lara simmons

What books are keeping you company during this time? Are you reading something new and exciting or something comforting that you have read before? This week I am reading "I Capture the Castle" by Dodie Smith - a book I grabbed out of our Little Free Library on a whim - but it is proving the perfect book for these uncertain times. ( https://www.powells.com/…/i-capture-the-castle-9780312201654 )

Today was supposed to be the day my next book, "28 Days of Stillness," came out. However, based on some feedback I have gotten, it just isn't done. While "finishing" it, I had the feeling that it needed something more, but I wanted to be "done," and so I didn't listen. I pushed. I rushed. And now I need to take a step back, reassess, and start again. A moment of stillness This time of year is good for that. Winter can feel so hard - the cold, the dark, the wet - but it can also be an opportunity, an invitation, to go within, to pause, and to find stillness. I cannot offer you a new book today, but I can offer you this: an invitation. Spend some time today (the shortest of the year), in stillness. Allow what wants to be felt time to be felt. Allow what wants to come up, to come up. And allow what wants to be let go, to go. Breathe. Trust. Allow. Stillness is perfect for this.  

Today is World Kindness Day AND ALSO the birth-day of my new book, 28 Days of Kindness . Four years ago I set a challenge for myself: practice kindness for twenty-eight days and see if it makes a difference in your life. Did it ever! As I focused on kindness, meditated on kindness, wrote about kindness, and practiced kindness in my daily life, I could literally feel the kindness in my world increase. I want the same for you and today - World Kindness Day - is a fabulous day to begin! What kindness practice can you commit to? Can you commit one random act of kindness today? (See the World Kindness Day website for some ideas.) Can you commit to 28 Days of Kindness? Subscribe to my blog by entering your email in the sidebar, or follow me on Twitter (@be_and_become) or Facebook for the next four weeks. I will be posting kindness quotes every day to inspire you. Want to go deeper? Pick up my book. Copies will be available for FREE if you live in Seattle in the Little Free Libra...

Today I am pleased to announce that my third book is coming soon! It will be published on November 13th in honor of World Kindness Day . This book has been a labor of love over the past four years and it is finally - FINALLY - finished. A slim volume, it is chalk full of inspiration for a kinder world. Based on my own 28-day kindness challenge, the book asks you to commit to kindness for twenty-eight days and then takes you on a journey to and through kindness. And, if you live in Seattle, a limited number of copies will be available for FREE. The location will be announced on November 13th so check back here for more info. I hope you will enjoy it and that it will bring more kindness into your life!

        "Patience. Understanding. A cup of hot tea...." --From Day 1 of " 28 Days of LOVE " So begins MY definition of LOVE on the first page of my latest book, 28 Days of LOVE . As we head towards Valentine's Day, many of us may be thinking more about LOVE than usual. How to express it. How to find it. Maybe even how to define it. If you are thinking about LOVE this week now is the perfect time to buy 28 Days of LOVE . Whether you have twenty-eight days, or only 28 minutes, my new book will help you explore - and find - your own definition of LOVE. Full of photographs of "found" hearts, inspirational quotations, as well as exercises and meditations designed to bring more LOVE into your life, this is the perfect book for February explorations. Starting TODAY, 28 Days of LOVE is available in electronic format from the Blurb website for just $4.99. Just follow this link to purchase a copy. May you find all the LOVE your heart can handle this V...

"A book is a link between the past and the future. It is a bridge between generations and across cultures. It is a force for creating and sharing wisdom and knowledge." --Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO on the occasion of World Book and Copyright Day Today is UNESCO's World Book & Copyright Day 2016  and in celebration I would like to share with you some of my favorite quotes about books and reading (and writing). I am also putting my book - Write Your Life! - on SALE starting today through the end of May. For the next five weeks you may buy a print copy for $9.99 (down from $12.99) and the e-book version for $0.99 (down from $1.99).  I hope you will find a way today to celebrate books and their role in your life: Grab a book off of  your bedside table, flop down on the couch and just read . Take a trip to your local library or favorite bookstore and bring home  stack of new (to you) books. Or, if you have always wanted to write a book, START T...

"Miracles are out there somewhere. You just got to find them." --Tom Spanbauer, from his book Now Is The Hour Sometimes a book is just a book, and sometimes it's a miracle. This book - Now Is The Hour - feels like a miracle to me. It has been such a long time since I read a book that made me feel like this. Like the author has understood something about life that has not been understood before. (At least not for me. ) What this book understands - and explores - is the ways in which we are not only not allowed to BE who we are, but the ways in which we are not even allowed to KNOW who we are.   It happens to all of us, not just closeted gay men growing up in rural Idaho. We are all shaped by where we are born and when we are born and to whom we are born. Sometimes this is a perfect fit, but more often than not, it is not and we all have to discover, for ourselves, who we really are. In a way I think that is the miracle we are all searching for, the chance to KN...