To the Eastern mind, the soul is made up of three parts: Body, Mind, and Spirit. If you’re like me, it’s hard to keep all three balanced. But since I spend a lot of time talking about the spirit and body, today I’m going to focus on expanding your mind.
The pandemic has had an unexpected effect on many businesses, and happily, businesses that rely on the internet are thriving. Online book sales are up 42% in 2020 and climbing, online training programs are everywhere, people are learning languages on apps, and many are taking virtual tours of museums. Here’s what I’ve been trying:
I spent ten hours online with Bessel Van Der Klok, MD (author of The Body Keeps the Score) learning more about trauma. I never could have afforded this training in-person as I’m sure he won’t be in my town any time soon, but the training was fantastic and accessible.
I just came off a four-day Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators conference. Three thousand people tuned in virtually to hear speakers from around the globe. Every state in the Union was represented and people from fifty countries. Learning about new things is now more accessible than ever, I didn’t have to fly to LA, pay for a room or for food — just the conference.
How will you use this difficult time to expand your mind? We are perhaps on the verge of another shutdown, or at least where I live, we are back to masks and distancing. It’s time to embrace new things, new ways to grow and expand our minds. Is there a class you’ve always wanted to take? A degree you’ve always wanted to get? An instrument you’ve always wanted to play? Now is a good time to learn.
For me, besides therapy and writing, my interests have turned toward trying to understand our natural world. And for me, since travel has been limited, that means books. I’ve been reading to develop more of a connection to our earth. This interest came from my own writing of the book, Tree Singer, a young adult fantasy in which a young girl must save the forests of her clan from an evil that is killing them. That led to reading these books:
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer. The author of the book is from the Citizen Potawatomi Nation as well as a Scientist. Her stories are homey, readable and help me see food more than something I pick up at the grocery store.
The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate—Discoveries from a Secret World by Peter Wohlleben. In this book the author explains how trees talk, breathe, and shelter their young. It is rather mind blowing!
The Overstory: A Novel by Richard Powers. Although listed as a novel this book reads as a collection of short stories with the key element in each featuring a tree or trees and echoing many of the things in the books above.
These are the kinds of books I’m reading, the classes I’m taking, and the conferences I’m attending. Online programming is making things much more affordable for us all. What will you be doing to continue to expand your mind? What topics are drawing you in? I’d love to hear about you.
Photo or woman and kids by Artem Podrez on Pexels.com
Photo of man on computer by Oladimeji Ajegbile on Pexels.com
Photo of trees by Johannes Plenio on Pexels.com
Spiritual Practices 101 