I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was: How to Discover What You
Really Want and How to Get It By Barbara Sher
Amazon.com review says:
"A life without direction is a life without passion," says motivational specialist, therapist, and career counselor Barbara Sher. In I
Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was, a sort of broader, less dense, and less intimidating version of What Color Is Your
Parachute?, she reveals how to "recapture long lost goals, overcome the blocks that inhibit your success, decide what you want to be,
and live your dreams."
This is a perfect book for new college graduates or anyone sick and tired of languishing in a dead-end job or relationship--yet
reluctant to make drastic life changes due to uncertainty about what would actually inspire them. I Could Do Anything combines the
I'm-not-buying your-excuses inspiration of Dr. Laura Schlessinger with the soothing, analytic encouragement of Dr. Martin Seligman
in his classic Learned Optimism. In other words, Sher will pick you up off your butt and get you moving. She's included enough
self-analytical exercises in here to save you hundreds of dollars in therapy.
Whether you're looking to make improvements in your job or personal life, Sher will teach you how to determine what your goals are,
and how to successfully reach them--even if right now the only thing you know is that you're vaguely to very unhappy and haven't the
foggiest idea what to do with yourself.
It's Only Too Late If You Don't Start Now: How to Create Your Second Life
at Any Age by Barbara Sher
Amazon.com review says:
As baby boomers hit their 40s and 50s in record numbers, they're beginning to realize that middle age isn't what it used to be--that
the old assumptions about these difficult years just aren't true anymore. Barbara Sher, the author of such motivational bestsellers as
Live the Life You Love, believes that midlife is the beginning of something better than mere youth, a time when "you start to live your
life to suit who you really are." Instead of worrying about your slowing body or unrealized expectations, Sher says, why not focus on
new opportunities to take risks and try new experiences, or to take another crack at personal goals you never had a chance to go for
in the past? Sher's unique view of aging is a heartening one, and it is sure to bring encouragement to those who would like to see
"the big 4-0" as a beginning rather than an end.
The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity
by Julia Cameron
Amazon.com review says:
With the basic principle that creative expression is the natural direction of life, Julia Cameron and Mark Bryan lead you through a
comprehensive twelve-week program to recover your creativity from a variety of blocks, including limiting beliefs, fear, self-sabotage,
jealousy, guilt, addictions, and other inhibiting forces, replacing them with artistic confidence and productivity.
This book links creativity to spirituality by showing how to connect with the creative energies of the universe, and has, in the four years
since its publication, spawned a remarkable number of support groups for artists dedicated to practicing the exercises it contains.
Everyday Sacred: A Woman's Journey Home by Sue Bender
Amazon.com review says:
When Sue Bender proudly announced to a friend that her first book, Plain and Simple had made it to the New York Times bestseller
list, her friend immediately shot back, "But what number on the list are you?" Bender was shocked, realizing that nothing we
accomplish seems like enough in our overly pressured world. In Everyday Sacred we follow Bender on her quest to make every
moment enough. Cleaning a desk, sipping cappuccino, making computer connections, and appreciating freshly painted walls all
become opportunities to satiate one's life with sacred encounters. The end product reads like an Amish quilt--simple vignettes sewn
together to create a comfortable lifetime companion.
Stretching Lessons: The Daring that Starts from Within by Sue Bender
Amazon.com
Like the delicate finger exercises that help pianists achieve great sonatas, Stretching Lessons reads like a series of contemplative
exercises that help readers achieve great wisdom. Writing with utter humility and humanity, Sue Bender shares the private (and
sometimes painful) life lessons that have helped her stretch into a bigger person. We read of Bender as a sixth-grade girl who didn't
get chosen for the accelerated progress class, and how her body helped her find a face-saving solution. Sometimes her confessions
are downright comforting, particularly since this author of Plain and Simple and Everyday Sacred lets us know that she still struggles
with creating too much struggle:
I am wiser.
And I am still struggling...
I'm sixty-six years old and I want to learn about ease.
Consider this an in-and-out book, one that can be opened to any page, where readers will find brief one-to-three-page essays about
stretching into one's biggest self, biggest dream, biggest life. Although it's billed as a memoir, don't expect a tightly woven literary
narrative. Even so, the airy format with plenty of white space manages to convey a strong sense of Bender's life and the common
ground we all find in her experiences.
When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times
by Pema Chodron
Amazon.com review says:
Much like Zen, Pema Chodron's interpretation of Tibetan Buddhism takes the form of a non theistic spiritualism. In When Things Fall
Apart this head of a Tibetan monastery in Canada outlines some relevant and deceptively profound terms of Tibetan Buddhism that
are germane to modern issues. The key to all of these terms is accepting that in the final analysis, life is groundless. By letting go, we
free ourselves to face fear and obstacles and offer ourselves unflinchingly to others. The graceful, conversational tone of Chodron's
writing gives the impression of sitting on a pillow across from her, listening to her everyday examples of Buddhist wisdom.
A Year by the Sea: Thoughts of an Unfinished Woman by Joan Anderson
From Publishers Weekly
"I'm beginning to think that real growing only begins after we've done the adult things we're supposed to do," confides Anderson, a
journalist and author of children's books (Twins on Toes, etc.). She came to this conclusion after a year living alone in a cottage on
Cape Cod. Feeling that her marriage had stagnated by the time her two sons were grown, Anderson surprised and distressed her
husband by refusing to move out-of-state with him when he accepted a new job. In this accessible memoir, she shares the joy and
self-knowledge she found during her time of semi-isolation. In order to supplement the income from her royalty checks, she found a
job in the local fish market and began making new friends who sustained her. After her hot water heater broke down and her
husband refused to help, she earned the additional money for the repair by digging and selling clams. Through vivid and meticulous
observations about the natural world, Anderson makes clear her strong affinity for the ocean, with its changing tides, subtle colors
and burgeoning life. A Memorial Day reunion brought Anderson and her husband closer; shortly thereafter she embraced his plan to
retire and live with her in the cottage. Anderson has recently begun a "Weekend by the Sea" program for women who need time to
reflect.
A Walk on the Beach: Tales of Wisdom from an Unconventional Woman
by Joan Anderson
From Publishers Weekly
In A Year by the Sea and An Unfinished Marriage, Anderson shared her account of taking a break from her marriage and spending a
year of solitude at the beach. Now, she introduces the inspiring woman she befriended during that time: Joan Erikson, wife of
psychoanalyst Erik Erikson. After a chance meeting in their Cape Cod town, the women found their stories, one woman was
purposefully apart from her husband; the other was adjusting to her husband's deteriorating health and imminent death, resonated
significantly. Erikson's enthusiasm for life prompted Anderson to re-evaluate her own marriage and her role as she aged through the
life stages that were the subject of Erikson's published writing, coauthored with her famous husband. Erikson reminded Anderson of
the importance of continuing to learn, grow, change and, most notably, play as one ages, to be surprised by life and where it leads.
She explained, "[A]s long as we are alive, we must keep transforming ourselves." Through the death of Erikson's husband and the
return of Anderson's, readers see the women cheer each other's efforts to view the world with a fresh eye each day. While Anderson's
experiences may ring familiar to readers of her earlier works, this is much more Erikson's story and philosophy, and for readers,
every encounter with her is as much a treat as it was for Anderson, who wrote of her friend, "it was [she] who made me new, or at
least [she] pushed me toward the brink."
| Embrace The Possibility Reading to Inspire |
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| If you have any suggestions you would like to add to the list, please email me at lifecoach@embracethepossibility.org |