Now (Nourish. Overcome. Waken.) Andee Scarantino

INTRODUCTION: HOW TO READ THIS BOOK

Read this book any way you like. Pick a section, then dive in.

This book is designed to be your companion, adaptable to your needs and curiosities. There is no right or wrong way to read it—immerse yourself wherever you feel drawn.

The sections serve as a map, offering pathways to different aspects of the human experience. However, you don't have to follow them in any particular order. Trust your intuition. Choose any passage that resonates with you and begin there.

This book is here to meet you where you are, addressing whatever thoughts, feelings, or challenges are present for you in this moment. Its purpose is to guide you back to the enchantment and presence of the NOW.

Embrace the magic of the present, and let this book be a mirror reflecting the wonders of your journey.

With love and gratitude,

Andee

Introduction: How to Read This Book 149 words

Your Body: The Base of Your Life Force

YOUR BODY IS PART OF YOUR LIFE FORCE

In the Netflix documentary Stutz, psychiatrist Phil Stutz describes our "Life Force" as a pyramid.

The base layer is connection to body

The second layer is connection to others

The top layer is connection to Yourself

As I often tell my clients, this isn't new or novel. Marcus Aurelius wrote (essentially) the same thing in "Meditations," which were his private notes he made from AD 161 to 180. From Gregory Hays' translation, page 106:

"Three relationships: i. with the body you inhabit ii. with the divine, the cause of everything in all things iii. with the people around you

I live in a society where "body" is viewed by a large majority as "something to be tweaked for the purpose of a physical aesthetic."

"I need to lose weight" is something people say a lot.

Well, sure, that may be. But do you know why? Is that WHY something that is truly motivational and/or sustainable for you?

For most people, "I want to look better" is not a

Your Body is Part of Your Life Force 476 words

NOTES ON SOVEREIGNTY: BODY, MIND, AND THE DISCIPLINE OF SELF-OWNERSHIP

This is a piece about sovereignty in the body and self-ownership. As you read this, I’d encourage you to read it not as if it’s about me, but about you, and what’s possible.

A month ago, I ran a race called the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler in Washington DC. 10 miles is my favorite distance to race, and there aren’t a lot of great 10-milers in the Northeast.

There’s The Bronx 10-Miler that I run whenever I can register before it sells out. I’ve run Broad Street in Philadelphia once, and it’s my 10-mile PR. (Great race.) Cherry Blossom is another large, lottery race that takes you through beautiful DC scenery. It’s just gorgeous.

My sister-in-law runs it every year, and because her mother has run it so many times and volunteered so many times, she not only gets guaranteed entry but also gets a bib she can gift to someone else. This year, I was that lucky (and grateful) person.

I did very well in the 10-miler, considering my

Notes on Sovereignty: Body, Mind, and the Discipline of Self-Ownership 2,108 words

For Your Marvelous Mind

FEAR IS FICTIONAL

I'm in this tank... 💦

And all of a sudden, I'm afraid....

Afraid that a sound... will interrupt my peaceful state. My brain creates the fear from nothing, as I am within nothing, returning to nothing, surrounded by nothing, visualizing nothing.

Every time a frequency that might be too subtle for my naked ear to hear somehow slightly transmits through the salt water, my heart begins beating faster. I hear that... Loud. Fast. I can hear the swishing of my blood almost. I can hear spikey gurgles from that system that takes the food in my body and turns it into ... more of my body.

I discovered that morning upon the resurgence of something familiar yet new that I am terrified ... of everything.

I figured this out when I drove across the country (alone) in 2021.

I knew it when I left my sources of stable income to pursue unstable and unpred

Fear is Fictional 553 words

OBSERVING THE MESS

I worked in restaurants for many years, which were fertile grounds to observe human behavior.

One of the phenomena I observed was the tendency for people to scream or clap when plates were dropped.

Someone would drop plates, and immediately, a loud "reaction" had to be displayed.

I wondered why that occurred. It seemed to intensify the experience... and not in a way that felt pleasant. It felt uncontrollable in so many senses.

It also taught me common themes about behavior:

Event = reaction

Reaction = inability to be uncomfortable with event

After many years, when this would happen and the screaming or the clapping would commence, I'd just stare at the people. And then... we'd share an uncomfortable moment together.

Why was I not "playing along?" Because... we don't need to have a reaction to everything.

Sometimes, we can just sit and observe the mess.

Observing the Mess 149 words

8 SECRETS FOR A PEACEFUL LIFE

8 things I've had to embrace in my lifetime to make it peaceful, worthwhile, and abundant:

Everybody is right.
There's no such thing as good and evil.
If it causes you pain, it's attachment.
You get more of what you give. If you can't find a way to give in one area, give in another area, and then allow that to bleed over.
There are two things you need to have worldly success: money, and chutzpah. If you don't have one, you need twice as much of the other.
People deeply appreciate honesty but will more easily pay for lies.
Reciprocity is a golden ticket to belonging.
If you have to force it like a BM the day after consuming a whole brick of cheese, it's likely not the right path for you.

8 Secrets For a Peaceful Life 147 words

SURRENDER OR RESIST?

One of the things I talk about in my work is the idea of "surrender" versus "resistance."

You can have two exact circumstances; at one point, one choice will be "surrender," and at another, "resistance.

"For example, I had RESISTANCE to taking the alleged "unsafe road" by becoming self-employed. The resistance came because I was afraid, not trusting, felt I was "unsafe," was worried I'd be dead in a ditch, etc etc etc.

I had to SURRENDER to that fear and prove to myself not only that I could do this... but that I'd be taken care of the whole way. (Surprise, I was. Completely.)

But then, two years into that, the surrender shifted. All of a sudden I was RESISTING a side income (that I wanted) because of an ego program that said I was "too good, beyond this," etc etc. All of a sudden, my former surrender became a place of resistance.

See, it isn't about what's happening. It's about where you, inside, are not yet "free." That's where you're either surrendering or resisti

Surrender or Resist? 924 words

YOU MIGHT BE THE BAD GUY

I’ve noticed in my work that a lot of people strongly feel they’re discrediting their past or abandoning their trauma by choosing to tell a different story today.

(I was this way in the past.)

My dharma teacher used to say “I challenge you to hear something this time differently than you have before.”

Because, of course, we’ve been taught that “knowing” gives us value… So, when someone begins to deliver you a piece of … insight? Information? The first thing our brains want to do is go “OOOH! I know what that is!”

Maybe this time, after that happens, you could ask yourself, “What else could be true here?”

I notice that most people I help or have helped are insistent on continuing to tell “the story of how it happened and why things are this way.”

I’m content to hear your story once, but when you repeat a non-serving story ad nauseam, all you are doing is solidifying that as true in your mind.

Hear this upcoming part differently—

Your story mig

You Might Be the Bad Guy 433 words

THE HIGH IS IN THE ORDINARY

I was once what Erving Goffman called an "action seeker." I loved to be in bars because they were spaces where the action was happening.

Even working in Times Square for so many years, I stayed there, by and large, because I liked the constant stimulus. I needed my life to be constant motion in order for me to feel a sense of pride and purpose.

I really didn't have any purpose in doing that, though. I just had motion. Motion and more motion and more motion. That was what kept me drinking.

I loved grinding until 4:00 a.m. I loved the vagabonds asking me for money while I smoked cigarettes outside of O'Lunney's on 45th street.

I definitely gave at least two blowjobs in public in my after-work shenanigans. I was always in some sort of flappy lipped battle of wits with some other drunk. Things were always chaotic. I said good night to taxi drivers sometimes at 7:00 a.m. when I stumbled out of their back seats.

When I stopped drinking, all of that was gone. For onc

The High is in the Ordinary 778 words

THE WINNER'S MIND

I was an 18-year cigarette smoker in January 2018. By October of that same year, I quit smoking and completed my first marathon. (For those of you non-runners, that's 26.2 miles.)

I've run over 10,000 miles since then, and seven full marathons marathons. I'm hoping I qualify for Boston soon enough. But... if I don't, there's always "old age" and the extra minutes that come along with that. 😂

I like to consider myself a "winner," and I'm a winner because I have what I call "the winner's mind."

What is the "winner's mind?" It's the mindset that knows WHEN enough is enough.

Thinking "I should be doing more" is a loser’s mindset. It's one reason so many people give up on things instead of seeing them through.

Here's a practical example of it:

Let's say you decide to start running. You seem to be having trouble doing it (naturally, because it takes time) and you feel frustrated. You walk a lot (naturally) and you feel defeated every time you decide to go outdoors.

The Winner's Mind 501 words

You Are Enough

WHY YOU ARE IRREPLACEABLE

My favorite TV show (maybe of all time) is Mad Men, which aired on AMC from 2007-2015.

It's a period drama about an advertising agency in the 1960s, and as I have found myself obsessed with that decade throughout my life, I watch it from start to finish, over and over.

In one of the episodes, the ad agency Sterling Cooper is making an ad for the diet drink "Patio," which would later become Diet Pepsi.

Their strategy was to do a copy, frame for frame, of the opening of Bye Bye Birdie. However, the song would be about "Patio," rather than the original Bye Bye Birdie lyrics.

"Bye bye sugarrrrrr!" 🎶

Yet, when the ad was done, the people at Pepsi said that while it was an exact copy, it just wasn't right. They acknowledged the work was well done, but something was "not right about it."

After they left, one character affirmed:

"It's true. It's not right. It doesn't make any sense. It looks right. Sounds right. Smells right. Something's not right. What is it?"

Why You Are Irreplaceable 456 words

YOU ARE EVERYTHING AND NOTHING

A few years ago, I stopped into the small supermarket around the corner to buy some butter. It was the only item I needed— not worth a trek up to 14th street to Trader Joe's.

I waited in line while a woman, somewhat angry, argued at the front with the cashier. (He was also the owner.) There was some price dispute, or item dispute, or... I don't know. It went on a while, and the line steadily grew as I waited.

Suddenly I began to feel ... irritated. Not so much with waiting, because I had absolutely nowhere to be, but just irritated by the energy of this woman, and the owner, and the people in the line... Irritations continued to grow as the woman then yelled loudly and walked away from the register to go find something.

Finally I, overcome by all of the tension, aggressively put my butter into the drink case beside me and walked out of the store.

What happened? Was there a force that acted upon me that I didn't reconcile? What was the stimulus that caused th

You are Everything and Nothing 508 words

YOU DON'T HAVE TO PICK A THING

You don’t have to pick a thing.

You can be everything.

You’re not a brand. That shit is out.

You’re a person.

A person who believes in God and love and light and ALSO has to routinely delete the PornHub suggestion Safari keeps putting on your iPhone. (Not that I’d know anything about that.)

You’re healthy and strong and also you just polished off an entire bag of reeses in a sitting.

Everybody is right.

Everything is in.

Heavy Metal. Taylor Swift.

You can be everything, and YOU can change your mind.

You Don't Have to Pick a Thing 99 words

NOT EVERYONE HAS THE SAME START LINE

In the 2021 New York City marathon, I followed the 3:45 pacer for 16 miles.

Because the course has a few different start points, there are a few 3:45 pacers. All of them eventually come together, which I got to experience.

My pacer, upon seeing the other pacer, said, “What time do you have?” The other pacer said, “An hour and 15 minutes.” “No, SECONDS,” he asked.

They were trying to coordinate if one of them needed to fall back or push ahead. I looked down at my watch and saw an hour and 16 minutes and some odd seconds. It was then that I realized that even though I was running with the 3:45 pacer, if I stayed with him the whole way, I’d finish at 3:46.

We might be running together, but we did not start at the same time. He started BEHIND me.

This is why it’s very, very important to not judge the life path of others.

Not everyone has the same start line.

Someone who grew up in poverty does not have the same start line as someone who grew up with

Not Everyone Has the Same Start Line 500 words

TAKE YOUR TIME

Maybe you don’t have to hurry and get on with it…

Your day. Your week. Your career.

Or your emotions.

Or grief.

Maybe you can take your time with it.

The experience is the gift.

Take Your Time 39 words

SOMETIMES, YOU'RE THE AUDIENCE

Many years ago when I desperately needed money, I participated in a "studio audience" job for a show.

I got an email from a friend about it, and I thought "oh, that sounds like a fun little gig." I moved all of my meetings until the end of the week, and decided I'd give it a go.

QUICKLY, I learned it was not an easy "sit on your ass and have a good time" gig. This was an ACTING JOB. It was ten hour set days and a lot of standing. I was tired A. fucking F.

We had to sign an NDA for the job, so I can't tell you the specifics of what show it is, the format, or any of that stuff. (Even though years have passed and the show has been aired, probably multiple times.) However, I do want to tell you about one innocuous detail, because it ties into the work I do in staying in the present moment.

As humans, we have this tendency to make ourselves miserable by getting out of the present, and thinking about "where we could be instead." We do it with our lives also, not app

Sometimes, You're the Audience 1,040 words

A MAJOR PROBLEM WITH COMPETITION CULTURE

It’s insightful to see how people think when they’re in the throes of standardized (or competition) culture. This has come up with my clients a lot over the years— the concept that other people are adversaries rather than accelerants.

For about 30-some-odd years, I, too, was a victim of that mindset. For it, I hid from other people, things, experiences, etc. I believed fully that the whole world would judge me as inept.

I have learned that if you feel this way, it was the system that failed you by not highlighting your unique gifts. The reason you believe everyone is an adversary is because of the structure of the system you were reared in… To break out of it, you must learn a valuable skill, and that is to be OK with the stuff you’re not good at.

I want the takeaway of this piece to be: “You are meant to do great things.” REMEMBER THAT.

No matter what, please use your brain in the “Yes, and” fashion to return to this statement. THIS IS the takea

A Major Problem With Competition Culture 1,638 words

IT'S ALL MEANT FOR YOU

In 2021 when I was traveling cross country, I drove up to El Santuario De Chimayó, which is about 30 minutes north of Santa Fe. It's this beautiful old shrine in the mountains which has been called "no doubt the most important Catholic pilgrimage center in the United States."

It's overwhelmingly quiet and peaceful, and there's this little room toward the back of the shrine with holy dirt that allegedly contains healing properties.

A couple months after my visit, I was on a coaching call with this man I met at random. He found me through the universe, and our talk was mostly about whether or not he should leave the educational institution he was highly involved in.

Of course, he already knew his answer, and it didn't take long before he realized that. Our call was meant to be an hour so we spent the latter half just shooting the shit, mostly about spirituality.

I told him about El Santuario De Chimayó, and I could feel his energy shift through my computer screen (not u

It's All Meant For You 780 words

LOVE COMES FROM A SPIGOT

This year, I heard this wisdom from Townsend Wardlaw:

“Money comes from a spigot. Time comes from a bucket.”

As I took it to mean, you may always make more money…. but you only get so much time.

As it is, I feel the same way about love.

Love comes from a spigot.

Do you know how it feels when someone actively chooses not to love you?

It’s awful.

“I actively choose not to love you, because love comes from a bucket. I only have so much.”

How ridiculous.

I hope people can stop that.

Love Comes From a Spigot 98 words

HUMILITY IS HIGHLY SPIRITUAL

Kabbalah 6 was one of my favorite classes because we went through the ten sefirot on the Tree of Life. It's phenomenally complimentary to my work and other things in my life past and present.

One of the things our instructor said in that class was that EGO is not just thinking you're better than someone, but also, that you're "not as good." What I loved about it was how negatively she painted that- to think that you're not as good.

This might be a bit advanced, but one of the ways I have navigated coaching MANY people who are far more successful than I am (traditional goal-line success) is to realize and understand that I am not the one who does it.

Attachment is having to "let everyone know it's you." And even if you are a person who doesn't have to verbally do this, you might mentally think "It's me."

One of the things I emphasize with clients who suffer in that place of imposter syndrome is "get yourself out of it." Can "little you" not be in the room? Can yo

Humility is Highly Spiritual 344 words

A STORY OF JOY IN LIFE AND LOVE

Yesterday I wrote a letter to a friend of mine in my journal. I'll never send it as it was really just for me, but I re-read it this morning to revisit whatever semblance of human I was embodying at the time, and I came upon this paragraph:

"Sometimes I think of us running together down the beach on the sand without shoes. You're fast but I'm faster. I see us in my mind's eye laughing about something stupid. I see you trying to catch me but I haven't the foggiest idea what the vision means."

Maybe in the moment, perhaps that was true that I didn't know what the vision meant. But today, I know perfectly well that what I wrote about was joy. ✨

I love the idea of running like some child on the wet sand next to the setting sun. I see it often in my mind.

In the summer months, I sit by the water and stare aimlessly most mornings. I wake up early to write and work, and once the sun has decided to take its rightful place in the sky, I run, and then I sit. My mind

A Story of Joy in Life and Love 862 words

CONTINUING THE EXPLORATION

Connect with Me:

Currently I write a publication on Substack called View From the Roof. It is centered around the "spiritual shit" of our everyday lives.

Read it and subscribe at: viewfromtheroof.substack.com

If you'd like to read the second book in this series, you can buy the next book in the series, LOVE, on Amazon here.

(https://a.co/d/j0Qt8rP)

Continuing the Exploration 60 words