Book Nook

"I dearly with you would put behind you the negative thoughts, the beliefs that hold you back, all the things that stop you being the amazing individual you truly are."

Sometimes, people are blessed and attuned enough to discover his or her gift at a very young age. Kyle Gray is one of those people. At age 4, Kyle began tapping into his ability to connect to angels and the spirit world. In Angels Whisper In My Ear: Incredible Stories of Hope and Love from the Angels?, Kyle tells us stories. Stories of his very important - and often touching - work and dear people in need and in search of these messages from their angels. And ya'll know I love a good story!

Kyle's writing style is pure. He is all heart. It is very easy to feel connected to this young Hay House author. While I don't have Kyle's ability (yet!), reading about Kyle's journey inspires me to remember to be open. To be receptive. To stay in tune with my heart.

The very last chapter of this book is my favorite. While Kyle's teaching moments are delivered at the end of every chapter, the last chapter (in my view) is the most poignant. He reminds us to believe in ourselves. To recognize that we are worthy. And that we have support coming at us from every which way.

Thanks, Kyle, for reminding me to BE and not just DO. That I am creating my future, right this very second. And that it is possible to find happiness in everything.

And thanks, to my dear friends at Hay House, for introducing me to Kyle Gray. Cheers to a new year full of love, peace, and everything HAY HOUSE! :) XO.

FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from Hay House Publishing for this review. The opinion in this review is unbiased and reflects my honest judgment of the product.

I hope my friends and family aren’t reading this because they are about to find out what they are getting for Christmas. And their birthdays. And Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, 4th of July, and for no reason whatsoever.

Listen up when I say: This is the best gift. Like, ever.

And if you like sexy food like I do, this one’s for you.

Crazy Sexy Kitchen: 150 Plant-Empowered Recipes to Ignite a Mouthwatering Revolution.

My mouth is watering just writing that.

Whether or not you are vegetarian (or like me, “vegetarian-ish”…) this book has killer, easy (well, some easier than others) recipes. I got so hooked on learning about how to use plants in my cooking, I even joined the local farmers co-op and pick up my first box of produce next week! The bottom line is that when I followed the beautiful and amazing Kris Carr’s advice and actually got jacked up on veggies, I felt better. Less lethargic, more energy, and ready to kick ass. Avocados totally rock.

One thing I would note is that I don’t own a food processor, juicer, or a very decent blender. It limited the number of recipes I could make, but I still did pretty well. I plan to invest in one soon and will post some more of my creations and report back. Another note about the book is that the first third or so is dedicated to explaining not only the philosophy behind a plant-based diet, but also gives us beginners some “kitchen know-how” including basic info about the ingredients and kitchen tools needed to be successful in making some of these delicious recipes. And don’t look through this book on an empty stomach – the photos make this food look so yummy they will make your mouth water.

Bottom line: Kris Carr makes veggie cooking look sexy. This is a must order for holiday gifts. Your peeps will love it.

And now….. My Crazy Sexy Bean Chili (page 121).


Thank you to my friends at Hay House and to @Kris_Carr ! Love ya’ll!

My dear friends at Hay House were kind enough to send me a fabulous new book on a topic I don’t know much about, but by which I am utterly fascinated. The book is a quick and informative read and now, as I watch TV (yes, I admit to being Real Housewives junkie… there are worse things!!) I am conscious of the fact that within 4 minutes of television viewing, my brain enters the alpha brain state. In other words, our brains check out and something else is programming it. Unbelievable stuff.  This read is definitely worth checking out for those interested in rewiring the brain, visualization, and meditation.

“It is only through one’s consistent daily practice of connecting directly with Spirit and Source over soul that an incredible vibrational transformation is made possible. There is no shortcut or bypass.”

It was love at first listen.

I first *met* Sonia Choquette on the radio. I don’t know if it was her familiar Midwestern accent (takes one to know one) or the way she treats her callers with the love and care one would offer a best friend that got me hooked on “Trust Your Vibes” and Sonia Choquette. But as a Hay House Radio (and Hay House everything) groupie, Sonia became one of my regular commute companions.
And then I started reading her books.

And I fell in love all over again again.

Her latest, Grace, Guidance, and Gifts: Sacred Blessings Lighting Your Way is a one-a-day book. One mantra. One prayer. One Blessing. Breakfast for my soul. And so the routine goes: a granola bar, two (or more!) cups of coffee, my Doreen Virtue Angel Cards, Louise Hay’s Heart Thoughts and now my dose of Grace from Sonia (and spirit). And all of this time I thought it was Miami traffic making me late for work!

Most recently, I have been opening the book to a random page and trusting that therein lies the message I most need to hear. And it has worked beautifully. I took to heart Sonia’s advice to “Breathe deeply as you read and feel the message in your heart. Affirm the message with your own voice. Repeat the message with your daily mantra, knowing that the message is timely and important to receive. [This book] grows in meaning and power for you over time. Use it. Highlight what holds special meaning for you. Treasure it, and let it become your own bridge to heaven.”

And as an extra added bonus, the book includes a 20-minute meditation CD that Sonia advises listening to right before going to sleep. And, she promises, “You will feel lighter and happier of heart, and have easier, stress-free days; and miracles upon miracles will appear in your life.”

Sounds just about perfect to me.

Thank you to my dear friends at Hay House for sending me this book. I need no further evidence that miracles are, really, all around.

FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from Hay House Publishing for this review. The opinion in this review is unbiased and reflects my honest judgment of the product.

“All great journeys challenge your spirit… But lift your soul. No matter what burden we carry, or how rough the terrain, we always discover…

We are stronger than we think.”

Maybe I should change the name of this blog to “I love Wayne Dyer.”

Because I do. I love him.

Another book review, another chance for me to tell you just how much.

In his latest book, Wishes Fulfilled, Dr. Dyer manages to take basic manifestation concepts and deepen them. He is the master of drilling home the same concepts he has taught those of us who follow his work before, but in new and interesting ways. He does this by incorporating both his personal antecdotes and passages from Neville and the Bible to name a few.

Dr. Dyer manages to inspire hope in everything he touches. When I finished reading this book, I realized I had recopied half of it into my journal — it is not so much WHAT he is saying (as I said, it is the same basic manifestation concepts I’ve learned from many of the greats over the years) but HOW he says it that keeps me coming back for more. I surely cannot get enough of this wise man or his work.

He manages, with each new book or audio or movie, to deliver exactly what I need to hear in exactly the ways I need to hear it.

Another beautiful book by Dr. Dyer in Wishes Fulfilled. Watch out world, things are about to get really really good around here. In fact, they already are.

Thank you, my dear Hay House friends.

“Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.” - Mark Twain

If you know me or my work (or saw my bookshelf), you know that I love Dr. Wayne Dyer.

Like, a lot.

I’ve been following Dr. Dyer’s work for years and years. And I so appreciate that with every new thing he puts out, his message evolves and deepens in beautiful ways that cause me to discover new things about myself, my relationships, and my general world view. In short, Dr. Dyer is my spiritual teacher, guru, mentor and in many ways, the father I never had. He is gentle, loving, soulful, and so, so, SO, smart. (And oh, so, handsome).

This weekend, in honor of Father’s Day, my dear friends at Hay House  shared with me Dr. Dyer’s new movie, Tales of Everyday Magic: My Greatest Teacher.

The movie is based on Dr. Dyer’s own life story and is about an adult son’s troubled relationship his father. It is beautiful, touching, and like everything else Hay House and Dr. Dyer touch, incredibly well-done.

At it’s core, the movie is about forgiveness. It is about looking at the things in your life causing the most pain and suffering and figuring out a way to turn those things into your greatest teachers. I suppose that is the beauty of pain; painful relationships, painful circumstances. It can be a catalyst, if we allow it to be.

A catalyst for healing. For learning. For growing. Pain can open us up to a bigger, deeper love than we ever could have imagined.

But pain can only serve us if we are brave enough to forgive whom or what has caused our pain. Forgiveness. It’s not always easy or fun. In fact, most of of the time it is neither.
But forgiveness…. It sets us free. Free to love better, love bigger, love more unconditionally. To love more like God. And that, my dear Dr. Dyer would say, is ultimately our goal.
Thank you to my friends at Hay House for sharing this beautiful movie with me. And thank you, Dr. Dyer, for walking this crazy wild thing called life right by my side where you’ve always been, and you remain.
Happy Father’s Day.

“In previous times, the pain of my past had worn me down to such a place that I had withdrawn a long way into myself. It was the misled belief many people experience that if you keep people out, you keep the pain out. You stop yourself from being hurt even more. If no one can get close, then no one can hurt you anymore either. Of course the only real way to heal is to let love flow in and through again, not to block it out, but reaching that point can take a long time.”

I am attracted to writers who tell the truth.

The ones who don’t, necessarily, paint an airy-fairy white-picket-fence picture of things.

The ones who make themselves vulnerable.

The ones who teach us something that we didn’t already know. Or realize. Or remember.

This is Bronnie Ware.

The lessons Ms. Ware shares in The Top Five Regrets of the Dying are simple and pure. A beautiful account of her years as a palliative caregiver, Ms. Ware shares the poignant – and sometimes difficult and painful – life lessons her clients came to understand, and share, in their final days.

Along the way, Ms. Ware begins to tell her own story, opening herself up to the reader in new ways in each chapter. While the lessons aren’t new, the stories are. The stories aren’t about fluff, they are about the real stuff. Real life stuff. The joy, the pain, the complication, the simplicity… and the love. The real stuff. It’s not always pretty, but is quite possibly always beautiful. Because it’s real life. And from it, we learn.

That is what this book is about. And that is what makes this book different.

Thank you my dear friends at Hay House for this precious read. I must say that while I love everything Hay House, this book makes my list of absolute favorites. Thank you for finding Bronnie Ware, and thank you for this book. It is a treasure.

Dedicated to your heart.
Your heart is the center of your power.
I have learned that you can create easily and effortlessly when you let your thoughts come from the loving space of the heart.
Claim Your Power Now.

-Louise Hay, Heart Thoughts

I think Louise Hay is an angel. There, I said it.

Classy, graceful, beautiful. I’ve been loving her work and her books, audios, and everything Hay House for years and years. (If you haven’t checked out Hay House Radio yet, you’re missing out!)

From You Can Heal Your Life to You Can Create An Exceptional Life (co-authored with my girl crush Cheryl Richardson), Louise Hay has continued to produce work that delivers the messages we most need to hear at the exact moment we need to hear them. She’s an angel, I’m telling you.

Her latest book, Heart Thoughts: A Treasury of Inner Wisdom is a real beauty. It is a collection of Louise’s meditations, lecture excerpts, and affirmations. Her best stuff + beautiful artwork all-in-one. The book is broken up into categories such as “Fear” and “Peace” so you can flip to the section you most need guidance on. Or else you can start at the beginning and read a page a day, as I am doing. This book would also make a great gift. It’s a little dose of wisdom and love wrapped in a beautiful package.

I’ve heard it said that being around Louise’s energy is magical. I can only imagine. I look forward to meeting her one day soon.

Until then, I love you Louise. And thanks to my friends at Hay House for sending me this treasure.

FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from Hay House Publishing for this review. The opinion in this review is unbiased and reflects my honest judgment of the product.

“The quantum model of reality tells us that to change our lives, we must fundamentally change the way we think, act, and feel. We must change our state of being.”

For those of us who are more science and less woo-woo but still looking to effect change in our lives, Breaking is a great place to start. As a fan of everything this book arrives at the same fundamental message as some of the Hay House all-stars but with the brain science back it up: If we want to change our life, we have to change our mind.

Literally.

“You are not doomed by your genes and hardwired to be a certain way for the rest of your life.”

Dr. Joe Dispenza does beautifully what few other books written by scientists on this topic have achieved: he writes in plain language while also adding a touch of inspiration. He writes to his reader. Not to his colleagues.

I found myself interested rather than lost in the brain science this book presents. I was uplifted and excited to read on. Says the girl who barely passed 10th grade biology.

While we’ve likely heard the notion that we can rewire our brains by changing what we focus on before (and for those who haven’t, start listening to Hay House Radio ASAP!), the thing I really loved about this book was Part III: Stepping Towards Your Destiny.

Why? Because it tells you HOW. Dr. Dispenza gives you tangible techniques including a step-by-step plan of action. And that… I adore.

“It is time to wake up and to be the living example of the truth. It’s not enough to espouse these understandings; it’s time to live them…”

I recommend this book not only to the more pragmatic less woo-woo crowd, but also to those of us who teach this stuff.

You are not your story.

You are what you think you are. How you’ve always been is not an excuse.

If you don’t like your results, do something different.

Thanks to my friends at Hay House for sending me Dr. Dispenza’s little [well, big] jewel. While 300+ pages, I cruised through this book in a matter of days.

It is science but it is simple. You can re-wire your brain by thinking new thoughts.

Easy. Fascinating. Motivating. Actionable.

Thanks, Hay House.

FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from Hay House Publishing for this review. The opinion in this review is unbiased and reflects my honest judgment of the product.

A beautiful memoir recounting an often tumultuous relationship with food (as – in my opinion- a microcosm of her relationship with her Self), Dayna Macy in Ravenous strives chapter-by-chapter to redefine her rocky relationship in a healthier way while concurrently discovering what makes her tick the way she does. I enjoyed the memoir sections of this book very much, and I think Ms. Macy has a delightful way of using a particular food each chapter (for the first part of the book) to captivate the reader (and make our mouths water!) While Ms. Macy takes us on a journey of love of self and hope, for those who can not relate to a dysfunctional relationship with food, I am not sure this is the read for you. Also, I could not quite determine the genre of this book – whether it was self-help, a memoir, book for foodies, or – most likely – a combination of all of the above. It felt more like a collection of short stories, but great short stories nonetheless. My favorite part of this book was the peace of mind and new focus on life Ms. Macy achieves through each chapter. At its core, this book is a delightful lesson in mindful eating; and therefore in mindful living. Thinking about why we do the things we do. Eat the things we eat. Say the things we say. Feel the emotions we feel. Stopping to think about the “whys.” That is what this book did for me. And we could all afford to practice a little bit more of that. Thanks again to my friends at Hay House for a unique addition to my Hay House collection! Cut orange lengthwise into six segments. Breath in the aroma that’s released. Eat each segment slowly, savoring the orange’s flavor, taste, and Let it fill your mouth, and your heart, with joy. -Dayna Macy, Ravenous, Page 203

As an angel therapy virgin, checking out this free book from my friends at Hay House seemed like it had the potential to be a lot of fun. So with a wildly open mind, I started reading.

The Angel Therapy Handbook by Doreen Virtue is definitely written for those who have little experience in the world of angels, clairvoyance, claircognizance, etc… A quick and easy read, the greatest “gold” I’ve taken from this book is that it has caused me to take pause throughout the day and connect (or reconnect) with my angels, guides, and God and remember to “Let Go, Let God.” In other words, to give my load over to my spiritual guides and rest easy knowing that it is not all my burden alone, to carry. Ms. Virtue makes this easy, offering plenty of affirmations, meditations, and exercises.

Also, in reading this book, it became clear to me that there is still so much I don’t understand about my own natural intuitive abilities. I am eager to read more of Ms. Virtue’s work… (and she has a LOT!)

My favorite part of the book, by far, was Part III in which Ms. Virtue inspires the reader to discover her own life purpose and outlines action steps in order to achieve this purpose. Inspiring, compassionate, and sensitive, Part III is definitely written for those of us who believe that we are here on earth to guide others, to heal, and to love.

Thank you, my dear friends at Hay House, for opening up my world just a little bit more, and introducing me to the work of Doreen Virtue!