I love reading. Reading nourishes, comforts, teaches, and connects me to people and places I wouldn't otherwise ever know or see. By sharing with you my year in books, my hope is this list guides you to choose some places and people you want to explore in the coming year. Here are 59 books to choose from. Take your time, you have all year. Fiction to engage and delight you : The Grey Wolf , Louise Penny, 2024. What a riveting mystery! This was a recommendation from "Book Page" magazine--pick...

Recently a dear friend asked me how I was doing as the anniversary date of our son Ethan's passing due to an overdose on December 27 is approaching. I took a breath, and started to reply, and then I stopped. "It's always terrible as this date approaches, I'm so grief stricken" was what I was about to say---it's what I typically feel at this time---but I realized suddenly this wasn't all I feel now. I closed my mouth and sat still, experiencing this awareness as a surprise, even a shock. Hmm....

During this season we are reminded to be grateful. What we often miss is that the benefit of being in a state of gratitude is that it doesn't have to end there. Yoga wisdom shows us how gratitude can leads us on a path to beautiful places of happiness, abundance, and peace. It is a short walk from gratitude to happiness . The step in between is santosha , a yoga practice that means contentment. When we are grateful for what we have, rather than upset about what we don't have, we become...