Charmed Monday Minute, August 27

Hello, all, and happy pre-Labor-Day-weekend -

Can you believe the end of summer as we know it is almost here? Gosh, it's important to look carefully and breathe deeply and get the most out of every day, the way they race past.

The New Age Health Health Spa with my daughter Adair last weekend.
What a terrific place! It's really a world apart. I spoke one evening and one morning and was told that I'll be invited back in '08, which is a delicious prospect. The 110-minute hot stone massage is amazing. In addition, Adair aced (and I attempted) the Alpine Tower. It's a 50-foot-high climbing contraption to test one's mettle and overcome one's fears. Adair really was incredible (the instructor said, "She should change her name to A-dare-devil") and shimmied up the thing as if it was a flight of stairs. (She's been thinking about going to stunt-person school, and this convinced me that it might be a good idea.)
I decided that my goal was 1/3 of the way up - to a particular point where there are some rope-ties and a change of angle. It was hard near that point, but it was my goal and I made it. When I got there, the instructor said, "Now go on." But I absolutely couldn't. And I learned a huge lesson about goals: If I'd made my goal to get the top, or to go 2/3 of the way up, I might not have reached that point to due trepidation, fatigue, lack of physical strength, whatever--but since my goal was set where it was, it was impossible for me to go further, even though I felt fine physically. I have a sense that that's a bigger lesson than I realize, even now.

While there, I took a couple of exquisite yoga classes and the teacher, a lovely woman who's studied Jainism and has a beautiful, compassionate way about her, passed out a sheet of "52 Proven Stress Reducers." Here are some of my favorites...

Stress Reducers from the Spa:

"Don't put up with something that doesn't work right. If something isn't performing, get it fixed or replace it."

"Do nothing which, after being done, causes you to tell a lie."

"Make friends with non-worriers."

"Make duplicates of all keys."

"Do the least pleasant stuff early in the day and get it over with."

"Have forgiving outlook and believe that most people are doing their best under the circumstances."

My son-in-law is Marcel Marceau-like! Adair's husband, Nick Moran (yep, he took her last name) is one of two mimes in the birthday party scene in The Nanny Diaries. Although The New York Times wasn't crazy about the movie, the reviewer did call Nick (he's the one on the right when you first see them) "Marcel Marceau-like," which, for a mime, is a pretty cool thing to be called. Nick is in the credits, got to go to the New York premier and take Adair, and says that Scarlett Johansson is really nice. I read a wonderful novel. Reading really good fiction is such a joy. So many novels don't "grab me" in the first few chapters and I don't stay with them, so when I find a book that invites me in and won't let me go, I'm in heaven. This one did that: The War of the Rosens, by Janice Eidus. It's about Emma Rosen, a little girl growing up in the projects of the Bronx in the mid-sixties. Her parents are Jewish and yet militantly atheist, and although the pretty, poetic Emma is her father's favorite, both she and her sister are subject to his periodic bouts of violence. When tragedy strikes the family, Emma comes into her own. This is a beautiful, gripping read. I highly recommend it. And speaking of books... Some of you have asked for this, and I'm so happy to get to tell you that my 1992 book The Love-Powered Diet, republished in 1997 as Love Yourself Thin, is going to have yet another life. Lantern Books, publishers of books on vegetarianism, nonviolence, natural healing, etc., is going to republish the book sometime in 2008. I'll keep you posted closer to the time. In the meantime, you can get one of the earlier versions used on Amazon.com.

WHERE I'LL BE...

-New York, NY: Learning Annex, "How to Live a More Spiritual Life." Aug. 30 (Class repeated October 25), 6:45pm.

-Providence, RI: Community Church of Providence, Sept. 23, 10:30 a.m. (401-751-9328)

-New York, NY: Getting to Next seminar, Sept. 28. Luncheon speaker.

-New York, NY: Law of Attraction seminar, Sept. 29. Contact theoroca@gmail.com for more information.

-Wichita, KS: KS Book Festival, Oct. 5-6

-New York, NY: 92nd St. Y Expert Series, "Fat, Broke & Lonely No More" seminar (This is the creme de la creme... Don't miss this one!)

-Lake George, NY: TOPS conference, Sept. 13 (518-438-8928)

-Hamilton, Bermuda: Girls' Getaway Weekend, Oct. 18-21