Friday 56: Finding Your Own North Star

LadyD Books participates in the Friday56 meme with http://fredasvoice.blogspot.com

*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56.
*Find any sentence that grabs you.
*Post it.
*Link it here
 
It's that simple

Here's my choice for today. The book, Finding Your Own North Star: claiming the life you were meant to live was given to me; what a nice gift!

 Pg. 56 is a worksheet:

Your Own Best-Case Scenario


"It's an incredibly beautiful day. The air is clear, the scenery dazzling, and you're setting out to do: (A. your most high-energy activity) with (B: your favorite person)"


-- Martha Beck

If I were to fill in the blanks it would be about my birthday on Monday. The day began with a slight rain shower that cleared the air. I chose to take a walk around the harbor and then out on the pier with my husband. Later on, we dined on shrimp and scallops. It was a beautiful day... Today, I choose to see the beauty in this new day as well.

Now,  you'll find a bit of the book description here:

From Publishers Weekly

"A fixed point in the sky that helps mariners stay on course, the North Star emerges as a symbol for realizing one's true potential in this cheerful and perceptive but too-long book. Though her navigational metaphors lose force with repetition, Beck's voice is light, down-to-earth and refreshing. Having found her way on her own journey from academia (she was a professor and researcher at Harvard Business School) to becoming an author (of Expecting Adam, a warmly received memoir about the birth of her Down's syndrome baby), Beck currently consults with clients on redirecting their lives. She teaches that each individual has a core personality that encompasses one's desires, emotions and preferences, which is sometimes blocked by a social self that responds to external influences and cultivates survival skills. By far the most fascinating material is on how to read warnings from the essential self: low energy, lapses into illness, forgetfulness, addictions, Freudian slips and mood swings. She advises steering toward the correct path by eliminating negative influences and practicing elaborate self-esteem exercises. A section on navigating change weighs the book down while suggestions for dealing with serious emotions like grief and anger are somewhat breezy. In the end, however, the numerous self-quizzes, exercises and chances to laugh will allow many readers to overlook these weaknesses. (Mar.)Forecast: Given the success of Expecting Adam and Beck's freelance contributions to Mademoiselle, Real Simple and Redbook, the author is likely to shine in a constellation of media venues and has a solid shot at capturing the imaginations of self-help seekers."

Have you read this one? What are you reading now?






“You can’t get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me." C. S. Lewis