BOOKS
SOMEDAY IS TODAY:
22 Simple, Actionable Ways
to Propel Your Creative Life
by Matthew Dicks
newworldlibrary.com
There’s a Japanese proverb: “The day you decide to do it is your lucky day.” But how do we make the decision to actually start and complete creative things? This is the question that author and storyteller Matthew Dicks explores in Someday Is Today. He empowers readers to make manageable changes so they can achieve the things they would love to make happen without upending their lives. The practical advice Dicks shares has worked for him and countless other creative people he has consulted with, whether their goal is to sing, knit, draw, write, or teach.
The actionable steps Dicks offers include:
- silencing negative messages from family, friends, and teachers
- eliminating timesucking people and activities
- being willing to be lousy when you first begin
- finding supporters here, there, and everywhere
- cultivating optimism in the face of negativity and obstacles
Someday Is Today is divided into four parts: Time, Taking the Leap, Support, and Living the Life. Each strategy is accompanied by amusing and inspiring anecdotes from the author’s own creative life. The appendix also includes a series of action plans for each chapter of the book so readers can immediately begin implementing the strategies into their everyday lives.
BECOMING THE INSTRUMENT
Lessons on Self-Mastery from
Music to Life
by Kenny “Krishna” Werner
Sweet Lo Press
When we hear music, we often experience how the physical flirts with the spiritual in profound and moving ways. But what we don’t realize is that this confluence is possible not just in music, but in life, and it’s easier than you think, says the founder and artistic director of the Effortless Mastery Institute at the Berklee College of Music, Kenny Werner in his new book, Becoming the Instrument.
Packed with profound insights and uplifting anecdotes from his 40 years of studying, performing and teaching music, Becoming the Instrument follows his book, Effortless Mastery: Liberating the Master Musician Within, with a guide for accessing the spiritual in our everyday existence and applying it to the pursuits we love. Werner shows us how musicians, artists or even business people can allow their “master creator” within to lift their performance to its highest level, showing us how to be spontaneous, fearless, joyful and disciplined in our work and in our life. Whatever you are trying to master, Werner says the key is learning how to slip into “The Space,” the place beyond the conscious mind that allows us to effortlessly embody whatever we are doing. Werner offers easy exercises that can allow you to access this and achieve mastery. As Werner points out: “Mastery is not perfection, or even virtuosity. It is giving one’s self love, forgiving one’s mistakes, and not allowing earthly evidence to diminish one’s view of one’s self as a drop in the Ocean of Perfection,”
A HEART’S LANDSCAPE:
An Invitation to the
Garden of Moments
by Susan Lax
Your Moment Press
When you are challenged – how do you tap into your moment of joy? We all have the ability to manifest a day based on joy and understanding by beginning with a transcendent moment. Author and counselor Susan Lax offers such moments to get your day started in her gorgeous collection of stories, poems and insights, A Heart’s Landscape: An Invitation to the Garden of Moments. Lax shares entries and photographs from her “Morning Inspiration” emails to provide readers with the insight, comfort and healing needed to open their minds and live each day with an attentive heart.
Morning Inspiration has evolved over time. What began as a message for women diagnosed with health issues became a crafted moment of inspiration for all types of people. The email list grew to include men as well as women traveling through their individual challenging journeys. Along the way, Lax began incorporating photography with her transformative messages. Through these shared moments, she continues to showcase the importance of finding time for joy. We may never be able to overcome grief, but we can learn to set it aside for periods of time and allow ourselves to experience life’s wonders through a positive frame of mind.
PRODUCTS
ADRENAL SUPER TONIC Stress Relief
Cymbiotika.com
Cymbiotika’s Adrenal Super Tonic helps support a balanced mood and overall health and vitality. This formula was created to manage stress levels, anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, sleep disorders, muscle aches and improve gut health. This liquid supplement, may reduce serum cortisol levels over time, which is essential for improving immune function and regulating the menstrual cycle. Formulated with organic and wild crafted ingredients. Vegan, sugar-free, gluten-free, Keto, zero chemicals, and pleasant-tasting, too!
NEATSHEETS
MyNeatGoods.com
This useful, new product is putting a unique, updated spin on traditional plastic and cloth bibs that have been used for decades. NEATsheets are a creatively-created wearable napkin that easily adheres to clothing to protect from spills and drips while eating, driving, doing crafts and more. This isn’t your traditional bib. NEATsheets are uniquely designed, wearable napkins that offer benefits that traditional clothes-protecting products never have. More dignified than a bib, more effective than a typical napkin, NEATsheets come with two easy-to-use, peel-and-stick adhesive tabs making them a much better solution to cloth bibs, clothing protectors and napkins. No ties or clasps are required. It’s as easy as, open, adhere, dispose. The front absorbs spills while the back repels liquids, providing protection for clothes and easy cleanup. Spills happen. Stains shouldn’t.
The product measures 13″ wide x 22″, providing full protection for the torso or lap whenever spills or messes may occur: at family dinners and barbecues, working from home, watching TV, dining out, arts & crafts projects, parties, picnics. Commuters and road trippers can be protected from that coffee splash or food drips. They are also great for messy activities, as a place-mat on-the-go, when applying make-up and more. They come in four patterns, packaged in 20, 80, 100 and 400-count options, and range in price from $18 – $145.
