A horse doesn’t care how much you know, until he knows how much you care.  by Pat Parelli

Richaard Zwolinksi, LMHC, CASAC and his wife CR Zowlinksi right a great blog/article repository over at PSYCH CENTRAL, one of the only comprehensive virtual hubs for discussions on issues of mental health.  I was honored when this wonderful team/couple asked me if I would do a question/answer interview with them on horses, trauma, and addiction.  Of course I would!  One of my favorite things to discuss. They are presenting it in a THREE PART SERIES over at Psych Central in their virtual article space called “Therapy Soup”.

You can check out part one at : http://blogs.psychcentral.com/therapy-soup/2010/07/ptsd-addiction-and-healing-with-horses-part-one/

The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it.  by James Bryce

Summertime is great for sun drenched days and lingering by pools with toes dipped in cool waters.  It is an excellent time to give yourself room to breathe and little getaways even when you are staying home for the weekend.  What better time to catch up on some reading.  Especially when, like in the southeast right now, there are days where the winds swirl and the rain pours down outside.  Hurricane Bonnie, to you I say, read and be merry!

Here is a list of my summertime reading list.  A few books that feel timely for the time of year, summer season, and just plain inspiration for people contemplating life amid summer breezes or hurricane winds.  The following books are some good summertime reads.  Some because they are timely with cinematic re-creations coming out (eat, pray, love), some because they discuss the way we eat and our natural world (animal, vegetable, miracle), some because they reflect on how we care for ourselves and how we view our bodies (women, food, and god), and some just because they are fun, insightful, clever, inspirational, empowering, dreamy or invoke the feeling of childhood (anne of green gables).  And some just because they remind me of summer intensives in undergrad as a literature major (ahem, Jane Austen anyone?).

10 SUMMERTIME LITERARY INSPIRATIONS:

1.  Eat, Pray, Love.  by Elizabeth Gilbert 
2.  Women, Food, and God by Geneen Roth
3. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
4.  Words That Matter by Oprah Magazine
5. The Bitch In the House by 26 women
6.  Mansfield Park by Jane Austen  
7. Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery  
8.  Change Your Brain, Change Your Body by Daniel Amen  
9.  Official Book Club Selection by Kathy Griffin  

10.  Broken Open by Elizabeth Lesser

Great Inspiration Through This VIRTUAL POSTER FROM LULULEMON called “The Lululemon Manifesto”.