rarity means we have limited snow removal equipment and it concentrates on the main roads and arterials, leaving the side streets and remoter areas to fend for themselves. Continue reading →

Thank You to This Amazing Blogging Community

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“Do not be dismayed by the brokenness of the world. All things break. And all things can be mended. Not with time, as they say, but with intention. So go. Love intentionally, extravagantly, unconditionally. The broken world waits in darkness for the light that is you.” (L.R. Knost)

Today, September 25, is the official publication date for my book, A Year of Living Kindly. I wouldn’t be writing those words if it weren’t for you. Really. And I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. And offer you cake.

When I started this blog in January 2015, my intention was to explore kindness in both scholarly and experiential ways, and—I hoped—become kinder as a result. I chose to blog, thinking it would keep me accountable. After all, if I had an audience for my intentions, it would be both noticeable and embarrassing if I abandoned my “year of living kindly” around the ides of March.

…keep on reading…

Books as Teachers, Books as Atonement, Books as Lifeline

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“I cannot live without books.” (Thomas Jefferson to John Adams)

Many years ago, a friend gave me a paperweight with that Jefferson quote inscribed on it. It has sat on my desk for more than two decades. I suppose it is a bit of exaggeration to say one cannot live without books. Maslow’s hierarchy did not lump books with food, water, oxygen, or shelter. Had they been mentioned at all, books might have been relegated to the levels where belonging or self-actualization reside.

Less poetic, but perhaps more precise would be to say I cannot imagine a life without books.

…keep on reading…