Category: Book club

Book Review: 3 books in 4 days-Diet, Surrender and Inspiration

Wow, 3 books in 4 days and I have 2 others open😱. I am on a role! 😂 In all honestly, each book had me captivated, entertained and a little wiser. Thought I would share a review of each while it is all still fresh in my mind. Besides, with covid infection rates rising, home and reading is the safest place to be right now.

Image created on PS Express

1. The Surrender Experiment: My Journey into Life’s perfection by Michael A. Singer

How does a man go from just wanting to be on his own in a cabin in the woods to being a CEO of a multi-million dollar company (while still living in a cabin in the same woods)? He surrenders to life’s flow, that’s how. If you think back to the times when you just followed your instincts and things just fell into place and everything turned out way better than you could have ever expected, that’s surrendering and following life’s flow. Michael Singer discovered his ego voice (my words not his) by chance one day and became obsessed with trying to silence it so he could enjoy inner peace. The book details how this obsession led him on a journey that he could never have foreseen. It teaches us the power of faith in a higher power/life’s flow and how important it is to get out of your own way and not overthink things. Accept that everything and everyone is in your life for a reason and that if you are focussed on the right things, the right people, experiences and even money will appear just as you need it. It’s a very powerful story.

2. A Recipe for Miracles by Jeanne Danielle Brooks

I was so inspired by this book. This is the founder story of Wicked Donuts, a hand crafted gourmet donut brand that is available in Durban, South Africa. The author takes you on the roller coaster ride that was her life until she found her calling. My heart broke for her, then I got excited for her and next thing you know I was punching the air in sheer joy. If you find yourself in a space where you feel like nothing ever works out for you and you don’t know what your next step forward is, pick up this book and let the author inspire you with her story. The last 20% of the book is filled with tips and tricks for budding entrepreneurs which the author learnt along the way. I am sure that she and her brand will only go from strength to strength in the future.

3. The New Keto Friendly South Beach Diet: Rev Your Metabolism and Improve Your Health with The Latest Science of Weight Loss by Arthur Agston, M.D.

I remember buying the original book when low carb diets became the in the thing back in the day but I didn’t follow it at all. I don’t even think I got very far into the book. This time round, I didn’t put it down until I was done. This is probably because I am far more invested in my health now than I was back then. (Oh how wish I was still that weight. That was about 30kg ago🙈🤪) The science is so easily explained that each time you put an item of food in your mouth, you are making an informed choice. There is no space for excuses. I bought it because it was only $2 on the Hay House Sale and because I knew I needed to be more serious about my nutrition and I was looking for a ready made eating plan that I could just start using. I find creating one for myself overwhelming so I end up procrastinating and, next thing you know I am a few kg’s heavier instead of lighter because my eating goes off on a tangent. 🤦🏽‍♀️ I got way more than I was expecting for my $2.29/R34.66. I received an invaluable education in nutritional science and the eating plan I was hoping for. I cannot begin to detail the where, why’s and how I have diabetes today but I am grateful to finally have a better understating of where I went wrong and how I got here. The authors aim is really to help you prevent diabetes but the science was very relevant to me as well. Science has come a long way in a very short space of time in understanding how we ended up overweight and pre-diabetic/diabetic and how to turn the tide. If you are looking for links to scientific papers to back him up, you will be disappointed but hey, he even references Dr Tim Noakes who essentially woke South Africa to the benefits of the low carb Lifestyle and Banting. Dr Tom Noakes does science! He also incorporates Intermittent Fasting into his recommendations so he ticked all my boxes.

Each of this books happened to catch my attention at just the right time and the message in each was just what I needed to hear at this moment in my life. I am so excited about 2021 because I feel better equipped by them to achieve the goals I have set for myself. I could have ignored them and told myself I have enough books to last me a good few years (which I do) and I don’t need more but they tugged at me so I followed my instincts and purchased and read them anyway and I am really glad that I did.

I hope you enjoy these books and find them as enlightening as I did. All are available on Amazon right now. 50% of the profit from A recipe for Miracles will be donated to Gift of the Givers who do amazing work throughout the country and the world.

Stay Safe! Happy Reading!

Welcome 2021!

2020 was a great growth year for me. Books, Courses and Motivational speakers that were placed on my path helped guide me to where I am today. This post includes a list of resources I used.

2020 went out with a bang last night! We had storm after storm roll on by as if to wash away the year’s energy; to refresh the earth and make space for the wonderful energy that 2021 brings with it. Today, it continued to rain. I feel as if we have begun a period of renewal. I am so looking forward to the gifts that this year brings.

Image: Canva

Lockdown was a blessing in disguise for introverts like me. Suddenly everything was available online. I didn’t have to leave the comfort of my home to do anything if I didn’t want to. As a result, 2020 was a year of growth for me in so many ways. My words for the year was Focused, Intentional and Disciplined and that is exactly what happened. I focused on my health, my mind and my spirituality. I read books to gain knowledge and understanding, completed courses that gave me the tools I needed to “shape my destiny” and I listened to motivational speakers via Audible to keep me on track. Each of these were placed on path as I was ready to read or listen to them. God was working His magic to get me where I needed to be right now. That being said, there were 2 tools in particular that I found very very useful this year:

  • Meditation

I have dabbled in meditation over the years but have never committed to it despite seeing the benefits whenever I did. In the latter half of this year, I committed to a 2 week course that that was free on Facebook, run by Gilan Gork’s Influence Institute. I didn’t realise that it required doing a form of meditation every morning but once I had made the commitment I stuck with it. At the end of the 2 weeks I chose to keep going. I had noticed that within a week of starting, I was finally able to pause for that split second before responding to people’s questions to allow my mind to gather myself. This was so exciting and I didn’t want to lose the skill so I stuck with it. I downloaded Insight Timer on my phone and created a timed mediation for 10 min and Wa-La… a new addition to my morning routine was created. I do find that changes to my routine can have a knock on effect on fitting in my meditation so I try and catch up in the evening.

  • Affirmations

I have used affirmations in a number of ways. Two of these is to change my limiting beliefs and to open my mind to new possibilities. I do them every morning.

  • Changing my limiting beliefs: As part of the Mind Power course, run by Robin Banks, we are encouraged to understand what our limiting beliefs are about money, relationships, our abilities and what we can achieve in this lifetime. As Robin says, “You can’t change what you don’t now”. Just as people have possibly affirmed to you since childhood that “that there is not enough money to go around” or “you are not good enough”, you can affirm positive messages to yourself. It’s not easy to turn your long held negative beliefs around so I find that I need to believe that the affirmation is possible to achieve in order to buy in to it. In his book “The Power of the Subconscious Mind”, Joseph Murphy recommends saying an affirmation like “By day and by night I am being prospered in all of my interests” is far more acceptable to the subconscious compared to “I am wealthy” while debt collectors are knocking on your door. Your subconscious will accept what it really feels to be true.
  • Open my mind to new possibilities: In the book “Rich Dad Poor Dad”, Robert Kiyosaki talks about changing the way you see challenges. As an example, if you want to buy a new house that is a little out of your price range, you can either tell yourself that it’s too expensive and leave it at that or you can ask yourself, “How can I afford that?”. Your mind will immediately start looking for solutions especially if you keep asking it the questions. You can also use affirmations to get a similar effect e.g. tell yourself that opportunities are everywhere. They really are. If you contemplate all that is being invented right now and accept that people will be inventing things to the end of time then your mind will accept that opportunities are indeed everywhere and be scanning for them. Those opportunities can also extend to finding your life partner (“All the good ones are taken” vs “there are so many wonderful partners available to me right now”) Lastly, affirmations also have helped me grow my faith in God. In order to have faith in what God will do for me, I needed to first believe that I was worthy of His wonderful blessings. Affirmations have really helped me accept my worth.

By the grace of God I have seen the following changes this past year. There have been others as well:

  • I have ended the year 4+kg’s lighter. It’s a smaller win that I had planned but I will take it. It is a win after all.
  • I started and maintained Intermittent fasting. I doubt I will ever go back to eating the way I used to. I just feel so much better as I am now.
  • I signed up as a Honey Accessories Sales Consultant. In essence this is my first foray into owning my own business (baby steps 😉 )
  • My friend and I signed up with a personal trainer and completed 9 weeks of online training, 3 times a week with him on the 31st. I feel fitter and I see that my flexibility has improved so I am very happy with this progress. I, night owl of note, do this at 6am! If I wasn’t doing this at home I don’t think I would have coped with that early morning start 🤣
  • Through the practice of mediation as well as intentionally trying to strengthen my connection to God, I have become more aware of the world around me and, in particular, the signs that are sent my way to guide me in the direction I need to go. It is so amazing to watch God in action in my life.
  • I completed my BA in Psychology and Anthropology

Before I sign out for tonight I would also like to share some of the books, courses and audible books that helped me grow this year:

Books:

Courses (All online so you attend classes from home and your whole family can participate for the price of one)

  • Mind Power – Robin Banks – If you are disciplined about doing the exrecises, you will get everything out of this course that Robin promises. He has free webinars to introduce the course. Upcoming dates can be found here and on his social media pages.
  • Mind Power Master Class – John Kehoe. This a recording and not an actual class. It’ a 6 week course in which a new lesson is released each week. Ienjoy listening to John Kehoe. He is the author of the book “Mind Power” so it is interesting to listen to his take on the subject. He is Robin Bank’s Mentor. Irecommend attending Mind Power first.
  • Shaping Your Destiny – Robin Banks. You don’t need to attend Mind Power for this. A bonus in this course is one-on-one session to help you create your personal mission statement. You can find out more at the Mind Power link above.

Audible Books – these are actually a collection of speeches and not books as such. I prefered listening to these over spending time searching through Youtube for similar material.

Note that none of the above links are affiliate links

I plan on keeping those 3 words for 2021 and I will add “Surrender” to them. I found that when I truly surrendered an outcome to God this past year, things tended to fall into place so I am letting go of control this year. It is a scary thought as God has a tendency to send you in a direction that you didn’t think you wanted to go to get you were you need to be but I look forward to the journey. It’s going to be epic!

May your 2021 be blessed. Thank you for your support throughout 2020. Thank you to those friends, old and new, that were sent to help me on my journey. I appreciate you. Stay safe everyone! Wear your mask, wash your hands and sanitise them and keep a safe distance.

The Game of life and how to play it…

Life is a game that must be played by certain rules and laws. In this post, I share what I now know to be true as learned from the book The Game of Life by Florence Scovel Shinn

I was having a discussion with my boyfriend yesterday and at the end of it I walked away very frustrated. I felt like I was being judged on mistakes that I had made when we first met and that the changes I had made since then were largely ignored. While lying in bed it suddenly it dawns on me…I have spent my whole life judging people, including myself, why am I surprised that I am now feeling judged?

Then I remembered this quote from Florence Scovel Shinn’s book “The Game of life and how to play it”. I realised that by judging others I have brought judgement on myself. My heart sank. I immediately started asking God for forgiveness for my misguided behavior. I have been working so hard on learning to let things go and just accept people as they are and not judge them that I forgot that it wouldn’t erase the past. The are always consequences for one’s actions after all.

The great thing though is that forgiveness is always just a request away. A request through prayer to my God, my Universe. He will forgive me and I need to forgive myself as well in order to stop the cycle. I has taken me a while to understand this though.

I spent months at the end of last year and through January looking for answers. I knew that there was another way to approach life. I knew that there was something that I just wasn’t getting and I was right. Each book I read opened a new door of understanding. Eventually I happened upon Florence Scovel Shinn’s book and suddenly everything fell into place for me. At the end of the day there are spiritual laws that we must obey in order to live a life of love and abundance. There is a mindset that we must adopt in order to be open to a life of love and abundance. I think for me, her book consolidated everything I had read and put it in a Christian and metaphysical context in such a way that it all fell into place for me.

Life is a journey so I am learning as I go along. What I am sure of now is:

  • that God is my supply.
  • That everything that I need is already out there and available to me and I just need to release it with my words and show active faith.
  • That there is no loss. What’s not meant for me will fall away and it will be replaced with what is meant for me. This applies to people and things.
  • That active faith requires making space for the things and people that I have asked for and then letting go and letting God do the rest.
  • That I cannot ask for specific people. I can ask for the right friend or partner but not a specific person. God will send the right person to me as and when I need them in His time and not my time. His will be done and not mine.
  • Very little is actually in my control and that’s ok. When things aren’t working and feel disharmonious, I have to stop and ask myself where am I trying to control situation so that I can stop, mentally take my hands off it, and trust that all will work out as it should. Phew, this is a hard one but it’s getting easier.
  • Lastly, that there are no limits to what I can achieve. The only limits are the ones that I place on myself. This is also a hard one to accept and implement. I have spent my life believing in limits. Limits to the money I can earn and the things that I can achieve. Limits to the small things and the big things. There actually are no limits and I just need to accept and believe this. God is my supply after all and God’s supply is limitless.
  • Last lastly 😜, it is important for me to recognise when God is showing me what is meant for me. He will too. Then just believe, show active faith and then let go of it. What He has planned for me is always far greater than what I have planned for myself. God’s supply is limitless.

There is loads more that I have learnt on this journey which I am sure that I will write about in the future. Starting my day reminding myself that God is my supply gives me a sense of peace deep inside. I start the day knowing that no matter what happens, everything will workout as it should and that I just need to show up in faith. Forgiveness comes easy these days. Letting go is getting easier and my faith is growing. Life is beginning to flow more smoothly.

Thanks for reading. I will leave you with a quote from Florence Scovel Shinn’s book, “The Power of the Spoken Word:

You can never do a thing you cannot see yourself doing, or fill a place you cannot see yourself filling—not visualizing, making a mental picture (this is a mental process and often brings wrong and limited results); it must be a spiritual realization, a feeling that you are already there; be in its vibration.