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Between Two Kingdoms [Book]

    Book Overview: A searing, deeply moving memoir of illness and recovery that traces one young woman’s journey from diagnosis to remission to re-entry into “normal” life—from the author of the Life, Interrupted column in The New York Times. Between Two Kingdoms is a profound chronicle of survivorship and a fierce, tender, and inspiring exploration of what it means to begin again.

    Post(s) Inspired by this Book:

    Where The Crawdads Sing [Book]

      Book Overview: For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life–until the unthinkable happens. Where the Crawdads Sing is at once an exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising tale of possible murder. Owens reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were, and that we are all subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.

      Post(s) Inspired by this Book:

        “We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”

        T. S. Eliot, via Sunbeams (Page 103)

          “The first step… shall be to lose the way.”

          Galway Kinnell, via Sunbeams (Page 82)

            “When you have completed 95 percent of your journey, you are only halfway there.”

            Japanese Proverb, via The Happiness of Pursuit (Page 225)

              “The right kind of misadventures—the ones that yield information—can produce confidence.”

              Chris Guillebeau, The Happiness of Pursuit (Page 222) (Read Matt’s Blog On this Quote)

                Always keep Ithaca on your mind.

                To arrive there is your ultimate goal.

                But do not hurry the voyage at all.

                It is better to let it last for many years;

                and to anchor at the island when you are old,

                rich with all you have gained on the way,

                not expecting that Ithaca will offer you riches.

                Constantine Cavafy, Ithaca, via The Happiness of Pursuit (Page 114)

                  “If you want to make every day an adventure, all you have to do is prioritize adventure.  It has to become more important than routine.”

                  Chris Guillebeau, The Happiness of Pursuit (Page 87)

                    “I’d like to repeat the advice that I gave you before, in that I think you really should make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing, or been too hesitant to attempt. So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.”

                    Chriss McCandless, Into The Wild, via The Happiness of Pursuit (Page 84)

                    Chris Guillebeau Quote on Adventure and How I Spontaneously Prioritized Adventure Into My Life

                      “If you want to make every day an adventure, all you have to do is prioritize adventure.  It has to become more important than routine.”

                      Chris Guillebeau, The Happiness of Pursuit

                      Beyond the Quote (Day 368)

                      Reflections from my spontaneous holiday road trip, now that I’m home:

                      • 11 Days on the road
                      • 11 State lines crossed
                      • ~ 5485 miles driven
                      • ~ 68.3 miles hiked
                      Read More »Chris Guillebeau Quote on Adventure and How I Spontaneously Prioritized Adventure Into My Life

                      Bruce Kirby Quote on How Adventure is Curiosity

                        “Adventure is curiosity, the willingness to embrace uncertainty, wondering about the possibility of doing just one thing differently than before.”

                        Bruce Kirby

                        Beyond the Quote (Day 367)

                        One beautiful thing about exploring is that it connects you to the present. For a few wonderful moments you forget about your problems and future concerns. Curiosity leads you. Intuition kicks in. You notice details and sounds and smells that might otherwise get overlooked and unheard and disregarded.

                        Read More »Bruce Kirby Quote on How Adventure is Curiosity

                        Osho Quote on Living With Courage and Exploring Both the Inner and Outer World

                          “Those who are courageous, they go headlong. They search all opportunities of danger. Their life philosophy is not that of insurance companies. Their life philosophy is that of a mountain climber, a glider, a surfer. And not only in the outside seas they surf; they surf in their innermost seas. And not only on the outside they climb Alps and Himalayas; they seek inner peaks.”

                          Osho, Courage (Page 119)

                          Beyond the Quote (330/365)

                          What’s most interesting to me is how deeply connected both types of adventuring are. It is very similar to the connection between breathing in and breathing out. Adventuring on the outside is the expansion of the lungs—it is the breathing in of all that the world has to offer. Adventuring on the inside is the contraction of the lungs—it is the breathing out of all that you have inhaled and synthesized from your experiences. One leads to the other and the other leads to more of the one.

                          Read More »Osho Quote on Living With Courage and Exploring Both the Inner and Outer World

                            “When I say live dangerously, I mean don’t live the life of ordinary respectability—that you are a mayor in a town, or a member of the corporation. This is not life. Or you are a minister, or you have a good profession and are earning well and money goes on accumulating in the bank and everything is going perfectly well. When everything is going perfectly well, simply see it—you are dying and nothing is happening. People may respect you, and when you die a great procession will follow you. Good, that’s all, and in the newspapers your pictures will be published and there will be editorials, and then people will forget about you. And you lived your whole life only for these things?”

                            Osho, Courage (Page 121)

                              “Have you ever gone climbing the mountains? The higher the climb, the fresher you feel, the younger you feel. The greater the danger of falling, the bigger the abyss by the side, the more alive you are… between life and death, when you are just hanging between life and death. There is no boredom, then there is no dust of the past, no desire for the future. Then the present moment is very sharp, like a flame. It is enough—you live in the here and now.”

                              Osho, Courage (Page 120)

                                “Meet people, mix with people, with as many people as possible, because each person expresses a different facet of God. Learn from people. Don’t be afraid, this existence is not your enemy. This existence mothers you, this existence is ready to support you in every possible way. Trust, and you will start feeling a new upsurge of energy in you. That energy is love. That energy wants to bless the whole existence, because in that energy one feels blessed. And when you feel blessed, what else can you do except bless the whole existence?”

                                Osho, Courage (Page 78)