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 Unmistakable Touch of Grace

The Unmistakable Touch of Grace: How to Recognize and Respond to the Spiritual Signposts in Your Life by Cheryl Richardson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A friend recommended this book to me at a time this spring when I'd received some devastating news. Talk about an unmistakable touch of grace. :) She left me first a note with the title and author and then later a copy of the book on my desk so I could check it out, which I did. It took me a while to get through it--this is not a hard read, but it does require some thought, so it's not a quick read.

Richardson tells many stories throughout the book about her experiences and those of her clients and friends, and while a few felt a little too close to "magical thinking" for comfort, on the whole they really resonated with me and reminded me to slow down and let go of my illusion of control. The universe is unfolding as it should (and has better plans for me than I made for myself in many cases).

I also like that Richardson includes and honors many different spiritual and religious beliefs and practices. And each section has not only stories but also action steps (experiments) to do and resources for further reading and research.

The section on meditation and silence featured Bill Harris, founder of Centerpointe Research Institute, whose research on brain waves has led to the Holosync audio technology which aids people in assisting deeper states of meditation. My eyes popped open at that point because I have the first 2 levels of Holosync at home and have just fallen out of the habit of listening to the CDs. So I saw that as a divine sign I needed to recharge my iPod and get back to meditating on a more regular basis. :)

For readers' advisors: character doorway, I think. Good choice for readers of Louise Hay, Eckhart Tolle, and any other authors from Oprah's Live Your Best Life series.



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Quantum Wellness

Quantum Wellness: A Transformative Guide to Health, Happiness and a Better World by Kathy Freston

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'd give this book three and a half or even four stars for readers who are just starting out on their journeys to health. It meshes well with what I've learned about meditation and with what other Oprah guests have said (people like Eckhart Tolle, Dr Oz, Louise Hay, Deepak Chopra, and so on): live mindfully and increase your awareness to what is happening within and without, "leaning into wellness." I greatly appreciate how Kathy Freston breaks healing down into "The Eight Pillars of Wellness"--meditation, visualization, fun activities, conscious eating, exercise, self-work, spiritual practice, and service--and then further breaks those down into activities to try. She encourages readers to make conscious choices to be healthier in body, mind, spirit, environment, community, and the world.

The part I resisted the most was in the chapters on food. I already eat a very healthy diet, so that wasn't a problem. However, Kathy is very passionate about being vegan, and I am really not there yet. It didn't help to be reading this section while eating my lunch which included chunks of chicken. I completely agree that the appalling conditions under which most food animals are raised are unacceptable and must be stopped already! But I KNOW where most of my eggs come from, and those chickens are quite pampered, so I have no plans to turn vegan just yet. Lean into vegetarianism, maybe, but not veganism. Besides, quite a few of the meal plans & recipes she includes in the appendix are foods/ingredients I can't eat because they contain gluten. (And some because I just don't like them and/or they are impractical to prepare in my circumstances.)

Overall, though, I enjoyed the book and do recommend it.


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Harmonic Wealth

Harmonic Wealth: The Secret of Attracting the Life You Want by James Arthur Ray

My review

rating: 1 of 5 stars

I give up. I simply cannot finish this book. He has a lot to say that I think is dead-on accurate, but he focuses WAY too much on financial wealth. It's only one of his "five pillars of harmonic wealth," and yet he devotes nearly half the book to talking about it.

I felt like he paid lip service to the philosophy that money can't buy happiness & that a lack of money or a mismanagement of money buys a lot of UNhappiness, but he lost me with the focus on becoming a multimillionaire. Particularly since he completely devalues formal education in the process (he doesn't have any form of college degree), saying that virtually no one will use what they learned in school anyway. (Hello?!! I use what I learned every day, even the things I never thought would be useful! I just don't use them in ways I would have expected when I was 20.)

I'm sorry--not everyone in this world can be (or wants to be) a millionaire. In fact, in order for people to hire folks to do all their menial tasks--you know, because they're on their way to becoming "bigger" and therefore richer people--SOMEONE has to work for a pittance. So his logic irritates the living daylights out of me. And admittedly I'm biased, but just because you're rich doesn't mean you provide more service to the world. I can think of a LOT of rich people who do far less to improve this world than a whole lot of less-well-paid folks: librarians, social workers, and teachers, for starters.

I could rant for hours on this book, but I'll spare you the rest. Bottom line: read something else instead. Try Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert or something by Thich Nhat Hanh, any of Barbara Kingsolver's nonfiction, or even You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay. (I hear that one's good--haven't read it yet.)


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