“The nervous system of the world is doing a crazy buzzing,” Church writes in one of the 200 epigrams, poems, and quick-hit insights offered in this inspirational collection. “May this electric buzz call us awake,” she adds, before urging the awoken to perform the good work of generating buzz themselves: “We sing our songs,” she argues, “and the world changes its tune.” Field Trust Project is all about changing the world’s tune, one heart, mind, and insight at a time, celebrating love, embracing possibility, promising “expressive and real” presence in the moment, and acknowledging our individual complexity. “I want resonance of this in my nervous system,” she declares, in a bite-sized entry cheering “Happiness and joy on a splendid day,” the expression of the wish and the commemoration of the day’s pleasures serving as steps toward achieving that wish.

In the often casual language of messages from a friend or notes to yourself, Church offers exhortations for readers to “use what you have” and “train the heart like a warrior” but also many incidental observations and affirmations, sometimes acknowledging her own challenges, sometimes expressing comfort and pleasure in habits like visiting a park or finding joy in being yourself: “I am that person who stops in their tracks in front of you pointing exclaiming about the beauty all around,” she writes. The entries are quick and unfussy, even when making bold recommendations for change; they could be described, in her own words, as exploring the “synapse between self and God.”

The book often reads just like that: a friend who searches each day for enlightenment and points out the wonders and insights she hits on each day, from a painting at Detroit’s Institute of Arts to a reminder that, for all the “complex systems theory or something like that” that others might rely on to explain human behavior, what matters most is still love—"Bringing it home and belonging.” Playful, unpolished, sometimes wise and sometimes witty, Church’s micro essays and verses reward contemplation.

Takeaway: Brief, intriguing, inspirational thoughts and verses from a spiritual seeker.

Great for fans of: Benjamin W. Decker’s Daily Mindfulness: 365 Exercises to Deepen Your Practice and Find Peace, Sue Patton Thoele’s The Woman's Book of Strength.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A