OP Girls

Rescheduled from April 26th due to storms

Miv, in Jennie Godfrey’s The List of Suspicious Things said “Yes” to adventurous sleuthing! Our next book is about saying yes to everything! In the Year of Yes, Shonda Rhimes writes about her own story this time. Using her wit and clever viewpoint, she takes us on a journey of a year when she breaks through her social anxiety by saying “yes”!

Do you remember being Miv’s age and finding it easier to say yes? When was the last time you said yes without hesitation? Without later regretting it? At what age did “yes” happen in instances where you wanted to say “no” so youu could say yes to something you would rather be doing? Were you the friend that instigated or the friend that followed? What position do you take now?

Lots off great conversation to be had about The Year of Yes

This is the second in a four part series on The Experience of Yes. Feel free to jump in at any point… no need to take in order.

I’ll be there at 6 o’clock with some of my favorite resources I’ve found on Amazon. You can grab a beverage and snack and be ready for us to start at 6:30.

The Experience of “Yes”

“Yes” is such a tiny word with immense power! It establishes boundaries and breaks barriers, gathers momentum and creates new paths. With so much at stake, why do we use it without much thought? Or withhold when we want to shout it out loud?

Saying yes to this series will lead to curiosity, insight, connection and maybe a little rebellion as we get up close and personal with the nuances of that three letter word…”yes”.

So let’s explore “yes” in new ways:

Physiologically : Why your brain sometimes leaps before it looks and sometimes hides behind a tree while everyone else moved onto a different game.

Sociologically : How culture teaches us when to nod politely and when to get our boots on and say “Hell yeah!” (Even when our body is saying “hell no”) and when to walk away without a word.

Psychologically: How our mind will mix all the feeling memories associated with our past yeses to negotiate with our habitual yeses and the new ones we are trying to speak.

Literature: How the stories we tell ourselves and others influence our present moment and our future stories. How great stories land and bounce about in the existing pile of yeses that we already hold, creating new chapters in our lives, every moment, every day,

So grab a tasty treat and delicious beverage, then head over to join me In the cozy meeting room at Pilgrim Coffee Co, where we will discover the magic of the nuances of “Yes!”

$10 event fee is payable through Venmo or cash at time of event

https://venmo.com/code?user_id=2634669094862848242

Bring your favorite chocolate treat to share and let’s talk Chocolate… the novel by Joanne Harris. It’s hard to believe this novel was written in 1999, just over a quarter of a century ago! If you’re like me and read it then, reread and notice what you didn’t notice then 😉 Rereads are a great way to get to know our own journey as we experience the same story in a different time of our life.

So let’s start there… when did you read Chocolate or see the movie? Think about what you remembered most about it before you reread. The author wrote the story as a single mom nervous about her situation in life. Did you notice that? Joanne Harris went on to write 3 more books following the mother/daughter relationship all the way through to empty nest: The Lollipop Shoes, Peaches for Father Francis, and The Strawberry Thief.

Last year Harris wrote the prequel to Chocolate, Vianne, starting with Vianne’s pregnancy. So if you’d like to read her story from beginning to the time her daughter leaves home, start there. For this bookclub, we will revisit the classic but I’d love to hear thoughts on the others if you’ve read them.

So let’s get chatty over Chocolate! Bring your favorite chocolate treat and plenty to say about life in the novel, Chocolate by Joanne Harris.

***Jason Kayne (think Jack Johnson or Ed Sheeran kinda vibe) will be picking up his guitar at 3 o’clock so feel free to join for live music at that time, even if you haven’t read the book.