Currently reading, not knitting

I'm reading this book now which is pretty good for me considering the fact that when I discovered knitting I all but stopped reading books. Entirely. But the books are creeping back onto the shelves and I'm thankful for their return. I don't read anything and everything anymore like I used to, no, now I want the books I read to mean something to me. To make me think, to inspire me to take a closer look at the way I do things or the way I don't do things or to consider doing things I'd never considered before. I sound like a book snob, I know.

Luckily, I stumbled upon this one. I mentioned it a while back and gave you a link where you can hear an exerpt. For those who didn't click on it before or for those who want to hear it again, here it is.

As I read I'm constantly wondering if I know what the author means, if I really even understand any of what she's trying to say, but when my throat closes up with a big lump and I have chills all over I know it means something to my life, but I'm not yet sure just what. Yet.

All I really know is what occurred to me today after reading a few chapters while I was changing into my running clothes. She says in some sort of way that you must tend to what you want to see flourish. You must give it attention, as the sun gives the garden, day in day out, without fail, without complaint, because that's it's job. It's an easy concept to comprehend and even one I thought I was doing a pretty good job of, toward my kids, toward my husband, toward the house, the laundry, my job, the dog and yes, even the garden.

But what occurred to me is that I also have to tend to me. I need to give myself attention. This isn't what you might automatically think, especially if you watch shows like "What Not to Wear" and "Oprah" and the like (by the way, I like those shows, no offense). I'm not saying I need more pedicures (I've never had one in my life), or more "me" time, or girls weekends or shopping or spa treatments.

Rather, it's what happens in the quiet moments inside my head, during and in between the homework and the housework and the work work and the rest of it that I could improve upon. It's the messages I'm sending myself that need tweaking, it's the inside me that needs tending to.

If you get the book it's worth the read, I promise. I plan on starting it over just as soon as I finish.