Things What I Love...

Phill and I had the most wonderful day today, filled with just being and wandering and general awesomeness.  ( "O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”)*  It was made even better when I found the book...  The Alphabet of the Human Heart, written by Matthew Johnstone and James Kerr.   

On the left is the cover for "The Upside" and on the right is the cover for "The Downside."  source

These men obviously caught wind of my Alphabet of Gratitude and thought it was SO brilliant they came up with this wonderful little book (I must admit, I think this book is better than my attempt!)  Each letter is designated a word (and I am happy to report that some of my alphabet has the same content as theirs... so I must be on the right track) and has a gorgeous illustration and wise words.  Flip the book and you get the very same English alphabet but... well... the flip side!  There are many books, articles, blogs (including mine), magazines, you name its dedicated to delivering warm fuzzies - you know, the feel good wise words and parables - but what I love about this is actually what they called The Downside.  Unfortunately, there is a downside to the human heart and human experience, but the stunning thing about this book is that they acknowledge these things and then offer warm words, advice and the same kind of loving words that the very best of your friends would offer.  

Some of my favourites are:   

• G is for gratitude "gratitude is saying thank you to life..." / G is for greed "Ask yourself, how much is enough, and how much is too much?" **
• R is for reconciliation "To reconnect with someone, first forgive yourself.  you're human, you mess up... If you do mess up, 'fess up and apologise." / R is for regret "Stuff happens.  But it doesn't need to keep happening... To get over it, get into the moment.  Empty your mind, let go of your thoughts, just be."  (I'm working on that one!)  **

But my absolute favourite is...

• Y is for You (for both the up and the down sides...) "Be happy.  Be honest.  Be hopeful.  Be all you can be.  Be yourself.  Be you." / "We all have our downside, our shadow side, our inner problem-child.  Embrace it.  Admitting our weakness is the first step in regaining our strength..." **

 I love this book.  I love that this book is a product of the connection between friends.  The authors, Matthew and James have been friends for 30 years.  

"Between them, they’ve had more than their fair share of ups and downs, and they’ve turned their experience of life – and of friendship – into a book that combines words and pictures to tell a bigger story."  source

Judging by the product of their collaboration, these men have a beautiful and inspiring friendship.  

Ideally, I could afford to purchase a copy of it to send to every one of my loved ones.  In the meantime, I highly recommend checking out the website.  If you're feeling a bit like you're lost in the wilderness, or even if you're just in a little spot of a blue funk, this is definitely a book worth picking up.

I think my copy of this book will be very well loved.

The only thing is... I feel like after reading this lovely little book, I can't use some of the things I had planned for the remainder of my Alphabet because they're in here!

* Carroll, Lewis. Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There. 1872

** Johnstone, Matthew and James Kerr. The Alphabet of the Human Heart. The A to Zen of Life.Sydney: Pan Macmillan Australia, 2009.

'b' is for Books!

I love books.  Every room in our house contains a book of some sort.  They cover most available surfaces; stacked, piled, strewn, arranged, shelved two or three deep... Phillip and I are surrounded by books; while the clutter drives me batty, I don't think I'd have it any other way.

One of my measures of a successful holiday is the number of books I can read while I'm not working.  I'll often try not to read during term time (because I'll stay up late to read) but then I feel bereft.  A bit lost, like I'm missing some vital part of myself.

I don't just love the narratives, recounts, illustrations, information and all that marvellous stuff that goes with reading - it goes deeper than that.

To me (and I suspect many others), books conjure up fond memories and of course a variety of emotions.  I can't remember a time in my life that I didn't have a book in hand.  I associate books with my mum... she is always reading, and I think I get my voracious appetite for reading from my mum.  They stir memories of being curled up in bed as Mum would read to me.  I used to make tents under my blankets in the middle of the night with my lamp, so I could read a bit more.  When we would stay at Perin Auntie’s house, I'd sneak down to the classrooms downstairs (she had a Montessori school in her house) and sit on the floor and read (or try to figure out the Binomial Cube) until I could barely drag myself up the three flights of stairs to get back into bed (I used to love it when the house was full and we'd have to sleep on mattresses in a classroom.) My favourite presents have always been books.  I can't even count the number of times I have gone to bed before Phill, only to have him come in and laugh because once again, I've fallen asleep while reading, and more often than not, the book is resting on my face.  I relish the conversations and discussions I have with my friends about books - why they were or were not fantastic, which then spiral off into other amazing and inspiring conversations and suppositions.  It makes my heart smile when Noah picks up a book and asks someone to read it to him.  The way my students become engrossed in the stories we read in class - so excited and anxious to find out what is going to happen next - I love it!

More than the stories, I love the escapism that goes along with a really good book.  The fact that when I'm reading, it's all about me and doing something I adore.  I admit, it can be hard to take time for myself - so easy to get caught up in all the things that must be done... but it never seems to be hard to find that time when I've got a good book to keep me company. Thank goodness for that.