Sacred Rest: Recover your life, renew your energy, restore your sanity

Sacred Rest: Recover Your Life, Renew Your Energy, Restore Your Sanity by Saundra Dalton-Smith
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I really wanted to like this book. I requested my library purchase it so I could read it. But...it is WAY too preachy, repetitive, and lacking in useful content. I enjoyed the brief scientific parts. I enjoyed some of the parts where she talked about her own struggles and those of her patients. However, I needed there to be much more science and much much less evangelism. I'm fully on board with the idea that rest is sacred, necessary, and as God intended. Stop quoting Bible verses at me, though, especially when they are taken out of context and irrelevant. I wanted to read the book to get tips/ideas for how to manage my life so that I feel more rested, present, joyful, and calm. In the end, I realized that reading the book was annoying me so much I was skimming it while rolling my eyes and muttering impolite responses, so when my checkout expired, I didn't bother to renew and finish the last few chapters. She wasn't saying anything new. In fact, the book might not have been too bad had an editor removed all the redundancies, nearly every Bible verse, and every attempt to convert the reader to her particular brand of evangelical Christianity.

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The Not So Big Life: Making Room for What Really Matters

The Not So Big Life: Making Room for What Really Matters by Sarah Susanka
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love Sarah Susanka's home design books, but I was a little surprised to learn she had also written a book that fell into the spiritual journey/self-help arena (or "conduct of life," as it's cataloged in my library). I was feeling the need for some inspiration, so I checked it out last fall when I was home sick for a while.

Susanka applies principles of great home design to create guidelines on how to live one's life, and what she has to say fits in well with other books like The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz and The Unmistakable Touch of Grace by Cheryl Richardson. I admit that I just read through the exercises in the book rather than trying them, although I did sometimes think about what my answers would be. They were good exercises, and eventually I will probably go back and try many of them. I'm sure they would benefit me greatly. I was simply too exhausted at the time to muster the mental energy necessary, and I let myself believe the excuse of needing to get through the book so I could return it to the library on time. (Obviously this was bogus, as I kept renewing it for months.)

Despite how long it took me to finish, I really enjoyed reading this book. Susanka gave me new perspectives, new ways to observe my life and change old, ineffective patterns. It's not a quick read, but it's a good one.

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The Four Agreements: A practical guide to personal freedom, a Toltec wisdom book

The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, A Toltec Wisdom Book by Miguel Ruiz

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


A very perceptive friend gave me this book as a Christmas present because she thought it might speak to where I was in my life, and she was (as usual) correct! It's not the most well-written book. The author talks in circles much of the time, and the result is frequently muddled and repetitive. But the core of what he says is good, and for me right now, very useful as a new way of thinking and perceiving. I think I will try and find the companion book to see if it contains practical examples of how to put the agreements into practice.

Basically the premise of the book is about how to break free of the thousands of ingrained beliefs we are raised with and change our perceptions as well as our behaviors to become better, kinder, happier people.

I read the book a couple of weeks ago, and I think I will re-read it soon.


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The Last Lecture

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars

I had seen the online video of Randy Pausch's "Last Lecture" at Carnegie Mellon University a couple of months ago. He'd been featured on an episode of "Oprah," and I was so impressed by his optimism in the face of tragedy, that I actually searched for and carved out time to watch the whole lecture. This book is basically that lecture expanded and annotated with additional stories and examples. It's fabulous: funny and wise and poignant. It reads like Pausch is talking directly to you. (I give big kudos to Jeffrey Zaslow who turned Randy's bike-ride-conversations into a book in Randy's "voice.")

Although the book can stand on its own, I would recommend watching the video first so that you can see all the photos and get all the visuals. Only a few are reproduced in the book. Being able to visualize what he's describing or referencing gives more context and meaning to his lessons, I think. And keep the Kleenex box handy for both. This man had SO much life in him, it's hard to believe he actually could have died a few months ago. It simply doesn't seem possible.


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