Kent Nerburn

Good morning, everyone.

I told you I would post a few of the responses I received as to why readers appreciated/liked Small Graces. As I noted in an earlier blog post, you did not see them when they were posted because I had to cull them out of hundreds of inexcusable spamming posts for online casinos, viagra, and mortgage refinancings.

These are a few snippets from what I received:

. . . caught my eye - it was such a pretty book. And I liked the title.

. . . Profound lessons in simple but beautiful language, person to person.

. . .reaffirms that gratitude itself is the grand prize . That which leads us to this end, be it a new Corvette, a good cup of coffee on cool summer morning, or (for me today) an arthritic joint which choose to be quite, are merely a means, a path to a place of spirit, that place universally sought.

. . . The writing style fits the subject matter (good, clear poetic prose is hard to come by).

. . .short enough, that if you give it to someone , you might expect it to be read rather than put on a shelf. Also, you write to the normal, sensitive , intelligent person a lot of us want to be. You stop and lift a coffee cup early in the morning, communion, thank you.

. . . It’s me. I do belong to organized religion but I find God in the ordinary… in people in nature. I always think about your story of the woman with the light in the AM.. I have been watching “The era of rising affluence” which is not where I need to be, because I don’t fit there. kept me appreciating the gift God gave me of being able to find the beauty in the little things. It brought tears to my eyes this morning and still does to get back to thinking this way again, because no way of my life is the grand way. I believe in the quiet God, in finding God in others. Keep writing, I love how you experience and see life and are gifted to be able to speak it so eloquintly, yet so simple. I really need to stay connected with the simple life, yet I tend to complicate things. In AA we talk about arising and how necessary it is to find God immediately so as not to let our minds start to race and be concerned and how it starts out our day… Your philosophy of living is to me, just the way AA and Alanon teaches us

. . . such wisdom, and true heart

. . . I like the universal appeal of the subject matter: life, nature, love

. . . a book of quiet tenderness.

. . . exposed to me things I have in my life I didn’t realize or took for granted.

. . . Simple book written with great perception.

. . . Many ways to direct our thoughts that are more useful.

. . . Liked simplicity, meditation.

. . . Not a self-help book.

. . . everyday ordinary in-your-life things or happenings made extraordinary by having an “attitude of gratitude”

. . . a spiritual, non-prescriptive dose of calm that heals the soul.

I cannot tell you how helpful all these responses are. There have been others equally as valuable, but I haven’t yet reduced them all to small epigrammatic statements that I can use to define a single, central theme. That is my goal.

As you can tell, I’m thinking about another book. The Joseph project continues, but it has been one long arm wrestling match between my point of view and my editor’s. I will keep you updated as I proceed — and rest assured that it still occupies almost all of my days and nights. But the idea of a new Small Graces-like project has been growing in me as an intellectual and spiritual respite from this fascinating but tedious struggle with the book on Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce.

Keep your thoughts on Small Graces coming. I try to write a quick “thank you” to everyone who writes. Just know that the best way to get your thoughts through is to use the form on the Contact Me page.

Keep writing. I love hearing from you.

I just received an email from a reader gently berating me for not writing more in my weblog. She also wondered why I was not receiving responses to my request for thoughts on Small Graces. A few words of explanation are in order.

I have indeed been remiss in keeping up the weblog, and I hope you all understand that summer, work, etc., have taken precedence. I will try to write more as the autumn progresses.

As to the Small Graces comments — they have been coming in; you simply have not been able to see them. This is unfortunate, but, alas, necessary. People have been writing their comments in the “Kent Nerburn contact me” section, and they have been coming directly to me. Originally, comments could get to me through the “new comment” postings, but the world of blogging has a dark underside that I do not fully understand, and that underside has forced me to put in blocks on the “comments” section.

Each day I receive hundreds of rolling “tags” on the comment section, promoting viagra, mortgage refinancing, various types of porn, on-line gambling, and any number of other undesirable websites. These “tags” constantly change their URLs so they can’t be blocked individually. All I can do is put a block on “comments” so that the rest of you don’t have to wade through a hundred comments like “nice website” and “keep it up” that are really simply links to these scamster sites.

In my next post I’ll show you some of the general comments that have been sent regarding Small Graces. In the interim, know that your comments are being seen and read, and, in most cases, given a response. The rest of you just are not able to look over my shoulder to see what is being written.

Stay with me. We’ll get it worked out.

Thanks, everybody, for your comments on Small Graces. I have learned a great deal. It seems that one of the key notions that keeps surfacing is “gratitude.” I never thought “gratitude” was a central theme of the book, but as I reread it I see that there is a constant attitude of thankfulness at its heart. This makes sense, and, more than that, it illuminates something fundamental for me.

I am not, never have been, and never will be a New Age writer. I have no illusions about perfectability of either individual lives or the species itself. I have no belief in infinite abundance, no belief in the self as the only, or even the primary, concern of a life well-examined and a life well-lived. We are, I believe, our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers, and what happens to the least of us happens to us all. We are here to serve — nothing more, nothing less.

But I do brush shoulders with the New Agers at the point of an affirmation of life. I am deeply grateful for the gift of being alive, being able to serve, being able to be part of this crazy, poignant, messy, and miraculous thing called “life.” It is a gift that never ceases to metaphorically, and sometimes physically, put me on my knees at the wonder of it all.

When I asked for help understanding Small Graces, I did not expect that this constant attitude of wonder and gratitude would even be part of the equation. Now I see that it is. It is the place of affirmation in a heart that sees the world in a minor key. It is the place of quietude in a spirit that is otherwise turbulent.

I hope you will all keep writing your thoughts on Small Graces. You are giving me a great gift by reflecting my own work back to me. You may see your thoughts as simple and obvious, but to me they are revelations.

Please keep them coming. I appreciate each and every one of you who writes. We are, after all, a kind of family — kindred hearts trying to articulate our understanding of the world and working in our individual ways to make life better for those around us.

Well, ever so slowly, the whirlwind of this amazing summer is settling down, and life is beginning to return to normal. To have gone from walking the hill towns of Tuscany to walking the hills of Idaho is quite a stretch. The mind and imagination reel from the sights seen and sensations experienced.

But now I have a very real issue that, once again, requires your help. (Well, not all of you, but those of you who are devotees of the book Small Graces, The Quiet Gifts of Everyday Life.)

I need to find out what, exactly, appealed to people about that book. And I’m not talking about specifics of content, I’m talking about the character of the book as a whole. What set it apart from other “inspirational” books in your mind and what touches you about it? Especially those of you who purchase it as gifts or recommend it to others now that you’ve read it: what is it about that book that makes you think it is worthy of sharing with other people?

I won’t give you any leading thoughts here. I have some ideas of my own, but they may be completely off base. This is where you as readers have the chance to complete the circle of understanding about that book. After I get some responses — and, please, give me some responses, as this is very important — we’ll engage in a little dialogue. The webmaster has indicated that he might even be able to put together a real-time discussion where we can spend a few hours together sharing and comparing our thoughts.

But, for now, please do me the favor of responding as fully and forthrightly as you can. Use the Contact form.

I really need you right now, readers. I hope a lot of you will take a little time to help me out on this.