The end of February brings a slight warming, particularly today as the sun emerges and the temperatures shoot up in the forties. After all that rain, snow and ice, the bulbs in the front garden are breaking the surface, and birds grub on the roadside and fill the air with their chittering. Some of us are ending a long time enclosed in the warmth and the protection of our homes. Yes, we must continue to mask and keep our distance, but we must also take care of ourselves.
Always popular, self-care books continue to help as we break out of the cocoon of quarantine. At The Greyhound Indie Bookstore, one of the most popular recent titles has been Wintering-The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May. May takes the reader with her through a year of investigation and reflection into how to learn to take life the way you find it by “living the best life you can with the parameters that you have.” The book is anecdotal but May richly interlards wisdom from around and the world and from diverse thinkers.
Not in your usual self-care realm, local author, professor and biologist, Joan Maloof’s Teaching the Trees: Lessons from the Forest walks the reader into a mediative and informative collections of essays about the natural world of the Eastern United States. The interdependence she describes between the different types of trees and wildlife is a revelation. Read one of Maloof’s essays on beech trees, maples, or sycamore and try to take a turn outside without seeing everything more vividly.
During quarantine, many of us took to walking every day to relieve the stress of screen time and the insularity of our homes. As you release yourself slowly back into the world, try to retain some of what you have learned from this full year of change. One of my students said it best about learning to “tune in” to the natural world in this way: he said he started to see “all the colors.”
Wintering by Katherine May and signed copies of Joan Maloof’s Teaching the Trees are available at The Greyhound Indie Books Store & Fine Arts Gallery of Berlin, Maryland.
The Health & Happiness Book Group Reading List includes:
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear
Chasing Alice by Stephanie Fowler
Judgment Detox: Release the Beliefs That Hold You Back from Living A Better Life by Gabrielle Bernstein
Teaching the Trees by Joan Maloof
The Finnish Way: Finding Courage, Wellness, and Happiness Through the Power of Sisu by Katja Pantzar
The Serenity Passport: A World Tour of Peaceful Living in 30 Words by Megan C Hayes
Wintering by Katherine May
The Health & Happiness Book Group meets at The Greyhound every 2nd Wednesday at 1 p.m.