I think I’ve mentioned before how I sometimes go into little worry cycles and luckily yoga really does help me stay calm but today I went to a most fabulous session of yoga nidra. I had not tried this before and it was bliss.  If only I could take a class like that every day.

I’m reveling in those peaceful feelings and am going to just lounge around with some books this evening but I thought I’d leave you with a poem (I haven’t posted anything about poetry in long time – shame, shame). I think it’s a perfect poem for those of us who may have a bit too much on our mind. Read it and smile.

Last night, while I lay thinking here,
some Whatifs crawled inside my ear
and pranced and partied all night long
and sang their same old Whatif song:
Whatif I’m dumb in school?
Whatif they’ve closed the swimming pool?
Whatif I get beat up?
Whatif there’s poison in my cup?
Whatif I start to cry?
Whatif I get sick and die?
Whatif I flunk that test?
Whatif green hair grows on my chest?
Whatif nobody likes me?
Whatif a bolt of lightning strikes me?
Whatif I don’t grow taller?
Whatif my head starts getting smaller?
Whatif the fish won’t bite?
Whatif the wind tears up my kite?
Whatif they start a war?
Whatif my parents get divorced?
Whatif the bus is late?
Whatif my teeth don’t grow in straight?
Whatif I tear my pants?
Whatif I never learn to dance?
Everything seems well, and then
the nighttime Whatifs strike again!

Whatif by Shel Silverstein

Oh and a little reminder, you still have time to enter the Traveling with Pomegranates giveaway. Winner will be announced on Friday, Oct. 2.

A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb

“Someone was looking at me, a disturbing sensation if you’re dead.”

Helen has been dead for 130 years but her essence is still on this earth attaching itself to a “host” so as to not fall into nothingness. But she isn’t the evil specters one would associate with hauntings, no Helen is part of the “Light,” those who are still on earth but which the living can’t see and for some reason can’t move on. During her years as Light she’s had several hosts and now she’s attached herself to Mr. Brown, a high school English teacher.

It is while Mr. Brown is teaching class that Helen feels someone looking at her but how is it possible for that young student to notice her? No one has ever noticed her. What Helen will come to find out is that Billy is not really the one who sees her but James, yes, another one who is also part of the “Light.”

James entered Billy’s body after Billy suffered a nearly-fatal overdose. When he sees Helen there is an immediate connection and even though she’s scared and doesn’t understand at first, the two struggle to find a way to be together.

It is then that James hits on the idea that Helen should also enter someone else’s body. Helen will find that it’s not easy to inhabit someone else’s body. She’ll struggle to learn who Jenny really is and why she wanted to leave the world of living in the first place.

I found this YA novel so engaging not just because of the romance between James and Helen, but also for its portrayal of the two teens who were hurting emotionally and actually preferred not to be here. In addition to the ghost aspect of the story, there is also an air of mystery as James and Helen tell us more about who they were and why they haven’t moved on. An intriguing premise with some interesting approaches to the ghost story.

How about you? Read a good ghost story lately? Oh, and this is one down for my R.I.P. Challenge!