Catherine Allen
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Hello! My name is Catherine, and I live in Bath, Maine.
Most grateful right now for insights I attained at Susan’s Kripalu retreat a few weeks ago, which prompted me to have some very difficult conversations with my boss. As of yesterday, it looks like my work life is going to get a whole lot better because of this.
I hope to change my reactiveness. I’ve been covering two full-time jobs for 15 months, and small, irritating things are feeling like huge, end-of-the-world things right now. Between the conversations Friday and yesterday and focusing more on meditation – and putting a complete stop to skipping the gym so I can have more time to work – I hope to change and transform into a better and less reactive version of myself.
My practice. I lead a guided meditation for our office every day, and I lead a guided meditation for my older nephew every Sunday morning, so my practice mostly consists of meditating around prompts for others and watching the clock. When I returned from the Kripalu program a few weeks ago, I set up a Buddhist shrine in my living room, and that has helped to make my individual practice more consistent.
Three most important books: (As someone who has always turned to books for everything – self-help, research, escape, education, comfort, entertainment – I LOVE this question, and I cannot wait to read the other responses!)
1. Snow Hunters by Paul Yoon – During an excruciatingly sad time in my life, I read this novel several times. It’s quiet and simple and elegant. It calmed my heart, and it made me feel like everything would be okay in the end.
2. 11/22/63 by Stephen King – I heard about a county jail in my community where there were inmates wanting to read, and the jail didn’t have any books available. The first book I donated to the jail “library” was this book, because it’s long, it’s an engrossing page-turner, and you forget where you are when you’re reading it. It made me so happy to think that this book was being read by someone who maybe really needed it, I started sending more books, and more, and more. This jail now has 175 books that I’ve donated – thank you ThriftBooks.com – and I filed Articles of Incorporation last week to start a nonprofit solely devoted to providing county jails across Maine with books. I’ll always be a volunteer, but when I’m incorporated I can apply for grants and get donations. Soon, I’ll be able to do far more for the jails than what I can on my own.
3. A Kinder Voice: Releasing Your Inner Critics with Mindfulness Slogans by Thérèse Jacobs-Stewart – I don’t know about anybody else, but my inner critic used to be an unrelenting asshole. Really mean. This book was a big piece of the puzzle that transformed my inner critic into a quieter, less intense, more situational asshole.Three most beloved recordings:
1. Wild Thing by The Troggs – When my niece and nephews were 4, 8, and 10, this song came on the radio, and I had them singing and dancing to it. Maybe 4 years later, my younger nephew asked me to come to the school for ancestor day, and he wrote about why I was an important ancestor. It was partly because I taught him the best song in the world, “Wild Thing.” He’s now 19, and we still do our thing with Wild Thing: I ask, “Nate, why do I love you?”, and he says, “Because I’m your wild thing, and I make your heart sing, and I make everything groo-vay.”
2. Menuett from Unaccompanied Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007 played by Yo-Yo Ma – My favorite piece of classical music. I could listen to it as a loop for days.
3. Anything by Stevie Ray Vaughan – I had a group of friends after college that got together every weekend, and some weeknights, and we always had music playing. Stevie Ray Vaughan was a favorite for all of us, and his music now makes me think about the fun nights we had hanging out and listening to his music.
