Good Books: A COURSE IN MIRACLES & A NEW EARTH

If you check out my personal blog, studio635, you’ll see that I’m on a quest towards better living. This includes doing things that facilitate my health and general well-being, while specifically cultivating my higher self. And how can anyone’s higher self be cultivated without some serious reading and study?

Accompanying me on my spiritual journey over the years have been many books (some of which I'll discuss in subsequent posts), which have all led me closer to understanding what makes things tick inside me, and in the universe as a whole. My latest acquisitions include A Course In Miracles, and A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose.

A Course In Miracles (ACIM) is designed for self-study although there are many study groups all over the world. It’s certainly not for the faint of heart or the spiritually inexperienced. I say this primarily because of the terminology used throughout this substantive text. I grew up going to church and church school, so although not a religious scholar by any means, I have a basic knowledge of the Bible, on which ACIM is loosely based (very loosely), and other books of this ilk. So although not a breeze for me, I understand the concepts enough to get through it.

Although there are many study aids available online and elsewhere, what’s been helping me are the online lessons given by author/spiritual teacher, Marianne Williamson, who’s got her own slot on Oprah Winfrey’s XM radio network, Oprah & Friends. Perhaps ACIM’s best known guru, Marianne’s decided to focus on one lesson from the text each day throughout this entire year. If you go on Oprah’s website, you’ll be able to find all lessons listed individually. Although the course started on January 1st, you can start anytime. I’m only on Lesson 3 myself, so I still have quite a ways to go.

To learn more about A Course In Miracles, check out the website for its publisher, the Foundation for Inner Peace.

A New Earth is the latest book by Eckhart Tolle, the author of the popular spiritual book, The Power of Now (which I have yet to read). It’s also the latest selection for Oprah’s Book Club, which is the reason I got it. Furthermore, there’s an online class with Oprah and Eckhart starting on March 3rd, and I wanted to get in on it. Ever since Oprah started her book club I wanted to participate, but never did. Now I’ll get my chance.

I started reading A New Earth yesterday and got through the first two chapters, which I love, love, love. Now I really can’t wait for that class to start! I'd like to finish the book first, although I don’t have to, since they’ll only be covering a chapter at a time, but I like getting a head start.

Tools You Can Use: MACJOURNAL 5

I don't think I ever reviewed software before, but this was definitely worth sharing. For those of us who like to journal and use a Mac there's a great app called MacJournal (duh). I just downloaded it from the Mariner Software website, and well, this thing is just too cool for school!

I only started using it yesterday, and I know I've only scratched the surface, but so far I'm pretty impressed. It's got more features than you can shake a stick at, even some you wouldn't necessarily think of for this type of app…or maybe you would.

You can do the usual word processory stuff but it's got other features that are geared specifically for journaling in the traditional way (simulating a diary and its pages, that you can insert as you go), or you can step into the 21st century and use it to maintain your blogs and podcasts.

For someone who loves using my computer for so many things, I've always been a bit old-fashioned about journaling. I looked at one or two shareware apps back in the day, but nothing ever impressed me. Also, I've always just loved the act of holding a beautiful journal in my hand, sitting down with the best writing implement I can find, and expressing my deepest and darkest in its o' so delicate pages. (Can you stand it?) But MacJournal is different. It's so intuitive that I just jumped in and started writing. It actually behaves like a real journal, making it very easy to use.

I'll be using it quite a bit for studying/notetaking (which is why I got it in the first place), and I look forward to checking out it's many features like adding photos, sound and video clips to my entries, and posting to my blogs from it.

FYI: If you see this cool little graphic in any future posts, you'll know what's behind it.

Starting Over… Again

It seems like every time I go on a hiatus from this site, or from blogging in general, I come back full of optimism for the future and remorse from the past. This time I believe I've worked through the remorse thing. Life happens. And it's not always about the blog. As for the optimism, it springs eternal like hope itself.

I just finished reading this entire blog from its very first post to the most recent, and I must say, it ain't half bad! I forgot how much time and effort I put into it and how much I enjoyed doing it. Although I've thought about revisiting it many times, reading through it again actually made me more inspired to pick it back up and start posting.

I've been reading a few new books lately and I figured this was as good a time as any to get my groove back with New Word. I look forward to a new start to go with this brand new year.