Bookshelve category
Being as you are, in the business world
In my spring reading list i talked about the book The boss of you.
I have just found out that the authors have a blog to support the book, with resources for women trying to find their own way in creating a business, in the traditional business world which is often gray and dull.
I could easily relate to the post called Networking for Nonconformists, or how to stand out when you just dont fit in:
“When we started our business, one of the things that filled me with dread was the thought that to be a successful entrepreneur, I would need to master the art of glad-handing, delivering elevator speeches, and handing out business cards with aplomb (…)
… although we do encourage you to stretch a little beyond your comfort zone, we don’t insist you join a bunch of clubs where you won’t fit in. I really believe you can succeed in business without compromising the things that make you unique. After all, how are you ever going to stand out enough to be noticed if you follow the crowd?”
Another interesting read is the sample chapter of the book which you can get here. They also have a facebook page.
Spring reading list
Spring coming, best time for new beginnings, time to put in action resolutions which you forgot about on the second day of the year!
On the list of things which i am looking forward to is first to finish to read a pile of books, so i can order new ones (!). I’m looking forward to dig a little more into energy medicine, since my last reading, Energy Medicine by Donna Eden, has been a breakthrough for me, learning more about being concious of my body’s energy systems and how to sustain them (the meridians, acupuncture points, the chakras, and other energy flow in the body).
She is about to release Energy Medicine for Women, and hopefully there will be a french version:
Beside that, i’m looking forward to get my hands on 1,000 Artist Journal Pages: Personal Pages and Inspirations since me and Guylaine will have some of our work in it!
The Boss of You: Everything a Woman Needs to Know to Start, Run, and Maintain Her Own Business is also on my wishlist, even if the title sounds a little like a 1950 selling brochure, i’ve read about it here:
Women Travelers: A Century of Trailblazing Adventures 1850-1950, this sounds SO inspiring - i know there is a french version as well :
Here are some more of the books i’m looking forward to read - lounging on my balcony or in a retreat in nature… ah!
 A Speech Giver’s Notebook: Tips, Inspirations, Worksheets, Cut-Out Cue Cards to Take the Fear Out of Public Speaking - sounds interesting! |
 The Gluten-Free Vegan: 150 Delicious Gluten-Free, Animal-Free Recipes, because i am *that* complicated! |
 Megatrends 2010: The Rise of Conscious Capitalism, because i am that curious! |
 The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich, who’s not dreaming about it? |
PMS?
Problems Men Started - This is a note to myself to check out the book, with such a title I’m eager to get to know its content… blink!
Rudolf Steiner
The Austrian philosopher and writer Rudolf Steiner (born 1861) was one of the most original thinkers of the twentieth century. His writings cover a wide range of subjects, and he made valuable and influential contributions in many fields, including education, science, medicine, and social reform.
The foundation of his researches was the “science of the spirit” that he called anthroposophy. He maintained that material science could never comprehend the whole of nature, as it excluded the realm of the spirit. Bridging the physical and spiritual worlds, anthroposophy would show the way toward a true understanding of humanity and its relation to the universe.
Rudolf Steiner’s legacy is remarkable. Around the world, thousands of programs have been built up around his inspiration and ideas. These include Waldorf schools, centers for special education, medical clinics, biodynamic farms, centers for various arts, and much more.
The house by the sea, and a thought for the future of feminism
Best companion during the last days - i’ve been so ill, spending days in bed. May Sarton’s journals are one of my best discovery of the last year, and i’m sure they’ll be of good company in the following years.
Many quotes could be taken out of this book, here is one which made me think about where feminism might have failed, and where it should start from :
“It cannot be woman against man. It has to be woman finding her true self with or without man, but not against man.”
At Eighty-two, May Sarton
I met May Sarton through her last book, a diary from her 82nd year. I discovered that she let behind about 10 other diaries, and the book from which i heard most often of her, Journal of a Solitude.
I love diaries, i feel so lucky to be able to get into someone else’s life, life of another time, someone of another age. I felt so close, like being a watching companion over her life, and her being a companion to me for the days i was reading the diary.
As she writes,
“We are all getting older, travel less, and in some ways these journals are like long letters, telling much of what i have done and thought in a whole year”
so i felt compeled to get to know more about how it feels to be May Sarton, at 82, with the solitude, the images and memories fading behind, the good moments, the fighting against depression and frustration, the constant struggle to keep things up, and the despair about the idea of leaving things unfinished…
“… Now i know that this business of being May Sarton will never be sorted out…”
I wish, or hope she knew, that as a woman of another time, i am deeply grateful for her sharing of her life, with such humility and sensibility.
Exploring
I’ve been doing yoga since 2001. At that time i was living in hamburg, germany, and went to a session of Kundalini Yoga suggested to me by a friend. Since then, doing yoga has been the best way i found to calm down, and most of all, to get back to what i could call my real essence - getting a clear perspective on what’s important, i mean really important, on the long run, and clearly see what is the essence of what i want.
There are many different kind of yoga, and meditation practices. I think there’s something for each kind of people - each of us has to try what feels good to try, usually a strong gut feeling will show you what’s best for you (meaning, my kind of practice will maybe not fit you!).
As a curious person, i do love exploring these new fields - different practices of yoga and meditation - not in a naive way, but more as a way to open my mind and find my own way to connect body and soul with nature and creativity, something our culture has in my opinion failed to teach us. Go, explore!
Ressources :
Creative Visualisation by Shakti Gawain
Kundalini Yoga by Shakti Parwha Kaur Khalsa
David Lynch, Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity.
Wreck this journal
It is a new experience for me to get one of my favorite author’s book just when it’s hitting the stands, while at the same time i can read on the author’s blog all the excitement she felt from having her work out.
I did not know what to expect from Wreck this journal, until i received my copy. Hell fun! — tear, rub, break, lick, stick, drag out, wash — carry it around with you, here is your new friend!
I see this book as a statement that in order to create freely, we as creative beings must be able to experiment, explore, polish and scratch over, disrupt, destroy and rebuild constantly - let go of preconceived ideas, just play in a innocent and almost savage way, as we did as kids, color on our fingers, over our faces. There is no right and wrong, just do it.
Let go. Let go! You should be playing!
The Tent
Made to Stick
Why do some ideas thrive while others die? And how do we improve the chances of worthy ideas?
Highly creative types for sure have many ideas a day. Which ones are good, which ones will you decide to focus your energy on, which ones will you bring up to this world? This is basically up to you.
I think many people have great ideas, but just a few are able to discern the good ones and bring them to life, following their intuition, keep being flexible and open to changes, and focus energy on the idea until its completion. It is also a question of courage, guts, and being grounded.
Made to Stick should be a good read. If the book is not for you, Talking Strategy: Three Straightforward Ways to Make Your Strategy Stick is available for download on ChangeThis.
Success
When I was living in Germany, I had a subscription for the fabulous german magazine Brand Eins. By reading the magazine for 2 years, it changed my mind not only once. I learned so much from the well-written and critical articles about economy, society and psychology. It was one of my most important sources of inspiration… sitting silently, having a cup of coffee on a Saturday morning and reading Brand Eins gave me an energy boost for the week to come!
Anyways, when I moved to Montréal I canceled the subscription. I knew that they archive all magazines online but I never had a look at it. Until yesterday… 
And the power of the magazine got me into it, again.
I discovered an excellent article about “success”. You might think “oh my god, another article about success and how to be successful from a self-nominated success guru”. But no, not at all. The article gives a historical overview from the beginning of the industrialized society and the first books written on this subject by people who believed that everyone can be successful - whatever this means. Additionally the relationship between luck and success is covered as well as the term success and its meaning recently - “nowadays success is defined as material success only”.
If you can read german and if you feel like looking behind some values of our society, this article is a must for you. Check it out here.
Free culture, free audio
The audio version of the book Free Culture is available, for free, on the in-der-net.
Get it here, stream or download.
Via Nicolas.
Stop everything now
I stood up in my first grade class and said, “Do these chairs have to be in row? Can we put them in a circle, or sit on the floor?”
The answer was no, and i began to hide my creative thinking.
I also began to invent illnesses so i could stay home from school and read, write and create.
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How many of you recognize yourself into this? Add your email, website or blog adress in the comment field. We should be friends.
Taken from Sark’s Creative Companion updated edition.
Orbiting the giant hairball
If you are a creative, stuck into the corporate world, this book my help you finding your way to happiness without having to leave your job.
Pour tout les multis de la terre qui me lisent et qui sont pris dans un moule appelé le 9 à 5, dans une boite invisible mais bien réelle, entourés de gens qui se ressemblent tous et qui vous dévisagent à cause de votre différence, je vous suggère de jeter un coup d’oeil à ce livre.
I am not through yet - i have just been reading the part where the author ask his boss to define his new job title as ‘Creative Paradox’, and being myself so lost trying to find a title that describe myself and what i do, this chapter made me smile and think i should share this right here now.
Done.
He’s just not that into you
or i’m just not into it.
This book - He’s just not that into you - a q’s and a’s book dedicated to woman, offering them advices about dating issues - seems to be everywhere i go, excerpts are on every websites, even my friends bring it up to me.
all i can say is Stooooop it!
Do we really need another book about how to do things right? What’s wrong, what’s hot, what’s not, what’s in, what’s out, how to loose 10 pounds in a second, how to get more productive, better housewife, friends, neighbors, girls, boys, dogs… grrrr.
How about a book titled ‘how to shape an opinion about life by yourself’?
This said, get out there, try things, follow your guts, your intuition. Do things as you feel like to do them - stop waiting for someone to tell you how to live-eat-sleep-talk-walk or take a piss.
I havn’t read the book, but i’ve heard enough about it in the last days to shape my own opinion. Trash, garbage, not for me thanx.
English vs French: Why i prefer english newspapers
I have been living in montreal for 4 years before i left for germany. These 4 years, i haven’t been faced with the anglo part of the city, and i never got really interested in knowing about these people who spoke english. I was living in the ‘french’ part of the city, going to a french speaking cegep, mostly always walking around areas such as la petite italie and le plateau. This was 10 years ago.
Things have changed.
I came back to montreal last june after spending 4 years in a country with one main langage: german. Even if half of the country is populated with turkish, indian, french, italians and english folks, all newspapers were in german (beside some indie newspapers of course).
Being back here, i discover hidden treasures about living in a half french half anglo city. Believe me, this is a wonderful thing, beside all the fighting about culture and language differences.
One of these thing being to have french and english newspapers (La Presse, Le Devoir, Ici, Voir, The Gazette, National Post, Hour and Mirror to name a few of them), and even french articles in english written newspapers (reference here is Pascal Montpetit’s chronicles on saturdays).
So people, if you can read french and english, you have a large choice. And if you have been living abroad for some time, you can appreciate to have this choice even more.
I do.
Starting from there, I have been reading La Presse and Le Devoir on the weekend for some time, beside the Ici and Voir on thursdays, until the day i went really bored because i didn’t recognized myself in these newspapers.
From there, i decided to have a look on the other side. What are english speaking people reading? I took 5 bucks and bought weekend issues of The Gazette, The National Post and grabbed the Mirror, and i think this was such a great thing.
I found much more to read about in these in one weekend then in the french newspapers in a month. Here are some topics covered this last weekend, exactly what i was looking for in french newspapers but never found:
- In The Gazette pop culture section, ‘Shouldn’t all music be emotionnal?’, about the roots of Emo music
- ‘Engage your right brain at work’, about creativity at work
- G3, a tech/computer/internet/games related section section
In the National Post:
- Mireille Siclcoff’s music article
- cover story about illustrator Virginai Johnson
- ’soul matters’ page, about alternative medecines and spirituality in everyday life.
The Mirror last issues had articles about internet radio and some other cool stuff as an article about the pavilion projetcs.
For all this, I definitly prefer english written newspapers. I can relate easily to the topics they choose to cover. Somehow, i feel they are more open minded, with a strong implication in popular culture and trends.
I will still check out on newstands everynow and then to check our newspapers, but for right now, i think i’v found what i was looking for.
JOB TIP #515: NEVER THREATEN TO EAT YOUR CO-WORKERS
I just went out for breakfast with a bunch of books to read, one of them being “Never Threaten to Eat Your Co-Workers, best of blogs“.
The book is laying my bedside table since a week now. Everytime i see the cover i keep asking myself why the hell is it called that way?
The answer is right here, comming from a blog entry with the same title.
I had a good laugh reading this entry, it is absolutely hilarious.
So, if you want to have a good laugh too, go on and read it. To laugh even more, just get the book. I think its worth it.
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Current loved ones:
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Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook, by Isa Chandra Moskowitz
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The Power of Your Other Hand : A Course in Channeling the Inner Wisdom of the Right Brain, by Lucia Capacchione
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New York Notebook, by Laurie Rosenwald
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The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich, by Timothy Ferriss
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Eat, Pray, Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert
Recently loved:
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Succulent Wild Woman, by Sark
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Energy Medicine, by Donna Eden
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Monocle Magazine, by http://www.monocle.com
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The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success: A Pocketbook Guide to Fulfilling Your Dreams, by Deepak Chopra
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Earth: Pleiadian Keys to the Living Library, by Barbara Marciniak
Soon:
- A Room of One’s Own, by Virginia Woolf
- Tout sur le compost, by Lili Michaud
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Hello!
I am m-c, an artist and communicator. I love to inspire people through my art, writing, and my passion for the creative potential of web publishing tools. I run meïdia, a creative studio, and Creacamp.
Bonjour! Je suis m-c, artiste et communicatrice. Ma mission est d'inspirer les gens, et ce, à travers mon art, mes livres, et ma passion pour les outils web. Je suis à la tête du studio de création meïdia, et de Creacamp.
Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Etsy or Flickr. I love mail! -
My Books
Get your copy of my book, First Thoughts on life, blogging, and the creative process. See a preview of the book here.
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Je suis co-auteure de Pourquoi bloguer. Mon chapitre, Bloguer pour réseauter, a été rédigé dans le but d'inspirer les gens intéressés par le potentiel de réseautage des outils de blogues : étudiants, artistes, travailleurs autonomes, gestionnaires d'entreprise, curieux et patenteux de tout genres. Commandez votre copie dédicacée en me fesant parvenir un courriel.
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