We will take a couple of weeks’ hiatus from the podcast, but talk today about the various resources we call upon to help us through.

Always there is Jim Finley. His Audible book on Meister Eckhart’s Living Wisdom is a worthy listen as are Pema Chodron’s books When Things Fall Apart and The Places that Scare you.

You can pick up these two books and drop in anywhere at any time: Judy Cannato’s Field of Compassion and James Hollis’ Living an Examined Life. The chapters in these books are stand-alone and completely fluid.

For quick daily meditation types pretty much anything by Hafiz, but specifically A Year with Hafiz translated by Daniel Ladinsky. My possible future tattoo comes from that book: “Love kicks the ass of time and space.” I so want that to be true! A second fun read with short essays is A Small Illustrated Guide to the Universe by Ella Frances Sanders.

In that vein, if you are a podcaster and a poetry lover, but like them in bite-sized snatches, listen to Poetry Unbound on iTunes with Padraig O’Tuama. He has also written a sort of spiritual memoir called In the Shelter that is touching and tender and funny and thought-provoking. There are more little gems mentioned on the podcast.

None of these suggestions entirely ignore the ways in which our world feels tenuous and scary but they each provide some reprieve from it, too. At the very least they all give us the feeling that we can shore up our ability and willingness to see it through to the other side. This does not come without discomfort and challenge, and we need wise voices in our ear.

Lastly, though we didn’t talk about it, I’ll share one of my all time favorite essays by James Baldwin, HERE. It is called “The Creative Process.” I could read this once a week (I often do!) and get something from it every single time.

Share what inspires you with us!