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, certified medium through Inner Compass Academy and Light Journey Enterprises, enjoyed a fulfilling career in merchandising and sales until in 2015 when it was not fulfilling anymore compared to nurturing grandchildren. Now Diane nannies Carolina and Penelope as well as operates two creative enterprises. Divinely Connected facilitates development circles and intuition workshops, and gives personal readings, sometimes using her specialty of psychometry with fabric swatches. DiVinyl sells and repurposes favorite vinyl LPs and album covers from the 70s and 80s into bowls and gift boxes as well as other music related merchandise and skirts craftily sewn from collected tee shirts. Diane also enjoys facilitating two spiritual book circles, sewing, crafting, playing the piano, and Sudoku. dianejsears@yahoo.com.  

JANUARY 2019 
Small Move, Big Change: Using Microresolutions to Transform Your Life Permanently, Caroline L. Arnold  

Learn how small behavioral changes can lead to major personal and professional self-improvement. Whether trying to lose weight, save money, get organized, or advance on the job, we’re always setting goals and making resolutions, but rarely following through on them. According to longtime Wall Street technology strategist Caroline Arnold, the “big push” strategy of the New Year’s resolution is designed to fail, because it broadly pits our limited willpower stores against an autopilot of entrenched behaviors and attitudes that is far more powerful. To change ourselves permanently, we need to focus our self-control on precise behavioral targets and overwhelm them. Small Move, Big Change is Arnold’s guide to turning broad personal goals into meaningful and discrete behavioral changes that lead to permanent improvement. Providing scores of engaging real-world examples and new scientific findings, she shows us that while the traditional resolution promises rewards on a distant “someday,” microresolutions work because they reward us today by instantly altering our routines and, ultimately, ourselves.

DATE & TIME: Tuesday, January 8, 2019, 7-9 pm. 
GUEST FACILITATOR: Diane Sears. 

FEBRUARY 2019 
Do Your Om Thing: Bending Yoga Tradition to Fit Your Modern Life, Rebecca Pacheco

Sometimes an hour-long yoga class is the only chance we get to connect meaningfully with our bodies and our minds during an otherwise hectic week. For a brief moment we’re able to let our worries melt away and feel relaxed, centered, and fully ourselves. Have you ever wondered how it would feel to bring that experience out of the yoga studio and into your everyday life? In Do Your Om Thing, master yoga teacher and creator of the popular blog OmGal.com Rebecca Pacheco shows us how to do just that. The true practice of yoga, she says, goes deeper than achieving the perfect headstand - it is about bringing awareness and intention to every part of our lives. In her warm, personal, and often hilarious prose, Rebecca translates yogic philosophy for its twenty-first-century devotees, making ancient principles feel accessible, relatable, and genuinely rooted in the world in which we live today.

DATE & TIME: Tuesday, February 12, 2019, 7-9 pm. 
GUEST FACILITATOR: Diane Sears. 

APRIL 2019
Country Grit: A Farmoir of Finding Purpose and Love, Scottie Jones   

Scottie Jones lived a typical suburban, professional life in Phoenix until her husband, Greg, got into a near-fatal car accident. While recovering, he became convinced that they needed a change and a simpler way of life, one more connected with nature and with each other. So, driven by a desire to cut ties with a material and convenient suburban life that had left them feeling empty, they bought a peaceful-looking farmhouse on sixty acres in Oregon and said good-bye to everything they knew. But though the grass may look greener, the road to pastoral bliss is fraught with financial woes, relentless rural roadblocks, and colossal failures. When the burden becomes almost too much to bear, Scottie hits on the idea of turning a house they initially built for their daughter into a Farm Stay, where people could visit and learn about Leaping Lamb Farm. The Farm Stay becomes the niche that rescues them from foreclosure - having found both a sense of purpose and a sense of place, the couple now finds the means to sustain it. In a world increasingly filled with questions of where our food comes from and dissatisfactions about our modern lives, Country Grit is a story that will resonate with countless people itching to get back to the land. Told with humor and hard-earned wisdom, it is also an account of what small-scale farmers across the country experience everyday and a warning that the farming life is not for everyone. 

DATE & TIME: Tuesday, April 9, 2019, 7-9 pm. 
GUEST FACILITATOR: Diane Sears

JUNE 2019
The Gnostics: Myth, Ritual, and Diversity in Early Christianity by David Brakke 

David Brakke's The Gnostics offers an illuminating discussion of recent scholarly debates over the concept of “Gnosticism” and the nature of early Christian diversity. Acknowledging that the category “Gnosticism” is flawed and must be reformed, Brakke shows how Gnostic myth and ritual addressed basic human concerns about alienation and meaning, offered a message of salvation in Jesus, and provided a way for people to regain knowledge of God, the ultimate source of their being. Brakke further asserts that the Gnostics participated in an ongoing reinvention of Christianity, in which other Christians not only rejected their ideas but also adapted and transformed them. This book not only challenges scholars to think in news ways, it also provides an accessible introduction to the Gnostics and their fellow early Christians.

For this month's circle, in addition to our discussion, we will listen to excerpts from Brakke's audiobook, Gnosticism:  From Nag Hammadi to the Gospel of Judas, one of "The Great Courses." Judy Daley-Wright, a "regular" book circle participant with passion for, and expertise on, "The Great Courses," will offer accompanying excerpts and insights to enhance our learning and discussion.  Please note: There is no need to listen to this audiobook in advance of our book circle - it is simply intended to enhance our circle discussion.  

DATE & TIME: Tuesday, June 11, 2019, 7-9 pm. 
GUEST FACILITATOR: Diane Sears
SPECIAL GUEST CONTRIBUTOR: Judy Daley-Wright

JULY 2019
To Be Determined  

Enjoy insightful and lively discussions with other soul-searchers, as you receive the inspiration and wisdom within these books.

DATE & TIME: Tuesday, July 9, 2019, 7-9 pm. 
GUEST FACILITATOR: Diane Sears