{"id":37541,"date":"2015-05-15T11:11:29","date_gmt":"2015-05-15T15:11:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/?p=37541"},"modified":"2015-08-13T12:22:44","modified_gmt":"2015-08-13T16:22:44","slug":"your-illustrated-guide-to-becoming-one-with-the-universe-by-yumi-sakagawa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/your-illustrated-guide-to-becoming-one-with-the-universe-by-yumi-sakagawa\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Illustrated Guide to Becoming One with the Universe by Yumi Sakugawa"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2015\/05\/Your-Illustrated-Guide-to-ZBecoming-One-with-the-Universe-by-Yumi-Sakugawa-on-BookDragon.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-37544\" src=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2015\/05\/Your-Illustrated-Guide-to-ZBecoming-One-with-the-Universe-by-Yumi-Sakugawa-on-BookDragon-600x800.jpg\" alt=\"Your Illustrated Guide to ZBecoming One with the Universe by Yumi Sakugawa on BookDragon\" width=\"600\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2015\/05\/Your-Illustrated-Guide-to-ZBecoming-One-with-the-Universe-by-Yumi-Sakugawa-on-BookDragon-600x800.jpg 600w, https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2015\/05\/Your-Illustrated-Guide-to-ZBecoming-One-with-the-Universe-by-Yumi-Sakugawa-on-BookDragon-800x1067.jpg 800w, https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2015\/05\/Your-Illustrated-Guide-to-ZBecoming-One-with-the-Universe-by-Yumi-Sakugawa-on-BookDragon.jpg 1800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a>Although I&#8217;ve been devoutly agnostic most of my adult life, I will admit that I get the occasional, random message from the higher-powers-that-be:\u00a0understanding doesn&#8217;t always come with these missives, more\u00a0like nudges that\u00a0I need to listen better. I keep trying &#8230;<\/p>\n<p>For now,\u00a0the best handbooks on\u00a0divine communication seem to be found in books (of course!) &#8230; and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.yumisakugawa.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Yumi Sakugawa<\/a>\u00a0is surely notable as an imaginative\u00a0messenger of simple clarity. That her art is so marvelously\u00a0creative certainly makes her titles delightfully inviting.<\/p>\n<p>In my old age, some of the most basic actions in life\u00a0can become increasingly neglected\u00a0&#8230; mainly because we old folks tend to become creatures of (not-so-good to downright-rotten) habits of distraction. Breathing and listening are two crucial activities for our very survival and sanity, and yet we need reminders like this <em>Guide<\/em>\u00a0before we pass out or get cast out!<\/p>\n<p>Sakugawa is determined to slow you down, bring you back together, reconnect you with yourself and beyond\u00a0\u2013 in nine gentle lessons. Straightforward, yes, but not necessarily easy. &#8220;Hello earthling,&#8221; she begins. &#8220;Welcome to a beginning of an exciting journey where you will reconnect with the universe &#8230; No matter who you are, where you are, or what you are doing right this moment &#8230; you can consciously reclaim your oneness with the universe &#8230; and experience pure joy.&#8221; Who wouldn&#8217;t want that?<\/p>\n<p>The nine-step journey begins\u00a0easily enough: &#8220;Tonight lie down under the open sky.&#8221; We can all do that, right? &#8220;Send a telepathic message out into the night sky, the stars, distant galaxies, faraway planets, and everything around you. Sooner or later you will receive a response back.&#8221; Lesson 2 is necessary to achieve Lesson 1: &#8220;pay attention and listen.&#8221; Lesson 3 is just to &#8220;breathe in, breathe out. Let us get reacquainted with the miracle that is your breath.&#8221; Lesson 4 explores the unknown: &#8220;Plant strange seeds and let strange things grow.&#8221; You&#8217;ll soon appreciate the logic in that &#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Lessons 5 through 9 become exponentially more challenging, including &#8220;explore your inner cosmos&#8221; &#8220;have\u00a0cake with your demons,&#8221; and the final &#8220;create a new space-time continuum of transcendence that will bring peace and joy to all sentient beings.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>To get to such an\u00a0end-that&#8217;s-really-a-renewed-beginning, lucky lesson #7 is our best hope: &#8220;Set on fire the things you no longer need,&#8221; which includes &#8220;small things&#8221; like letting go of your annoyances, stress, grudges, and peeves, and the &#8220;bigger things&#8221; like painful childhood memories, grief, heartbreak, self-hatred and anger.<\/p>\n<p>Just reading Sakugawa&#8217;s step-by-compassionate-step pages provides a few minutes of tranquility. Linger longer with her artful beings, demons, shapes, landscapes, and enjoy the peaceful\u00a0haven&#8230; temporary it may be, but you know you&#8217;ll always be welcome back.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Readers<\/strong>: Young Adult, Adult<\/p>\n<p><strong>Published<\/strong>: 2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Although I&#8217;ve been devoutly agnostic most of my adult life, I will admit that I get the occasional, random message from the higher-powers-that-be:\u00a0understanding doesn&#8217;t always come with these missives, more\u00a0like nudges that\u00a0I need to listen better. I keep trying &#8230; For now,\u00a0the best handbooks on\u00a0divine&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37544,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,73,426,20,31],"tags":[6608,111,51,6366,6369],"class_list":["post-37541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adult-readers","category-graphic-novel-manga-manwha","category-japanese-american","category-nonfiction","category-young-adult-readers","tag-bookdragon","tag-how-to","tag-identity","tag-your-illustrated-guide-to-becoming-one-with-the-universe","tag-yumi-sakugawa"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.14 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Your Illustrated Guide to Becoming One with the Universe by Yumi Sakugawa - BookDragon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/your-illustrated-guide-to-becoming-one-with-the-universe-by-yumi-sakagawa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Your Illustrated Guide to Becoming One with the Universe by Yumi Sakugawa - BookDragon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Although I&#8217;ve been devoutly agnostic most of my adult life, I will admit that I get the occasional, random message from the higher-powers-that-be:\u00a0understanding doesn&#8217;t always come with these missives, more\u00a0like nudges that\u00a0I need to listen better. 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