Book Review: Self and Soul: On Creating a Meaningful Life

I had the pleasure of reading Lorraine Ash's book Self and Soul: On Creating a Meaningful Life this summer, and it touched me in many ways. Read on for a more detailed review.

Anyone who follows the great writer and creativity teacher Julia Cameron knows how strongly her craft aligns with a deep sense of spirituality. Reading Lorraine Ash’s spiritual memoir, Self and Soul: On Creating a Meaningful Life, touched me deep within my core in much the same way The Artist’s Way did.

Whether I ever would have found spiritual freedom without the trauma of my outer life, I will never know. I am still astonished, though, at how the pain of loss and tragedy was able to so thoroughly re-baptize me. – Lorraine Ash

In 1999, Ash’s daughter, Victoria Helen, was stillborn at 42 weeks, the result of a Group B Strep infection, which also left Ash fighting for her own life. In the weeks and years following, Ash had to come to terms with the fact that she would never become a mother, and her search for spiritual meaning became heightened. It is obvious while reading this memoir that religion has always played a big part in the author’s life, having been raised in the Catholic faith, but she also never just accepted the “status quo” of her religion as pure fact. Ash has studied and taken part in a number of spiritual pilgrimages along the way, which she describes beautifully in the book. Her writing is eloquent and full of imagery and descriptions that drew me in as a reader.

Ash’s observations make you want to stop and take in every moment fully, even if it’s just sitting under a tree on a glorious spring day, watching a sunset. Following along her journey, I actually felt like I was in the cool and dark underground cave in New York, on the balcony of Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous Fallingwater historic landmark, and on a shamanic journey with a wise spirit teacher. Sprinkled among the chapters are anecdotes of people Ash has met along the way in her work as a journalist and writing coach, people who influenced her in her quest to live a meaningful life. This book moved me in more ways than one, and also made me see that writing about the painful scenes in my own life would be more therapeutic than keeping everything bottled inside. Self and Soul: On Creating a Meaningful Life, is a great source of inspiration for anyone struggling with happiness, faith and the inevitability (and joy!) of getting older.

About the Author:

Lorraine Ash, M.A., is a New Jersey author, award-winning journalist, essayist, book editor, and writing teacher. Self and Soul: On Creating a Meaningful Life, is her second book. Her first memoir, Life Touches Life: A Mother’s Story of Stillbirth and Healing, was published by NewSage Press Lorraine also is a veteran journalist whose feature articles and series have won seventeen national, state, and regional awards and have appeared in daily newspapers across the country. Lorraine belongs to the Association of Writers and Writing Programs and Investigative Reporters and Editors. She lives in New Jersey with her husband, Bill.

Baked Ziti and Enlightenment: A Guest Post from Author Lorraine Ash

Today I'm honored to be hosting author Lorraine Ash as part of her WOW! Women on Writing Blog Tour. Lorraine is promoting her spiritual memoir, Self and Soul: On Creating a Meaningful Life. Stop back by on Aug. 28 for my review of her book. In the meantime, here's a little more about Lorraine and and Self and Soul.

Book Synopsis:
Are you living a life of quiet desperation? Questioning what it means to succeed? Wondering if your efforts matter? In this uplifting memoir, Lorraine Ash uses her own life experiences to explore inner landscapes where the seeds of divine healing and insight reside. These are the landscapes on which we create our own meaning and find the resiliency to thrive in a changing and challenging world.

Self and Soul: On Creating a Meaningful Life is available in a variety of formats and online stores, all presented here, http://lorraineash.com/selfsoul.htm. It has also just become available as a digital audiobook. Find it at Audible.com and Amazon.com as well as in the iTunes store.

About the Author:
Lorraine Ash, M.A., is a New Jersey author, award-winning journalist, essayist, book editor, and writing teacher. Self and Soul: On Creating a Meaningful Life, is her second book. Her first memoir, Life Touches Life: A Mother’s Story of Stillbirth and Healing, was published by NewSage Press.  Lorraine also is a veteran journalist whose feature articles and series have won seventeen national, state, and regional awards and have appeared in daily newspapers across the country. Lorraine belongs to the  Association of Writers and Writing Programs and Investigative Reporters and Editors. She lives in New Jersey with her husband, Bill.

You can reach Lorraine here:
Website/blog: www.LorraineAsh.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LorraineAshAuthor
Twitter: @LorraineVAsh
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/lorraine-ash/45/77/650

Baked Ziti and Enlightenment

Image courtesy ©Andrea Skjold | Dreamstime.com

When I think about which people inspired me to make a difference in life, I see they all had a common trait. Some were brilliant, others creative, some powerful, others powerless. But all were kind.

In graduate school at Fordham University, I was in awe of one professor—an Ivy League scholar, brilliant actor and writer, original thinker, recovering alcoholic, and seasoned life traveler. He had the brains and wit to cut down students who struggled through his classes. But he never did.

A most unlikely Coca-Cola

One hot summer afternoon, I fell ill and was curled up on the floor of a bathroom stall in the Communications Department of the university. At least the tile was cool. Otherwise, I was miserable. I heard the door open and then the clink of an aluminum can on the floor. Looking down, I saw the professor’s hand, the one with the big onyx ring, slide a frosty Coca-Cola to me under the door of the stall.

“Coke syrup,” he said. “It always works. I’ll be here if you need anything.”

Such a simple action. I have remembered it all these years.

Dozens of baked zitis

Decades later, in the early days after my daughter was stillborn and I was barely interested enough in life to brush my teeth, a friend delivered many meals, each lovingly prepared by someone in the newsroom where I worked. The first one I ate was baked ziti, prepared by a reporter’s wife. It was the best I ever tasted. Wanting to always remember how I felt eating that meal, and wanting to create the feeling for others, I asked for the recipe, written in her hand.

For years now, I have cooked and delivered baked ziti to dozens of others in need, hopefully to the same effect. As my old Aunt Esther, a true Italian cook, used to say, as she rubbed her hands together, “A little pasta and cheese, that’s all you need.”

Kindness always possible

Metaphysics, cosmology, psychology, religious rules—they’re all complicated. But in the midst of any so-called important endeavor, the simplicity of kindness is always possible. By extension, cruelty, condescension, pretension, and coldness are never necessary. Jesus said it best, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

It’s a teaching within anyone’s power to achieve. A smile. A Coca-Cola. An encouraging word. A little pasta and cheese. That’s all.

Questions: Have you ever been nourished by another person’s simple act of kindness? In what ways are you the most kind?

Lorraine Ash, M.A., is a New Jersey author, award-winning journalist, essayist, book editor, and 

writing teacher. Self and Soul: On Creating a Meaningful Life, her second book, is available in a variety of formats and online stores, all presented here, http://lorraineash.com/selfsoul.htm. Reach Lorraine at www.LorraineAsh.com, www.facebook.com/LorraineAshAuthor , or @LorraineVAsh.

Back to School for Writers and Other (Hopefully!) Helpful Blog Posts

My kids started back to school this week so I've been working hard to get things checked off my writing/editing to-do list and clear the pile of paperwork on my desk. Speaking of my desk, I recently repainted my office a much lighter, more cheerful shade, and it's hard to believe how much more time I've been spending in here since then! The old color was an earthy olive, and while it was nice and very traditional, it didn't make for the most inviting writing space, especially at night with no overhead lighting. Oh, and on a whim, I picked up one of those cool wall decals from Target for a little pop of inspiration (see photos above).

In lieu of a regular post, I wanted to share some of my guest posts from WOW Women on Writing's Muffin blog, including one I wrote last year around this time:

As the mother of two children in elementary school, the past few weeks have been a little crazy with back-to-school clothes shopping, purchasing and sorting school supplies and meeting with our new teachers to discuss expectations for their learning this year. Read the rest here.

Other recent posts:

Did you travel anywhere fun this summer? Find out how I make the most of my vacations by turning trips into article queries and assignments.

Remember that Facebook game "25 Things You Don't Know About Me?" I broke it down into ten things for fun.

Book Review: Panic by Lauren Oliver

I raced through the book Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver, and when I read the synopsis to her latest book, Panic, it definitely piqued my interest. I took the book with me on vacation last week and quickly became immersed in the world of Carp, New York, and the teens who lived there and made the choice to participate in the survival game that the book is named after.

Synopsis:
Panic began as so many things do in Carp, a poor town of twelve thousand people in the middle of nowhere: because it was summer, and there was nothing else to do. Heather never thought she would compete in panic, a legendary game played by graduating seniors. She'd never thought of herself as fearless, the kind of person who would fight to stand out. But when she finds something, and someone, to fight for, she will discover that she is braver than she ever thought.

Dodge has never been afraid of panic. His secret will fuel him, and get him all the way through the game; he's sure of it. But what he doesn't know is that he's not the only one with a secret. Everyone has something to play for. For Heather and Dodge, the game will bring new alliances, unexpected revelations, and the possibility of first love for each of them—and the knowledge that sometimes the very things we fear are those we need the most.

My Thoughts:

The book is told from the perspective of two different narrators, Dodge and Heather. If done well, this set-up is a great way to build suspense in a book because you aren't exactly sure what the other characters are thinking, or in this case, are plotting. I easily related to the character of Heather, desperate to escape life from the Fresh Pines Mobile Home Park and fiercely protective of younger sister Lily. On the night of the annual Panic kick-off, she makes the rash decision to compete in the game after her boyfriend callously dumps her, figuring there's a lot she and her sister can do with the $67,000 cash prize. Heather's best girlfriend, Nat Velez, also competes in the game, but I found her character a lot harder to like. She's manipulative, moody, fickle, and uses people to get what she wants, including Heather. I absolutely loved Bishop, Heather's best "guy" friend who so clearly wants to be more, even if I did figure out his secret about halfway through the book. Dodge, the other character perspective we see, was also pretty likable, with revenge being his reason for competing in the game. 

Speaking of the game, the challenges presented by the mysterious anonymous judges kept me holding my breath each time they appeared. Crossing a six-lane busy highway blindfolded in the dark? Stepping into a fenced in pasture with two tigers? Never in my lifetime! But desperate times call for desperate measures, I guess.

Oliver carefully weaves a tale of teen angst and survival with skillfully crafted setting and dialogue. I could easily picture the hardscrabble town of Carp and the desperation any teen would have to get out of there. The book has a dystopian tone even while set in a contemporary setting, which I know will appeal to many teen readers.