The first quote of the book.... "Wholehearted living is about engaging in our lives from a place of worthiness. It means cultivating the courage, compassion, and connection to wake up in the morning and think,
No matter what gets done and how much is left undone, I am enough. It's going to bed at night thinking,
Yes, I am imperfect and vulnerable and sometimes afraid, but that doesn't change the truth that I am also brave and worthy of love and belonging." And that is just page one. Wow!!!! We all need that message.
This book talks about loving and accepting ourselves for all of our faults as well as our strengths. Can you love and accept yourself for who you are.... right now....not tomorrow after you get that perfect haircut and not in 2 months when you have lost that 15 pounds you need to lose...but right now? Can you look in the mirror and say "I love you" to yourself. It can be a powerful moment...give it a try.
Another quote from the book..."If we want to live and love with our whole hearts, and if we want to engage with the world from a place of worthiness, we have to talk about the things that get in the way --- especially shame, fear and vulnerability." To do that, we have to be honest with ourselves and look at things like why we are eating until the whole bag of chips is gone, why we are up until 2am finishing our child's project or baking the perfect cookies for the bunco luncheon tomorrow. It's great to do things because we enjoy them and we get satisfaction out of them, but are we engaging in activities because of what we want others to think or because of what others don't think of us?
The book is a collection of 10 Guideposts of how to achieve that Wholehearted Life. Guidepost # 1 is entitled "Cultivating Authenticity". Guidepost #4 is entitled, "Cultivating Gratitude and Joy" just as a couple of examples. It is a great read for those who want to take this year and get on track with accepting who you are. We all want to be our best, but we need to be careful that we are not striving to be what someone else tells us is our best.
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