Author: ekkarn

Once upon a time I knew a young man who was semi-literate. He read books by Alexander Solzhenisten, John Fowles, Norman Mailer and James Baldwin among others. He loved the Marx Brothers and read about George S Kauffman, Alexander Woolcott and the rest of the members of the Algonquin Wits, including Dorothy Parker. But through the years as that young man aged, he found escape from the drudgery of work not in great literature, but in mysteries and thrillers, not that they aren’t good reads, but hey, saving the world from serial killers and nuclear annihilation isn’t the same as questioning the meaning of life!

He did though along the way, find that the answer to life, the universe, and everything is _____.   You’ll have to find that out yourself!  So back to this aging man….. it seemed as though he was DE-evolving to the point where, his wife would tell his children that she “married him for his mind” and his children would laugh uncontrollably!  I assume that you probably surmised, fairly early in this post that the young man was me, and that the old Neanderthal, is also me….. I think a lot of my reverse evolution revolves around MY internal concept of who I am, which rather than revolving around my four great children, for which I give my wife most of the create, is based on my job. The problem is that I don’t see my job in a very good light for the last 30 years for the majority of th time I was digging holes and examining dirt, oops, soil throughout New Jersey for the purpose of designing in-ground sewage disposal systems. It’s tough sometimes to keep up a positive self-image when one of your bosses calls you “Eddie the Shit King”!  The rest of the time I was trudging through woods trying to define  that elusive line where wetlands turn to uplands so that somebody could build something!! Both of these roles while providing a steady income that almost got us by, I say almost because like most folks our credit debt has risen through the years, really weren’t what I set out to do with my life. So now I sit here reviewing my life and wondering, “Where do I go from here!”  Right now I don’t know  the answer, but I think to move forward in a positive direction, I need to go back and reconnect with that young man and while not recapturing that youth, take those values, ideals and intelligence (I know it’s still in there somewhere, I just forgot where I left it), and move them back to the forefront of  my life. So that as I move forward, I can travel in the right direction, or at least in one where I feel positive about myself!!

Now the reason, that I mention all this, including the Algonquin Wits is that Book 22 for 2013  Farewell, Dorothy Parker by Ellen Meister, as I wrote before an atypical book for me to read. While it may not have been the greatest literature it, did deal with life’s problems. The heroine, Violet Epps, had to deal with death – the loss of her sister and brother-in-law in a car accident that left her niece Delaney an orphan, and life, as Violet has to move forward and fight for custody of Delaney from her grandparents! Along the way, Violet gains strength and find her personal inner voice to match her professional movie critic voice, with the help from the spirit of Mrs. Dorothy Parker!! Violet discovers that Mrs. Parker’s spirit has never crossed over into the light, but still resides in the guest book of the Algonquin Hotel, and when the book is open she materializes. Violet discovers this when the book ends up in her bag and in her house after a hectic scene in the Hotel!  The book gives the reader some insight into the life of Mrs. Parker, including many of her caustic one-liners, as she humorously tries to help Violet, catch her man, win custody of her niece and find her lost inner voice!!

All in all, it was a fast and funny read that brought back memories of those who sat around that table at the Algonquin Hotel and maybe just maybe will help me regain that inner me that I miss!

As I browsed the library shelves a couple of weeks ago, i couldn’t pass up a book titled Misadventures of a Garden State Yogi, and I’m so glad I didn’t! Brian Leaf’s wonderful book, subtitled My Humble Quest to heal my Colitis, Calm my ADD and Find the Key to Happiness has become Book 19 for 2013. As I read the back cover of the book a quote from Kathryn Buid, author of The Women’s Health Big Book of Yoga pretty much sums it up!

Brian Leaf is like the Bill Cosby of Yoga – recounting common emotions and situations on a yogi’s path in a way that makes you laugh with acknowledgment. His story is so graphic I felt like I was practically holding his hand!

His eight simple keys to happiness sprinkled throughout the book follow an experience in his life that led him to discover that key. Most of the time the experience is quite funny and I would frequently laugh out loud and then like Kathryn said – nod my head with acknowledgment!

I have over the last forty years been an on and off again self-taught student of yoga. First through Richard Hittleman, then books on Ivengar yoga, and finally Kundalini yoga. I spent one year meat free and several doing kriyas and chanting Sikh mantras and for the most part it was great. But somehow it all slipped away. For the last year or so, I’ve done an exercise routine that includes some Kundalini movements coupled with weights and resistance bands and some Hatha yoga on off days. Any time that I do yoga on a consistent basis, I catch myself zipping through work, being more organized and feeling great ( especially when I do a kriya called Master of Your Domain) and then I think to myself, oh yeah, you’ve been doing yoga!! So after reading Brian’s book, and Happiness Rule #1, which is: Do you, and if you do yoga do more yoga!  I am making a commitment to do just that!! More yoga, maybe I’ll even check out a book on Kripalu yoga, which is the yoga that Brian finally committed to, and see how I like it!!

Anyway, I you want to read a wonderfully funny memoir with great insight in the search for Happiness, read Brian’s book. As for me, I’m going to do more yoga and try to apply Brian’s Keys to my life. I’ve already looked up some websites on Ayurveda , so that I can apply Rule # 3, which is: Apply at least three pieces of Ayurvedic wisdom to your daily schedule! I’ll let you know what happens!!