Peace from Broken Pieces

I was out one day running some errands, when I drove past a Books a million and decided to go in to buy a book. I didn’t have a specific book in mind, but I walked straight to the inspirational/ self help section because I needed to read something that would help me get out of the emotional distress that I was in. I skimmed through a couple of books, but none of them felt like what I was looking for. On my way out of store, I saw this book laying on a coffee table, and the title by itself spoke to my soul. Piece from Broken Pieces: How to get through what you a re going through by Iyanla Vanzant. I knew nothing about the author, but when I read the back of this book I knew that it was the reason why I walked into that store.

…The breaking down into pieces of life is a painful thing to watch and even more painful to endure. Even more devastating is that as your life begins to unravel, day by day, piece by piece, there is absolutely nothing you can do to stop it. You see what is happening. You know what is happening. And you want anything other than what is happening to happen. You see, somewhere deep inside, we all know that lives are not built to fall apart. That is just not what lives are meant to do. The lives we are given by God are meant by God to grow, to blossom, and flourish. The reality is, however, lives do crumble…one day, as I sat helplessly surveying the broken pieces of my mind, heart, and life, I recognized that a broken life is a test of faith of the highest order. ~ Iyanla Vanzant.

I cannot begin to tell you how much this book helped me. I honestly felt like it was sent to me by God. I am certain that any young woman will find that they can relate to her at a certain level. In fact a friend of mine decided to buy it for herself after she read just one chapter. I wanted to share a couple of quotes that I got from this book with you as well.

When you don’t know who you are, chances are you don’t know what you want. When you don’t know what you want, there is no chance for you to get it.

Dear God, untie the nots. All of the can nots, should nots, may nots, and have nots. Please erase from my mind the thoughts that I am not good enough. 

We must learn not to give up when requirements are not met or when commitments are broken. To do so is a refusal to allow mistakes to be corrected and a demonstration of an unwillingness to forgive yourself or anyone else who needs forgiveness.

Sometimes when you fall down you just have to lie still, and hope that no one runs you over. If they don’t and you lay there long enough, taking care to be very still, breathing slowly, refusing to whine, God will lift you and perform a soul surgery.

Who am I? I am whole and complete, with a few cracks, dents, and scratches- nothing a little prayer and faith won’t fix. I am willing, I am open. (my favorite!)

I hope you will do a little research on her as well, because although she has appeared on Oprah a couple of time and had her own television show, I knew nothing about Iyanla Vanzant. Yet, today, she fits on my list of the strong women who did not let life’s circumstances, her past, her failures, define or stop her from achieving her success!

 

 

Eat Pray Love

Last year, more precisely during the thanksgiving holidays, I watched the movie Eat Pray Love with my sister and  made it my mission to read the book as well. I made such decision because after watching the movie, I felt as if I could relate to the same feelings that this woman was struggling with. Elizabeth Gilbert, who is the author of the book was in her early thirties, living in NY as a very successful writer, being the owner of the house of her dreams and married to the love of her life. Yet, instead of feeling happy and fulfilled, she felt consumed by panic and confusion. Following a divorce and a crushing depression, she decides to leave behind everything she ever owned, including friends and family to travel for a whole year. She chooses to explore three different cultures: Pleasure in Italy, Devotion in India, and ends up finding love in Indonesia.

Here are a couple of my favorite quotes from the book:

“Someday you’re gonna look back on this moment of your life as such a sweet time of grieving. You’ll see that you were in mourning and your heart was broken, but your life was changing…”

“To find the balance you want, this is what you must become. You must keep your feet grounded so firmly on the earth that it’s like you have 4 legs instead of 2. That way, you can stay in the world. But you must stop looking at the world through your head. You must look through your heart, instead. That way, you will know God.”

“In desperate love, we always invent the characters of our partners, demanding they be what we need of them, and then feeling devastated when they refuse to perform the role we created in the first place.”

“When I get lonely these days, I think: So BE lonely, Liz. Learn your way around loneliness. Make a map of it. Sit with it, for once in your life. Welcome to the human experience. But never again use another person’s body or emotions as a scratching post for your own unfulfilled yearnings.”

“Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it. You must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it.”

This book not only took me on a virtual tour of three different countries and taught so much about the diversity of cultures but it was also a self help book. One that made me realize that we are all burdened by issues and sometimes, it takes spending times with yourself, by yourself, to get to know yourself. This one definitely comes highly recommended, you won’t regret it.

The Rules!

My older cousin recommended this book to me, and it was a great read! The book basically lists all the rules that a woman, who wants to be involved in a committed relationship should follow. It’s suppose to be your guide to marriage, lol, and although my cousin is not married and neither am I thinking about marriage in the near future, I think it’s a great eye opener, and it offers pretty good dating advice.

The description behind the book is as follow:

A simple set of dos and don’t. The rules will lead you where you want to be: in a healthy, committed relationship. It recognizes that men are either attracted to you or not; and they want a challenge, not an easy victory. Whether you are eighteen or eighty, a beauty queen ot a woman with ordinary looks, The Rules will work for you.

This book is an oldie but a goodie 🙂 It was written by two Jewish women Ellen Fein and Sherrie Schneider, back in 1981!

So, what are the rules? here’s a short preview!

Rule # 1 You are a creature unlike any other (my favorite)

Rule # 15 Don’t rush into sex, and other rules for intimacy

Rule # 18 Don’t expect a man to change or Try to change him! (can I gen an Amen?)lol

Rule # 19 Don’t open up too fast

Rule # 23 Don’t date a married man

Rule #34 Love only those who love you

ok, let me stop before I ruin it for you. but this is definitely a must have, must read handbook! My only regret was that I didn’t memorize this book years ago! smh… But yes, do go get it! I bought it at books a million for $10! Gold mine!

Day 17 → A book you’ve read that changed your views on something.

” This book is dedicated to all those courageous men and women who have ever dared to step out of the dominant culture of resignation and mediocrity and endeavor to create the life of their dreams. I honor and salute you! ” Jack Canfield

I am a passionate reader, and I love to read anything inspirational, novels, religious, anything that I am interested in. Earlier this year, my father bought me this book, which happens to be one of his favorites, and promised a reward if I read it twice, by the beginning of next year. (can’t wait for my reward :D) But I thought that if he insisted so much that I read that book, then it was probably worth it. So I did it! I read this book, and I can honestly say that it is now also one of my favorites. The name of the book is The Success Principles: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be. The Name of the author is Jack Canfield.

This book is a New York Times best seller and I highly recommend it to anyone who wishes to be successful. It talks about the different principles that one must have to be successful in all areas of life, including Relationships, Self growth, Spiritual growth, Money management, and much more…

It helped me a lot with identifying and overcoming some of my weaknesses, which could possibly keep me from being successful in certain areas of my life. If you don’t know the problem, you definitely won’t be able to find a solution, and that’s exactly what this book does. Not only do you recognize areas of your life that need improvement but also discusses several solutions that you may want to consider.