I planned a while ago to take an extra day over the long Memorial Day weekend and head out to my cottage in Connecticut.

True to my Type A, New York personality, I started to set personal goals and created a to-do list that included working in the yard, cleaning out the basement, dropping off clothes at the Episcopal Thrift Shop, meeting friends, prepping for an upcoming video interview, etc.

I’ve been thinking a lot about creativity lately, about how creating is a spiritual act because it reconnects us with the Creator—and ourselves.

Not too long ago, Therese Borchard quoted Thomas Merton in her Beyond Blue blog. The Trappist monk and bestselling author wrote:

I have been thinking lately how I have lost discipline. Last year, I pledged to get to a healthy weight and ended up losing 45 pounds in 11+ months.

But this year, although I have talked about goals—mainly a financial diet—I haven’t really applied myself with single-minded focus. Nor have I begun to walk early in the morning or after work, and my willpower around food is slipping.

I’ve been journaling since I can’t remember when.

Looking back, many, if not most, of the entries were written in stressful, difficult times, when I couldn’t sleep or when I needed an outlet for pain, anger or disappointment.

I also wrote pages upon pages on retreat. Those sections are brimming with quotes from the spiritual books I was reading as well as remarkable insights and yearnings. Having cleared away everyday concerns with prayer and settled into silence, my daily jottings reflected a depth that my everyday self rarely enjoys or entertains.

A week or so ago, I found All About Living with Life, a blog that covers exactly what its title heralds.

It carries some very good tips and advice about personal finance, work situations, personal growth, parenting—basically the stuff of life. I wouldn’t say that the material is terribly original, but what I’ve found valuable is being reminded about ways to handle everyday situations and challenges in positive ways.

Sometimes our own personal growth expands outward to touch others in our family, in our community, in the world. None have done this as harmoniously as the Playing for Change folks.

If you were to look up the term “personal growth,” the words that would most likely pop up would be self-improvement, success, goal-setting, etc. But I believe that personal growth also involves deepening one’s relationship with God. In this Easter season, I’d like to offer you five books that I return to over and over because they nourish my soul.

Working on a website that focuses on faith, hope and inspiration, I read many uplifting stories every week. But sometimes a story lodges itself in my consciousness; it hovers around me like a hummingbird, its message touching a deep chord.

All I can say is: Wow!

This piece on quitting is one of the most powerful statements of personal growth and transformation I have read in a long time. Thank you, Therese Borchard and Drama Queen, for putting this out there.

Spring has finally burst on the scene here in New York. The daffodils on the Central Park hills lift their yellow faces to the sun, the crocuses and tiny bluebells dot the greening grass, and the forsythia have thrown themselves wide open! Even tulips are popping out here and there. All around, the grass, trees, bushes and flowers are sending out fragile shoots, buds and blossoms.

Yet despite spring’s arrival, there remain telltale signs of the unrelenting harshness of a winter that battered not only the land here but our psyches and spirits as well.