Books Unfold : July 2021

Short Book Reviews for July 2021

With my own experiences about dealing with negative emotions, I found myself asking- How do I handle the dark side of life? How do I live with sadness, fear, frustration, and anger? The questions led me to find Thomas Moore's Dark Nights of the Soul. The book opened my eyes to the reality of negative emotions. They are always part of me. Instead of running away from them, I should get curious about what they are teaching me. Another thing that I appreciate more about this book is the encouragement to express the dark nights of the soul into a painting, a poem, a song, or any creative outputs. Creativity is closely connected with the dark nights of the soul. I started writing poems about how I feel even though I am not a poet. The Dark Nights of the Soul is the best paired with Bringing Your Shadow Out of the Dark by Robert Augustus Masters and Lissa Rankin.

When you throw a question at Life, Life finds a way to give you an answer.

A few years ago, overloaded with negativity and drama in life, I wondered why my mind would not stop thinking about the events and people that hurt me. It was like my mind has a mind of its own. Why was it overthinking? Why did it work the way it had been? I was already tired of my life, and I needed to do something before it takes me down to the rabbit hole. The answer came when my friend shared about Eckhart Tolle’s book, the Power of Now. She read it and claimed it changed her life. Fascinated, I signed up for Audible for the first time and got a free audiobook, the Power of Now.

A Book Review: S.U.M.O (Shut Up, Move On)

Feeling stuck in life? Paul McGee offers steps to move forward following the six principles in his book, S.U.M.O (Shut Up, Move On). As an international speaker and performance coach, McGee is passionate about helping people change their mindset, choose to be more proactive, and create their own path to a better and more fulfilling life. McGee offers training to organizations and schools not only in Great Britain but also around the world. In fact, he visited 33 countries to spread the word about S.U.M.O.

Takeaways

The Newbery Award winning author, Lois Lowry, presents a fictional story that shows the importance of our memories and how dreams and nightmares are created. The protagonist, Littlest One, is the assigned dream-giver to John, who is being fostered by an elderly lady while her mother is sorting out her life. He is an angry boy and his anger aggravates his vulnerability to the attacks of the foul Sinisteed, a big force with horse-like behavior that dream-givers are most afraid of. The Sinisteed causes nightmares. Littlest is not only a new dream-giver but she's tiny and fragile. Can she save John from the Sinisteed?

Lowry is an award-winning author of several best selling books including The Giver, The Willoughbys, and Number the Stars. Gossamer was a Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award Nominee in 2008 and Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award Nominee in 2009.

My Thoughts

I enjoyed this book very much. Although it’s a short read, it is full of delightful details about the world of dream-givers, their role in people’s lives, and their method of giving dreams. Littlest One is fun, inquisitive, and brave. Her curiosity and confidence pushed her to go beyond what she was asked for even though she’s a neophyte. Her traits make her likable.

The Mastery of Love is an invitation from Don Miguel Ruiz and Janet Mills to take a different perspective on love and relationship. It is based on the ancient teachings of the Toltec, ``the women and men of knowledge”, the masters of science and art, also known in southern Mexico as the naguals. Don Miguel Ruiz is a nagual who comes from the line of the Eagle Knight. The Mastery of Love is one of the books in The Toltec Wisdom Series written by him, together with his co-author, Janet Mills, who is the founder and president of Amber-Allen publishing.

Takeaways