One of the things about working on one's memoir is that it becomes forcibly obvious to each and every writer that the past is never over.  It shapes who we are, and how we react, and how we make our lives work.  Even when we'd like to think the past is safely behind us, small reminders come along to let us know we're not getting away with anything free today.

To some people that may seem like bad news. Behind it, though, exists a life lesson of some power.  We are not separate.  We are not islands, and we are linked to others by a thousand threads, some of gossamer, some that look like steel hawsers.  Seeing this we can choose to view our experiences differently.  And as we do so we'll look not for the high spots or the misery or the drama, but for those occasions when beauty and hope broke through, when the sunlight came from behind the clouds and showed us those threads, stretching to each horizon.  At such times we are touched by the transcendent.

Have ever walked though a wood or forest and suddenly had the feeling that a tree was looking at you? Joan Klostermann-Ketels would tell you that you had just met a PersonaliTree — trees are sentient beings with their own personalities and traits, we humans simply need to learn how to recognise them. In her book PersonaliTrees: Let the Human Spirit Awaken in the Presence of the Trees (Findhorn Press, April 2010, £8.99), Joan guides you to experience the personality within each tree, is this a Flamboyant tree or a Resolute one? A Heartbroken tree or a Haunted one?

Named by Fast Company Magazine to its Top 10 List for Media:

"One of the powerhouses of independent publishing, it sold more than 3 million copies of its very first book, Shakti Gawain's Creative Visualization, in 1977. William Whitecloud's 2009 best seller, The Magician's Way, and latter-day Oprah-blessed classics such as Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now came from New World. In July, it announced a new set of iPhone apps based on works by Tolle, Mother Teresa, and others."

My dearly beloved has been out of town for a few days (promoting her book 'The Confident Creative' which you can see on www.theconfidentcreative.com) and that left me with the cooking.

I'm a moderately competent cook if I put my mind to it, in a basic kind of way.  There are occasional forays into exciting gustatory treats when I have decided to do a dinner party or something. But I'm well out of practice.

This week has been a time of rediscovery for me. And what I learned is that there is often a simple beauty in preparing dishes for oneself, seeing the whole process through from start to finish, down to the last washed pan. It brings me to greater mindfulness, and in the process I eat less and probably enjoy it more.  Since I've always been really bad at timing meals so everything comes together, hot, at roughly the same time, I discovered again that when cooking for just one this really doesn't matter, and the enjoyment is often even greater because the meal is strung out for longer than would normally be deemed acceptable.

I could have done the easy thing and walked to one of the three take-outs, or chosen the dinner specials at any of the other places.  But I didn't.  And I'm glad I didn't. I think I spent time with the kitchen gods in stead.

Those of you who visit this blog regularly, and who are kind enough to comment as well, may have noticed that I haven't been posting much recently. There is a reason, and that is that I've been writing, drafting a new book about how we can get into the flow of the universe, how we often fail to, what the pitfalls are, and what we can do about them.
Once we contact the flow, of course, we move in a different relationship to our own sense of destiny, if only because we agree to work with the universe for what it wants, rather than against it for what we want.

In terms of memoir, we may want to write what proves us right and what makes us look good.  This is the ego part of the mind, trying to force an idea on the reader.  When we let go of this we open up to the possibility of writing what is true, that which reaches further and deeper than our own small needs.  And in that alteration, everything alters.

Dear Mr. Meisel, It feels like I’m in the dark with a big wall around me. I can’t seem to find the door to my spiritual path. I know it’s there but how can I find it? Can you please shine a light so I can find that door?

Book marketing guru John Kremer has founded two websites for giving books away free as ebooks. AllBooksFree.com is devoted to free novels, children's books, short story collections, and poetry books.

The pace of change for the book publishing industry is speeding up! Amazon has seen a growing demand for e-books, selling six Kindle books for every 10 physical books on the 410,000 e-books it has in stock, and it was the most gifted item in Amazon’s history. Barnes and Noble has recently come out with its own e-reader, the Nook, which was basically a modified version of the Kindle, but now with the advent of the iPad, Apple’s tablet, the e-book market looks poised for a quantum leap. For one thing, the tablet permits the use of color, opening up the market for a whole new range of books that otherwise were not suited to e-book format. More importantly, Apple’s iTunes provides  a proven distribution channel.

This week's cover for the 'New Yorker' shows four cartoon frames.  A small figure walks towards us.  As it gets closer we see that it's Obama, walking on water.  The final frame shows a surprised Obama as one leg disappears beneath the surface.

Very witty.  Some people really felt that, like Jesus, Obama could walk on water.  Now he's suffered some set-backs. We grin.

But the metaphor has a deeper level.  All Saviors, including Jesus, disappointed their followers (think about the crucifixion and you'll see what I mean). And that is the whole point.

Saviors are not here to do everything for us.  They arrive and ask US if we want to be part of the solution ('Together We Can') -- and then we have to get on with saving our own lives.

So I'll say to those disenchanted voters, did you even try to be part of the solution?  Really?  Or did you simply hand over a broken country to a new president and say, 'Here, fix this mess' ?  Frankly, you wouldn't treat your car mechanic that way.  Why would you be less patient with your president?

The savior's task is not to save you, but to get you to save yourself.  So - are you up for it?

I advocate everyone taking the time to do a little soul work from time to time.  The best way for most of us is to write about our lives - a mini memoirs, if you will.