“When you find peace within, you also find that you can do without. This means simply that you no longer need the things of your outside world, and not needing is a great freedom.” ~~ Neale Donald Walsch

It’s hard to know where to start with my thoughts on Tom McNeal‘s new book, To Be Sung Underwater.

As a women who’s own mid-life crisis adventure placed her back at her roots a couple of years ago, on so many levels I could identify with the main character in the novel, Judith Whitman. In To Be Sung Underwater, Whitman’s life took her from Vermont to Rufus Sage, Nebraska and then California, where she ironically ended up living in Toluca Lake, CA, the area of Los Angeles that I lived in for 19 years.

I could not help but wondering when reading the book if there was not something in Los Angeles, that for small town people like myself and Judith Whitman’s character, drains the soul for lack of nature. Because surely in reading To Be Sung Underwater there was a sense in my opinion, that as Judith Whitman returned to Rufus Sage to meet her long lost love after 25 years, she returned not only to a relationship she left behind, but to a place where life was simpler and far more serene. A place that where simpler truly connected the soul to the earth, sky, air and water.

In our youth the idyllic notion of love is far more simplistic than the reality of adult life. Marriage and children bring responsibility that can be difficult at times to settle into and often as the years pass by, leave us wondering about that simpler time in our lives. This time when we start to wonder, mid-life, for many brings a strong desire to reconnect with our lost youth.

Judith Whitman’s wake up calls in mid-life, triggered a series of round-about events that brought her back to her past. And what she found there was profoundly heartbreaking yet enlightening. In the time spent reuniting with her lost love, Willy Blunt, Judith Whitman was given a chance to grow, and make peace with the past. I finished reading To Be Sung Underwater and felt that in time she would.

I was immediately captured by the characters in To Be Sung Underwater. I felt the author, Tom McNeal was at his best in describing scenery in the book only in writing about Nebraska and looked for more about her surrounding in Toluca Lake which were vague. Perhaps it was the parallel of my own life spent in Toluca Lake, but I think it was more of interest in Judith’s life there.

Once immersed totally into the book, as the story deepened I could not put To Be Sung Underwater down. Then when I knew I was nearing the end, I needed to step away to breathe deeply before I finished it. I was glad I did.

If you’ve been through your own mid-life crisis, or long to rekindle with a lost love, you’ll feel this powerful book very deeply as I did. In truth, To Be Sung Underwater is book to get lost in at any stage of adult life.

I may just have to read it again because it’s one of those books that I know will cast a different light the next time around. So much to absorb, so much to feel. So good to read.

“Compassion is not religious business, it is human business, it is not luxury, it is essential for our own peace and mental stability, it is essential for human survival.” ~~ Dalai Lama

I read Huxley and God quite a few years ago and have a copy in my library. Aldous Huxley has always been one of my favorite authors. Huxley and God, remains one of the most profound books I have ever read…

Peace, love, joy – these, according to St. Paul, are the three fruits of the spirit. They correspond very closely to the three essential attributes of God, as summarized in the Indian formula, sat, chit, ananda – being, knowledge, bliss. Peace is the manifestation of unified being. Love is the mode of divine knowledge. And bliss, the concomitant of perfection, is the same as joy. ~~ Aldous Huxley: Huxley and God: Essays

(c. Pamela J. Leavey Amesbury, MA 2011)

I am responsible for my words, my actions and my choices. When I take responsibility for all aspects of my life, life is simpler and I am at peace with myself. ~~ Pamela J. Leavey

How deep is the well

To the river running to your heart

As you journey to find peace

Do you seek but a place to start

The answer lies in the river’s flow

Running silently to the well.

c. Pamela J. Leavey February 12, 2010

The past few weeks have been interesting… When I started my journey last fall, to move cross country from Los Angeles to Maine, I considered it to be my “mid-life crisis adventure.” I knew I needed a change and it was important to me to be living back on the East Coast where my roots are and to live near family.

Perhaps it is the long hard first winter here, but I think not, there are days when I wonder where the light is at the end of the tunnel. Spring is here, warmer days, longer days, but the sun is not the cure all, for I feel often still that I have not found that missing piece (or peace) I seek.

I’ve been sorting through what I want to do next with my life, like many who have been affected by the economic downturn we are in, I am looking to re-invent myself. Come what may… For now I continue to keep looking…

We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves. — His High Holiness, The Dalai Lama

Today marked the 50th anniversary of The Dalai Lama’s exile from Tibet. I am constantly astounded by The Dalai Lama’s inner peace when it comes to Tibet. I admire his will, but I believe it is time for a Free Tibet.