Book Nook: A Heart's Landscape - An Invitation to the Garden of Moments

 

When you are challenged – how do you tap into your moment of joy?

 

We all have the ability to manifest a day based on joy and understanding by beginning with a transcendent moment. Author and counselor Susan Lax offers such moments to get your day started in her gorgeous collection of stories, poems and insights, A Heart's Landscape: An Invitation to the Garden of Moments (Your Moment Press; January 12, 2022). Lax shares entries and photographs from her “Morning Inspiration” emails to provide readers with the insight, comfort and healing needed to open their minds and live each day with an attentive heart.

 

The seeds for Morning Inspiration were planted when Susan Lax learned that one of her closest friends was diagnosed with cancer and she was determined to find a way to bring light back to their bond. Respecting her friend’s desire to keep her illness confidential, Lax began sending her friend an email each morning at 6 a.m. designed to bring a moment of joy to her day. This daily tradition continued for five months until one morning Lax awoke with the flu and did not send her morning email.

 

By 7:30 a.m., Lax received a phone call from her friend. “Where is my morning blessing? Why didn’t you send it today?”

 

This would be the only moment in which the two friends discussed the emails aloud. For the rest of the year, Lax sent a short morning blessing and eventually, her friend regained her health. Although the emails were only spoken about once, Lax understood the support they provided. From there, the Morning Inspiration newsletter was born.

 

Morning Inspiration has evolved over time. What began as a message for women diagnosed with health issues became a crafted moment of inspiration for all types of people. The email list grew to include men as well as women traveling through their individual challenging journeys. Along the way, Lax began incorporating photography with her transformative messages. Through these shared moments, she continues to showcase the importance of finding time for joy. We may never be able to overcome grief, but we can learn to set it aside for periods of time and allow ourselves to experience life’s wonders through a positive frame of mind.

 

SUSAN LAX earned a teaching degree in creative drama from the Kibbutzim College of Education, Technology, and the Arts in Israel. She taught creative drama at a local elementary school and continued her studies at the Chochmat Halev, where she focused on meditation and Jewish spirituality. Throughout her educational career, Lax also studied Jewish healing, sacred psychology, spiritual practice as a path of healing, healing aspects of death and dying, and guided meditation. Lax currently works as a spiritual counselor specializing in, but not limited to, those touched by illness, grief, and loving through death. She lectures and leads workshops on the topics of awareness and making room for joy. Lax is the author Morning Inspiration, an email newsletter released three times a week. In addition, she is the co-owner of Naot Footwear, a company that ethically manufactures handmade comfort shoes in Israel.