Resources
A brief workbook, a few of my favorite books, and a special poem.
Seven Stages to a More Joyful You!
Do you remember what it was like to be joyful almost all of the time? To be full of wonder at a falling red leaf or a cloud that looked just like a pony? To run from one thing to the next, excited by the joy of discovery and happy surprises? For many of us, that childlike wonder is a distant memory but we can recapture that state of bliss.
"Seven Stages to a More Joyful YOU!" is a workbook designed to guide you through stages of self-exporation and of creating the life you deserve.
The workbook covers these seven stages:
Three books that profoundly affected my view of life...
Practicing Peace in Times of War
Pema Chödrön
Many Lives, Many Masters
Dr. Brian Weiss
Be Free Where You Are
Thich Nhat Hanh
AND, A LONGER LIST OF FAVORITES (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER AND UPDATED FEBRUARY 2026)
All That She Carried
Tiya Miles
Between Two Kingdoms
Suleika Jaouad
The Color Purple
Alice Walker
The Dance of Anger
Harriet Lerner, Ph.D.
Educated
Tara Westover
How We Show Up
Mia Birdsong
In the Time of the Butterflies
Julia Alvarez
Know My Name
Chanel Miller
My Beloved World
Sonia Sotomayor
The Poet X
Elizabeth Acevedo
River Sing Me Home
Eleanor Shearer
Transcendent Kingdom
Yaa Gyasi
Beloved
Toni Morrison
A Bigger Picture
Vanessa Nakate
A Council of Dolls
Mona Susan Power
Dying to Be Me
Anita Moorjani
The Gifts of Imperfection
Brené Brown
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Maya Angelou
The Joy Luck Club
Amy Tan
The Mists of Avalon
Marion Zimmer Bradley
Our Missing Hearts
Celeste Ng
The Poisonwood Bible
Barbara Kingsolver
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Zora Neale Hurston
The Year of Magical Thinking
Joan Didion
A Poem for You
A dear friend sent this poem to me in a Mother’s Day e-mail several years ago. (Thank you very much, Jennifer!). It is such a beautifully written piece that I immediately did some research on the poet, Shiloh Sophia McCloud, and discovered her incredible paintings as well. With Shiloh’s permission I am delighted to share her work with you:
Dear Great Hearted One,
This day we honor and celebrate
the women who have given life to us
the women who give life to ideas,
the women who died giving life,
the women who wanted to have a child but didn’t get to,
the women who right now are tilling their fertile soil for new seed,
the women who choose not to have a child but have many children,
the women who are in captivity,
the women who are free,
those who were mothered well,
and those who had crazy mamas,
because any mama who did not love you well, was not well enough,
the women who are struggling this moment to care for their babies,
and the women who right now snuggle with their little ones under feather comforters,
for those mamas who have gone on,
and for those who are mamas to be,
for women who have miscarried precious life,
and those who carried many,
for single mamas who want their mate,
and for married mamas who want to be seen and heard,
for those who never got to have a mama to hold them,
and for those mamas whose children will not speak to them,
for happy mamas and sad mamas,
and the Great Mama of all,
and most of all….
for all women who need remothering,
we unite in our love for you and your quest for
wholeness, connection, belonging and home.
All women today, we honour
All life today, we celebrate.
Blessed Mother of Life,
hear the prayers of your children this day.
Open our hearts to hear that which you are speaking
to us and through us.
Shiloh Sophia McCloud