Betty Leigh Verbeke

This book was recommended to me because of my interest/practice in yoga and meditation.  It discusses Cheryl’s experiences with her guru, Sadhguru, and Isha yoga.

“Midnights with the Mystic” by Cheryl Simone & Sadhguru Jaggi Vasidev

Here are some interesting quotes I pulled to ponder:

“’A human being is part of a whole, called by us universe, a part limited in time and space.  He experiences himself, his thoughts, and feelings as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. […] Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.’”

“’Who you are right now,’ he replied, ‘your whole personality, everything that you are, is a complex accumulation of your impressions of life itself.’”

“’Successful people are those people who have a certain amount of mastery over their minds.  They are able to apply themselves in a certain way more than other people.’”

“’Every cell in you is striving to exist and thrive. […] Close your mouth and hold your nose and see what happens.  You will see that everything in you will make a clear statement that it wants to live.’”

“’To put it simple, as a human being experientially, you are just these four things: body, mind, emotion, and energy.  Right now, the combination of these four is what you call ‘myself.’  The best the body can reach is health and pleasure.  The best your mind can achieve is joyfulness and peace.  The peak of your emotions is love.  Your energies can reverberate either with a mundane feebleness or with a great intensity of ecstasy.  These are the only realms of experience that are available to you as of now.’”

“’Love is just life longing for itself.’”

“’If we would change our idea of a successful life to a joyful life, we would find our need for money would dramatically decrease.’”

“’Cheryl, I want you to understand that life around you will respond and create itself to match the way you are and not the way you or the people around you think you are.’”

“The 158-Pound Marriage” by John Irving

This book was hilarious and weird.  It is a story of a “ménage a quarte” in New England and how the intertwining lives of two couples can be torn apart and put back together through sex and love.  The Washington Post gives him a bull’s eye review with “[Irving] writes novels in the unglamorous but effective way Babe Ruth used to hit home runs.”

Some of my favorite quotes pulled for you:

“’All the great wrestlers have tunnels of their own- long, dark, empty walks through their long, dark, empty heads.  I’m just creating a little illusion for my intellectuals.  I’m just playing Plato.’”

“He ran cloddishly, but he looked as determined as the tide-like the ancient messenger who would die on arrival, but never before.”

“Her left hand lay in the salad as if it were comfortable there.”

“’I wish everyone spoke two or three languages and used them-all together.  There are only so many ways to say things in one language.  If we could only talk even more, make more description, add more confusion-but it wouldn’t be confusion, finally; it would just be wonderfully complicated.’”

“That swinish, snobbish, self-important cuntsman!”

“I wriggled in my leggings.  My codpiece itched.”

“It was November, stone-gray and Baroque-cold.”

“Outside in the rain I greeted insomnia like a peevish mistress neglected for too long.”

Made a delicious X-mas Eve lunch for Kerri and me.  Consists of sauteed onion, garlic, jalapeno, cabbage, and tilapia in olive oil; served over raw broccoli and broccoli slaw, topped with salt, pepper, and fresh squeezed lemon.  Delicious!

I love my friends so much.  I love that they know me so well.  I love that all of them are so thoughtful.  I love that I get along with all of them so well.  I love that we all can hang out together yet we all have separate individual relationships with each other.  I love that I read a new book every couple of weeks.  I love that I have been so into reading for the past couple years.  I love listening to feel-good music.  I love that I have such a good relationship with my family.  I love that I am friends with my family and can have conversations with them like I would with my friends.  I love that I have a job where I can only work a few days a week and still go to school and pay all my bills on my own with out being in debt with anyone.  I love that I am so responsible at 20 years old.  I love that I am about to be 21.  I love that I am going to Vegas for my 21st birthday with a bunch of family members.  I love that I have financial freedom.  I love that I am going to school part time for an international business degree.  I love that my future is open-ended.  I love that I love to meditate and do yoga and run and cook and read and create.  I love that the people in my life like to do these things too, or can appreciate them.  I love feeling such gratitude for where my life is right now and that I am so pumped to move forward.  I love that the better it gets, the better it gets.  I love that things in life can move me to certain emotions and memories.  I love that I can change my thoughts toward things so that there aren’t any negative thoughts.  I love that I me.  I love that I am getting more comfortable with saying that.  I love that I have grown so much in the last couple years and that I can look back and see my own growth.  I love that I have this site to share with others.  I love that others are enjoying reading my site.  I love that Kerri is living with me while she is on holiday.  I love the saying “on holiday.”  I love that I am friends with 3 sisters.  I love that I can see the similarities and differences in them.  I love that I am reconnecting with my sisters.  I love that I get to see all of my friends in Cedar Park this weekend.  I love all my boys that I am friends with from high school.  I love my girls too. I love that I still talk to friends from Virginia.  I love that I am friends with all of my sister’s friends.  I love how there are so many connections in life and that it is such a small world.  I love that I regret nothing and hate nothing.  I love that I am worry-free.  I love that I am ambitious and I know so well what I want and what my desires are.  I love writing rampage posts like this because it makes me feel good.  I love my life so much.