“The greatest gift is the passion for reading. It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it excites, it gives you knowledge of the world and experience of a wide kind.”
What I Read Last Month :: December and January
It's time for a "here's what I read last month post!" And actually - it's a "here's what I read the last TWO months" post. With everything being so in flux at the start of the year, I never got around to sharing my December booklist until it was so late in the month, that I decided it would be better just to wait to combine it with January's now. Although there is no shortage of things to keep me busy when at home in the new house these days, I have thankfully had some quality reading time while
What I Read Last Month :: November
November was HECTIC between the packing and moving prep, a few days of work travel, girls' trips to London and Lisbon and studying for a Pilates certification test therefore the time to read was a bit sparse. In order to prepare for the exam, I decided that any time that I had up until then needed to be focused on reviewing anatomy, the history of Pilates, specific exercises, contraindications and modifications. Thankfully I passed so I consider that time well-spent as was soaking up as much time with friends in Cork while we had the chance. However, I am definitely looking forward to a bit more time to indulge in…
What I Read Last Month :: October
I have been excited for this month of reading for probably almost a year! While doing my Happiness Project, I found that knowing myself better was a key success factor which enabled me to get real about what would likely impact my subjective wellbeing as opposed to what I thought shouldmake me happier. So I spent some time figuring out how to build a life better aligned with my own values, interests, and personality. And throughout that process I found that I really wanted to dedicate some time to learning about various personality theories and frameworks. Although I suppose this could have been a theme within that year, I decided to…
What I Read Last Month :: September
Among some of the most influential or impactful books that I have read over the past year or so, I would definitely have to include Laura Vanderkam's 168 Hours which completely changed my perspective on how I manage my time and focus more energy and effort on things that matter or add value and meaning to my life (I've wrote about her a few times here and here). Recently, she wrote a book called Off the Clock, which includes a chapter about investing in your happiness based upon her time use research which showed that people who have high time perception scores (that is, feeling like time is memorable) were…
What I Read Last Month :: August
Usually when I'm traveling I find that I often have more opportunity and time to read. As soon as I board a flight or the train typically I am ready with a book (and yellow highlighter!) in hand and read all throughout the trip unless it's a really long one or I have some work which needs to be done en route. However, since this past month and a half has meant so much travel and being on-the-go, much of my reading time has been limited to onlywhile in flight or in the odd "in between times." So unfortunately I didn’t have as much time as I would have liked…
What I Read Last Month :: July
Why in the world am I not reading more fiction??!?!! I was always an avid reading growing up and of course fiction was my first love, but I guess I've just deprioritized it in my adult life for whatever reason. BIG mistake. Over the past year, I was focused on my happiness project and during it I found it particularly helpful to read books either related to happiness and positive psychology or whatever theme/aspect of life my activities were focused for a particular month. Now that I've wrapped that up, I'll be diving into what I am calling my "Personality Project" next (more details to come obvi), but last month in…
The Benefits of Reading Fiction and Dark Chocolate Paleo Granola
I am definitely what one would call a creature of habit and love my routine oh-so-much. Recently my guided journal provided me with a writing prompt to describe the ideal/perfect morning. And to be honest, as I considered the idea, it didn't look all that much different than business as usual. I'd still get up early (usually between 5-530 AM) surrounded by my little fam and I'd prefer to eat one of my "normal" breakfast foods in my kitchen with a cup of coffee in hand and messy bun atop my head, before I head out to teach and take barre. Initially when I think about these types of questions,…
What I Read Last Month :: June
June marked the last official month of my year long Happiness Project! Time actually does fly and very sincerely, this has been one of the most impactful and biggest learning experiences of my life. I plan to do a full recap of some of the highlights and best outcomes in the near future, but as things are winding down I decided to read all the remaining books on my shelf about happiness in particular. And that included a pile of ones which I have been very excited about, but was saving for the grand finale! Here's what I read throughout the month of June ::
What I Read Last Month :: May
I guess I have always been a nerd. I genuinely loved school and was even always a proponent of a traditional liberal education which includes teaching specific knowledge of specific subjects as opposed to the progressive Montessori style which teaches only abstract skills (although I still continue not to convince many of my friends and family members who insist learning about significant historical dates or the factors that led to a scientific discovery are "pointless in the real world"). However (as you'll soon find out!) I recently read a much better articulated defense of traditional schooling which argued that "a mental skill is not the same as an algorithm -…
