Writing has been a constant and close companion. It is reassuring to know I can always go to the pen to scratch myself out of trouble or feel sane again.

Top 5 Favorite Writers

1. Thich Nhat Hanh (so clear and lucid with so much space between words and thoughts)
2. Mary Oliver (New and Selected Poems is the best, and Wild Geese is a personal favorite.)
3. Annie Dillard (Such a heart and soul and gift for witnessing the natural world. A Writers Life and Pilgrim at Tinker Creek are both amazing.)
4. E.B White ( Consumate wordsmith and craftsman. Everyone thinks of him for Charlotte’s Web but his essays are my personal favorites.)
5. Tie between F. Scott Fitzgerald and John Cheever. Both opened my eyes and mind and articulated lives beyond the expected and ordinary.

Top 7 Influential Books

1. Tao te Ching—Lao Tsu
2. Collected Essays of EB White
3. The Little Prince Antoine De Saint-Exupery
4. Emmanuels Book—Pat Rodegast and Judith Stanton
5. The Writing Life—Annie Dillard
6. The Gift—Hafiz
7. Leadership and the New Science—Margaret Wheatley

One of my favorite “writers” lately is Emmanuel, a channeled being articulating his words through author Pat Rodergast.

I highly recommend a book called “Emmanuel’s Book: A Manual for Living Comfortably in the Cosmos.” You can buy it for a penny used.  Here is just one example of the gems that can be found on every one of its pages.

Let your prayer be an ongoing renewal.

You pray

by touching the deepest part of you

that longs, that needs, that Is.

Let it speak its own language,

more often than not without words.

The longing itself

is the prayer of life

“I want to be with you again, God.

I want to be Home.

There is no how to prayer.

It simply is.

It is a part of the Oneness.

It is a  part of your coming Home.

Do it whatever way you like.

Prayer is to assure you

of your connection with Home,

much as when you were children

and you left for the day.

There was that moment of panic–

I’m sure you remember it–

when you had to call home

just to be sure

that it was still there.

Prayer is like that.

It is calling Home.