lara simmons

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!

Before I took my summer hiatus (which, by the way, lasted longer than I expected, having promised to return in August, sorry about that) I wrote about listening to yourself and for the past few weeks, the phrase "Do you want to be a WRITER or a BLOGGER?"  has been staring at me every time I sit down at my desk. This phrase came to me as I was working on Monday's post, " Harmonizing Yes and No ," which I started before the hiatus. This post was to be a continuation of the listening to yourself theme, specifically addressing the difficulties involved in saying YES or saying NO in specific situations. But what keeps coming up for me as I think about starting to write again is this question: "Do I want to be a WRITER or a BLOGGER?" And the answer for me is clear: WRITER . No question. Conventional wisdom says that these days ("these days" being the days of Facebook and Twitter and Instagram and now Snapchat. Actual serious ADULTS are on ...

"And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." --Anaïs Nin Starting next Monday I will be doing a month-long series of Write Your Life mini-sessions. Woah, that's a mouthful! So what does that even mean - "a month-long series of Write Your Life mini-sessions?" Starting May 9th I will be posting one exercise from my new book " Write Your Life! " on my blog every Monday, allowing you to get a taste of the book and to begin to write your life. How will that work, you ask? FIRST, sign up in the sidebar ---------------> to receive blog posts via email. That way you are sure to receive the exercise for the week every Monday. NEXT, join my Facebook Community - Being & Becoming - to receive daily inspiration and responses to your questions LIVE every Tuesday and Thursday between 10:00 and 2:00 PST (I may not be online the whole time, but will respond as soon as I can ...

  "And we should forget, day by day, what we have done; this is true non-attachment. And we should do something new." --Shunryu Suzuki After almost five years - and more drafts than I can remember (fifteen? twenty?) - I am pleased to announce that I am publishing my first book today. What began as a class I first taught in August of 2011 at East West Bookshop , was scribbled out long-hand in a series of sketchbooks during a somewhat uncomfortable weekend writing retreat in New Mexico , and revised and designed over the past nine months since I began my blogging hiatus in May of last year, is now complete. It is not perfect, but I am proud of it. I hesitate to say proud because pride brings to mind an overabundance of good feelings about oneself, but checking the dictionary just to be sure this is the word I wanted to use, I found that "overabundance of good feelings about oneself" is actually the secondary meaning of proud and that it primarily means...

"Let it suck." --B.S. A few weeks ago I met a new friend for coffee. It was one of those amazing "first dates" where you immediately fall into conversation about important things and time seems to pass so quickly that before you know it hours have gone by and you both need to rush off, late for whatever it was you were supposed to be doing that afternoon. We talked about life and family, relationships and writing, and I told her that one of the most important things I have learned about writing is the importance of being willing to write a really shitty first draft. I learned this, of course, from Anne Lamott's book "Bird By Bird," but it took me years - YEARS - to be able to actually do it and it still makes me nervous and twitchy sometimes and I am still a LONG way off from enjoying it. We talked a bit more about our writing process and then she paused for a moment out of the blue and said, " Let it suck, " which was her way of re...

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.” -- William Hutchison Murray Many years ago Anne Lamott wrote a regular column on Salon.com . It was the first "blog" I followed faithfully and I looked forward to it every week. Then one day she announced that she was stopping. She had a book to write and n...

"When you practice mindful connections with others your life feels meaningful and so it is." --Mbali Creazzo, from the book "29 Gifts: How a month of giving can change your life" by Cami Walker My friends Fiona and Kaspa over at Writing Our Way Home are having a busy week. They are hosting the first-ever Mindful Writing Day , they are preparing to teach not one, but two, mindful writing e-courses in November ( Finding Your Way Home and Writing & Spiritual Practice ) AND they are promoting our new anthology, :" A Blackbird Sings: a book of short poems ." Yes, I said our . One of my small stones is going to be published in this lovely collection of mindful moments. AND this book will be available for FREE download on Amazon.com for one day only, Thursday, November 1st. So hop on over to Amazon on Thursday and grab your free copy. Write a rave review - and your own small stone - and have it published on their blogzine,...