Don't Let Anyone Bah at Your Dreams.

At a trip to the Watertown Public Library's children section, where I was searching for quality illustrated books for lesson planning, I could not find any books about weather conditions. I spoke with the librarian briefly and she suggested a book called, Mathilda and the Orange Balloon, by Randall de Seve and Illustrated by Jen Corace. The book has nothing to do with weather, but something told me to give the book a chance. The book sat in my kid's yoga tote for a few weeks as I went through the more obvious material. As the date approached to return it, I got curious.

The day I finally opened the book, I completely winged it with a class of 4 year olds. I had only skimmed through and thus felt awe-inspired discovering the beauty and profundity that was enclosed between the two plastic shiny covers. Mathilda is a sheep who is living a mundane life in a small world. She awakens suddenly from her daze to the sight of an orange balloon. The other sheep around her have seen wonders of this sort and are unmoved. Yet, she connects immediately with the feeling this object sets off inside her. She proclaims to be an orange balloon and the others mock her and tell her she is wrong and will only ever be a sheep. They define the traits of an orange balloon, round, floating, warm as wool, fierce like a tiger and Mathilda grows even more deeply convinced that she is indeed an orange balloon. She learns it is possible to be anyone or anything she believes in. The other sheep soon learn that believing is seeing. It is with that spirit that I am writing this article.

I have long aspired to write. Correction, I have written for as long as I could hold a pencil (let's be honest, crayon...) and have always shared my words with my friends and loved ones. I want to write books. Today I met Rebecca Pacecho of Omgal.com, a great teacher whom I look up to very much. She has been writing a book which will be published upon completion. I spoke to her about the process and she stressed the importance of being myself in my writing. Not attempting to recreate the work or any other famous yogi or yogini or steal anyone else's light, but to write from an authentic space what I know best. I feel like Mathilda seeing the balloon for the first time. I am awakened to the idea that my expertise in early childhood, education and yoga will be the message of my first book. So many of my blog posts have been about that anyhow. So much of my early writing is for kid's books, but my special niche is writing for parents and educators of those kids so that they can reach them too. Rebecca also told me that blogging is a great way to move toward my goals of publishing. Viola ;-)

I am excited to announce my plans to develop myself as a writer.Thanks to all of the readers who grant me space to do so. Please continue reading and commenting.

With much gratitude,
Lara