Book Club
Welcome to the Winter Edition of the Glen Ivy Book Club!
Winter provides a time of respite; a quieter space to enter deeper into ourselves to reflect on our lives and relationships. If we allow ourselves to sink into the relative idleness of these shorter and grayer days, we can also choose to embrace a new level of openness and understanding to the world around us. It is from this orientation – from the centered quietness of our own being – that we can begin to listen deeply to the world around us.
So often we are distracted by the noise of the world, the non-stop chatter of electrical devices, freeway noise, the less than meaningful conversations passing by and through us – that we forget to listen. In fact, we may fail to remember what listening really is. Not merely hearing spoken words, listening is absorbing the fullness of any moment in life; it is taking in words spoken, intonation, emotion, body movements, and the feelings and energy of any given situation. Listening is the act of honoring the spoken and unspoken; to really listen, one must engage their entire being in the moment as it presents itself, without judgment or a desire to change it in any way.
This winter, we embrace the special silence that the season brings, and we turn our focus inward in an effort to better listen to the world surrounding us. Author Mark Nepo guides us through Seven Thousand Ways to Listen: Staying Close to What is Sacred, as we turn down the static heard by the outer ear, and begin listening to the deeper rhythms of life heard only through the silent repose of the inner ear.
In the upcoming weeks, we will read and discuss Seven Thousand Ways to Listen and how the lessons and techniques presented in this book are impacting our lives. We hope you will join us.
Reading Schedule
February 6
To My Reader
Beyond Our Awareness
Keeping What is True Before Us
A Reality That Keeps Unfolding
How Do We Listen to All That Is Not Said?
Being Lost
February 13
In The Presence of Sages
Entering Silence
God Blinking
A Conversation with the Elements
One Living Sense
Deep Listening
February 20
How We Learn
Restoring Confidence
Honeycombs and Thinking-Strings
Going Back into the Fire
What Happens When You Really Listen
Being Articulate
February 27
The Call of the Soul
Seasons of Listening
Outwaiting the Clouds
Approaching the Dark Acre
Untangling the Net
Playing Hands with God
Knowing Where We Are
March 6
The Human Garden
How We Injure Ourselves
A Steadfast Teacher
In the Hut We Call the Self
March 13
Finding Birdsong
The Endless Search
Not Getting What We Want
The Stilling of Our Pain
March 20
The Mystery of the Moment
A Closer Geography
To Endure and Endear
Wandering Authentically
No Strangers in the Heart
I look forward to reading with you and listening to your thoughts about this very special book.
Happy reading & warm water wishes,
The Glen Ivy Librarian
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