Is the stack of books in your study or on your bedside table calling to you?  And a list of other books too, for when you finish that stack?  The wisdom within those books is waiting for you, ready to enlighten you about such soul-searching questions as: Why am I here?  How can I attract all that I desire?  Who was I before I was born?  How can I be more creative?  Where do we go when we die?  What is a purposeful life?

If you love books and are searching for answers to these types of questions, you've found your perfect circle!  We'll read one book each month, then gather to discuss our insights and share our experiences related to the exercises or challenges put forth in the books.    

In fact, here is a sampling of other books we may discuss in future circles.  And we welcome suggestions by circle participants of other titles to include along the way.  

• Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert M. Pirsig
• Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
• The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
• Care of the Soul, Thomas Moore
• E Squared, Pam Grout
• Many Lives, Many Masters, Brian Weiss
• Mind Over Medicine, Lissa Rankin
• One Zentangle a Day, Beckah Krahula
• Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Richard Bach
• A Book that Takes Its Time, Irene Smit

DIANE SEARS

Diane Sears, an avid student of New Age topics since her early twenties, enjoyed a successful career in merchandising and sales until the birth of her granddaughter in 2015. Now, a certified medium through Inner Compass Academy and Light Journey Enterprises, Diane nannies as well as operates two creative enterprises. As Divinely Connected, Diane facilitates development circles and intuition workshops, and gives personal readings, sometimes using her specialty of psychometry with fabric swatches. As DiVinyl, Diane and her husband sell and repurpose favorite vinyl LPs and album covers from the 70s and 80s into bowls and gift boxes as well as other music related merchandise. In her spare time Diane enjoys sewing, decorating, playing the piano, and Sudoku.  dianejsears@yahoo.com.  

FEBRUARY 2018 
You Can't Make this Stuff Up: Life-Changing Lessons from Heaven, Theresa Caputo  

For fans of TLC’s Long Island Medium and anyone interested in the big questions of life, death, and everything in between, New York Times bestselling author and medium Theresa Caputo shares the insights and lessons she’s learned through her exceptional gift of communicating with the dead.  In You Can’t Make This Stuff Up, Caputo imparts the life-changing wisdom she’s received from Spirit and client readings.  Each chapter incorporates a powerful lesson that is made real by Theresa’s witty and wise insights. She shares moving client stories and fascinating behind-the-scenes tales from her life and hit reality show to help people find peace and closure and better understand the spiritual world. With lessons revolving around themes such as choice, faith, fear, gratitude, healing, surrender, relationships, compassion, and living each day to the fullest, the book also explores spiritual concepts like angels, heaven, signs, miracles, intuition, dreams, and God. These compelling and healing messages will help guide you toward a happier life by focusing your attention on what really matters to the soul.

DATE & TIME: Tuesday, February 13, 2018, 7-9 pm. 
GUEST FACILITATOR: Diane Sears. 

MARCH 2018
Feng Shui in 10 Simple Lessons, Jane Butler-Biggs  

This ancient and increasingly popular art can be daunting for the person who wants to learn the basics of feng shui and bring them into the home. With the help of ten enjoyable hour-long lessons, this workbook demystifies the honored science of feng shui, showing the reader how to harness its powers and bring stress-free harmony easily and quickly to every area of the home. The author offers simple ways to turn over each room of the house to its proper uses. Guidelines for creating the most effective storage and living spaces for relaxing, working, socializing, and dining are presented in jargonless text and illustrative photos. Emphasized throughout is how to develop and maintain an ambience completely cleansed of clutter. The importance of employing feng shui principles in the garden, the workspace, the new house, and the retirement home make this book unique and invaluable.

DATE & TIME: Tuesday, March 13, 2018, 7-9 pm. 
FACILITATOR: Diane Sears. 

APRIL 2018
H Is for Hawk, Helen Macdonald   

DATE & TIME: Tuesday, April 10, 2018, 7-9 pm. 
GUEST FACILITATOR: Diane Sears

MAY 2018
The Wise Child: A Spiritual Guide to Nurturing Your Child's Intuition, Sonia Choquette 

"Connecting to our intuition unites us with both our soul and the soul of the Universe, Divine Spirit. It takes away our fearful sense of isolation and inadequacy. It replaces fear with a sense of spiritual direction and safety. The world becomes friendly, nonadversarial, and welcoming. Life becomes joyful, amusing, generous, and abundant. This is the divine plan. The intuitive life is one of confidence, inner peace, and creative expression. What better gift to ourselves and our children?" 

How can I help my children to thrive and prosper? How can I ensure that they will not become unhappy and frustrated as I have been? These are the questions that inspired Sonia Choquette to write this profound and accessible book explaining - through spiritual principles, modern-day parables, and practical exercises - how even busy parents can help children connect to their own source of divine guidance.  

DATE & TIME: Tuesday, May 8, 2018, 7-9 pm. 
GUEST FACILITATOR: Diane Sears.

JUNE 2018
Talking with the Animals, Patty Summers  

Is it really possible to talk with animals? Or at least to realize that they are talking to us all the time? Patty Summers listens and understands.  An animal communicator, Summers can converse directly with a variety of animal species, from cats and dogs to rabbits, horses, and iguanas. In this beautiful and moving book, the animals share their wisdom, their perspective on life, and even how they feel about human beings. The animals can teach us many things, and Summers uses her abilities to help humans listen and to aid humans and animals in understanding one another better.  She also describes the ways that animals comprehend the world, and explains that they always understand the intent of human communications, if not the words. And she teaches that they share our wants and needs, as they desire the same things that humans do: love, compassion, kindness, and respect; and they do not want to be thought of as pets or as beings to be exploited.  Summers shares numerous encounters with animals, and each story has a valuable lesson - each is a gift of spirit from the animals. We have so much to learn from our animal companions, domestic and otherwise. Talking with the Animals provides a rare glimpse inside the minds of the creatures with whom we share our planet. 

DATE & TIME: Tuesday, June 12, 2018, 7-9 pm. 
GUEST FACILITATOR: Diane Sears

JULY 2018
Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life by Jon Kabat-Zinn

Mindfulness is considered the heart of Buddhist meditation but its essence is universal and of deep practical benefit to all.  In essence, mindfulness is about wakefulness.  Our minds are such that we are often more asleep than awake to the unique beauty and possibilities of each present moment as it unfolds.  While it is in the nature of our minds to go on automatic pilot and lose touch with the only time we actually have to live, to grow, to feel, to love, to learn, to give shape to things, to heal, our mind also holds the deep innate capacity to help us awaken to our moments and use them to advantage for ourselves, for others, and for the world we inhabit.  Just as a garden requires attending to if we hope to cultivate flowers and not have it be overrun with weeds, mindfulness also requires regular cultivating.  We call the cultivating of our own mind to bring it to wakefulness meditation.  The beauty of it is that we carry this garden with us wherever we go, wherever we are, whenever we remember.  It is outside of time as well as in it.  In this book, Jon Kabat-Zinn maps out a simple path for cultivating mindfulness in one's own life.  It speaks both to those coming to meditation for the first time and to longtime practitioners, anyone who cares deeply about reclaiming the richness of his or her moments.  

SEPTEMBER 2018
Traveling Light: Releasing the Burdens You Were Never Intended to Bear by Max Lucado

Weary travelers. You've seen them - everything they own crammed into their luggage. Staggering through terminals and hotel lobbies with overstuffed suitcases, trunks, duffels, and backpacks. Backs ache. Feet burn. Eyelids droop. We've all seen people like that. At times, we are people like that - if not with our physical luggage, then at least with our spiritual load. We all lug loads we were never intended to carry. Fear. Worry. Discontent. No wonder we get so weary. We're worn out from carrying that excess baggage. Wouldn't it be nice to lose some of those bags? That's the invitation of Max Lucado. With the Twenty-third Psalm as our guide, let's release some of the burdens we were never intended to bear. Using these verses as a guide, Max Lucado walks us through a helpful inventory of our burdens. May God use this Psalm to remind you to release the burdens you were never meant to bear.  

DATE & TIME: Tuesday, September 11, 2018, 7-9 pm. 
GUEST FACILITATOR: Diane Sears. 

OCTOBER 2018
Shaman, Healer, Sage: How to Heal Yourself and Others with the Energy Medicine of the Americas by Alberto Villoldo 

Alberto Villoldo, a classically trained medical anthropologist, has studied shamanic healing techniques among the descendants of the ancient Inkas for more than twenty years. In Shaman, Healer, Sage, he draws on his vast body of knowledge to create a practical and revolutionary program based on the traditional healing methods used by these shamans - methods that, until now, have been inaccessible to most of the world. Villoldo explains that central to shamanic healing is the concept of the Luminous Energy Field that is believed to surround our material bodies. His book teaches us to see and influence the imprints that disease leaves on this field and thereby to heal ourselves and others, as well as prevent illness. Villoldo weaves wonderful teaching stories throughout about the healing power of the energy medicine of the Americas. This book is rich with ancient wisdom and contemporary techniques we can use to help ourselves and others, as well as with the more advanced methods of master shamans, which are being brought to a wide audience for the first time.  

DATE & TIME: Tuesday, October 9, 2018, 7-9 pm.
GUEST FACILITATOR: Diane Sears

DECEMBER 2018
The Man Who Invented Christmas: How Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol Rescued his Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits by Les Standiford

DATE & TIME: Tuesday, December 11, 2018, 7-9 pm.
GUEST FACILITATOR: Diane Sears

COMING IN 2019
The Curse of the Boyfriend Sweater: Essays on Crafting by Alanna Okun

People who craft know things. They know how to transform piles of yarn into sweaters and scarves. They know that some items, like woolen bikini tops, are better left unknit. They know that making a hat for a newborn baby isn’t just about crafting something small but appreciating the beginnings of life, which sometimes helps make peace with the endings. They know that if you knit your boyfriend a sweater, your relationship will most likely be over before the last stitch. Alanna Okun knows that crafting keeps her anxiety at bay. She knows that no one will ever be as good a knitting teacher as her beloved grandmother. And she knows that even when we can’t control anything else, we can at least control the sticks, string, and fabric right in front of us. Okun lays herself bare and takes readers into the parts of themselves they often keep hidden. Yet at the same time she finds humor in the daily indignities all crafters must face (like when you catch the dreaded Second Sock Syndrome and can’t possibly finish the second in a pair). Okun has written a book that will speak to anyone who has said to themselves, or to everyone within earshot, “I made that."  

DATE & TIME: To be determined. 
GUEST FACILITATOR: Diane Sears.