Tag Archive: meditation



The New Mandala - Eastern Wisdom for Western LivingThe New Mandala – Eastern Wisdom for Western Living by John Lundin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When I tried to listen to the text-to-speech of the Kindle version the other day, it didn’t work. I decided to try again last night, and it worked out quite nicely.

I felt a little lost at first as the easter religions and the Dalai Lama are less known to me than the Judeo-Christian Western religions. However, author John Lundin quickly helped us see how familiar those seemingly foreign concepts are. I found myself quite interested.

This book will need multiple reads. This is the first one to get acquainted and see our common interests. But next, I want to go through and practice some of the meditation and kindnesses Mr. Lundin teaches us to use.

I highly recommend this book for seekers and for those who love comparative religions.

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Here is Linda’s prompt:

“Hi there! I’m back with our nineteenth prompt for Just Jot it January 2025. Today, our prompt comes to us from the wonderful Willow. Thank you, Willow! Please be sure to visit Willow’s blog to read her posts and say hello. And follow her while you’re there if you’re not already.

Your prompt for JusJoJan January 19th, 2025 is “why.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!

Why do I write reviews? It started out in the same way as blogging. I needed a place to keep track. What have I read? Sure, I can go to GoodReads to see if I have read a book, but since I try to record bits of my life here, I can see how that book choice or emotions of the day reflect each other. What I read can affect my life. And my life can carry into my thoughts as I read.

Why did I read this particular book? The author gave me the book long ago when I lived in Reno. He live(d) in Lake Tahoe at the time. I promised a review, so I put it on my ‘Currently Reading’ shelf on GoodReads. That was to prompt me to read it soon.

That shelf has overgrown. When a library or Libby book comes up, it goes to the top of the list over those I own. Suddenly, I have 85 books I am supposedly currently reading. Ha! So my new plan is to pull from the bottom of the list (first books added) and then back to the top, the latest added. My plan is to eventually meet in the middle. Does anyone want to take bets on how long that’s going to take?

I was surprised at how much I appreciated this particular book. It seemed to start rather boring. But soon I found that there were answers here I’d been asking, even though I didn’t know I was asking those questions.

Why. The word my kids learned nearly as soon as they could talk. It is an amazing work that mostly keeps me wondering. How often did I hear my babies ask, “Why is the sky blue?” Or just “Why” to nearly anything. I feel we should stay in that frame of mind. Stay young and keep wondering, WHY?


THE NATURAL REMEDIES ENCYCLOPEDIA: A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO HERBAL REMEDIES, ESSENTIAL OILS, HOMEOPATHY, Yoga, MEDITATION, DIET,: How to Use Natural Remedies to Improve Your Health and Well-BeingTHE NATURAL REMEDIES ENCYCLOPEDIA: A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO HERBAL REMEDIES, ESSENTIAL OILS, HOMEOPATHY, Yoga, MEDITATION, DIET,: How to Use Natural Remedies to Improve Your Health and Well-Being by Dr. George Alexander
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

If you are wondering about herbs, homeopathy, essential oils, meditation, yoga, exercise, and general health, this is a great beginner’s book. I found I agreed with the take the author has about all of it, especially homeopathy. BUT it is too generic and elemental for me. I’ve been researching for my family and myself for fifty-plus years.

I think the Kindle is free, especially if you have Kindle Unlimited. I thought about rating the book at two stars, but there was a good reminder that I would research more. Gingo Bilboa. Lately, my husband and I have found we need more help with circulation and mental acuity. So, I think this book gave me a great reminder.

My friend Kay ensured I was reading this long before I planned to. Thanks, Kay! Now, to get onto the research.

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Zentangle For Beginners: Elevate Your Life With Zentangle Art, Patterns and Shapes for Creativity, Focus & Well-Being (Zentangle, Zentangle for Beginners, ... Zentangle Basics, Zentangle Books)Zentangle For Beginners: Elevate Your Life With Zentangle Art, Patterns and Shapes for Creativity, Focus & Well-Being by Charlotte Pearce

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Of the freebie Kindle Zentangle books I’ve read so far, this has been my favorite. It was well written, describing the process of getting into the tangle, with zen and scientific results. I got so anxious about this just being wordy. But finally! There are enough illustrations of good Zentangles to give the beginner a chance to decide if this is for them. Worth the price (free) and maybe even worth a little more. After all, you can pick up most of this information from the website: Zentangle.com. Still it is nice that the author shared very different artists work. Try it, you’ll like it!

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My Intro to Zentangle Art


I can’t believe that it has been nearly three years since I discovered the magic of Zentangle. A good friend of mine mentioned it as something he likes to do. He uses his designs in wood burning projects.  I started researching this form of art. Zentangle.com is the best starting place.

When I finally could afford it I bought the kit from the website. Here are some of the goodies in that cigar box kit.

2015-02-22 13.44.29

At the top of this picture is my little gold Zentangle drawing pad I found in the dollar bins at some store. This is what I try to organize the different designs that you can click on at the top of the Zentangle site organized in alphabetical order. As you can see there is a little chart that has 20 designs to choose from. That’s for the beginner who needs a little nudge to get started. The 20 sided die is to make the choice easier. There are the special pens and pencil and shadow-maker. There’s a CD to get you started and an instructional booklet to learn the first picture. Which you draw on the included little cards. Here is my first:

2015-02-22 13.38.21

As is my usual bent, I got into this Zentangle thing and made two more within a couple days.

20120311 DM Zentangle

2015-02-22 13.40.15

I don’t know why this last one ever got finished. I didn’t seem to shadow anything. But see those two teardrop shapes? I could never figure out how to deal with them. I think that was why I gave up on it. Now I like those white empty spaces so I think I will just shade here and there and start something new.

I haven’t done much since those projects except occasionally keep up my alphabet design book. Now that I have read those two books I reviewed yesterday I feel this art calling me. It’s time!


Zentangle Basics: Easy to Learn Zentangle Method. 12 Basic Elements of Fine Tangling Process and Art Mediation (Zentangle books, Zentangle basics books, Zentangle basics featuring ideas books,)Zentangle Basics: Easy to Learn Zentangle Method. 12 Basic Elements of Fine Tangling Process and Art Mediation by Leroy Barnes

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have to admit that I have a bit of confusion going on here. I picked up two Zentangle books at the same time. One because it was free and the other because I could get it for free with Kindle Unlimited. This one was $2.99 last I looked. Though I got it for free through Kindle Unlimited. Now do I have you confused, too?

Either book is a good starting point for learning about the good that doing a bit of Zentangling can do for you. Both have written instructions for getting started. This one had fewer illustrations. Just as a hint of the type of designs that one can do simply even if you are not an artist. In fact, that is a point made in both books.

Both books are quick reads, even without pictures. And so I read them both yesterday one after the other.

Which one is best? The one with more pictures. But only because of that. I wish either of them had more visual instructions. Can you imagine being taught to draw without anything to look at to compare to? Yeah. Oh, some are upset about the size of the pictures. I found if I clicked on the tiny picture I can enlarge it to a satisfying size.

My advice? If you see these for free, grab ’em and read ’em. After that head over to Zentangle.com and play around that site. Then go check out the Youtubes that the site recommends. Pick up a Zentangle kit. I did and have loved working with it. One of these days, I will post some of my resulting tangles on my website: darsword.wordpress.com.

Now I am going to copy and paste this review into the other books review changing only the price range and a word or two here or there. Try Zentangling!

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Zentangle: Zentangle Art Basics: How to create beautiful patterns and shapesZentangle: Zentangle Art Basics: How to create beautiful patterns and shapes by Hailey Leman

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have to admit that I have a bit of confusion going on here. I picked up two Zentangle books at the same time. One because it was free and the other because I could get it for free with Kindle Unlimited. This one was $2.99 last I looked. Though I got it for free. Now do I have you confused, too?

Either book is a good starting point for learning about the good that doing a bit of Zentangling can do for you. Both have written instructions for getting started. This one had a couple more illustrations. Just as a hint of the type of designs that one can do simply even if you are not an artist. In fact, that is a point made in both books.

Both books are quick reads, even without pictures. And so I read them both yesterday one after the other.

Which one is best? The one with more pictures. But only because of that. I wish either of them had more visual instructions. Can you imagine being taught to draw without anything to look at to compare to? Yeah. Oh, some are upset about the size of the pictures. I found if I clicked on the tiny picture I can enlarge it to a satisfying size.

My advice? If you see these for free, grab ’em and read ’em. After that head over to Zentangle.com and play around that site. Then go check out the Youtubes that the site recommends. Pick up a Zentangle kit. I did and have loved working with it. One of these days, I will post some of my resulting tangles here.

Now I am going to copy and paste this review into the other books review changing only the price range and a word or two here or there. Try Zentangling!

View all my reviews

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