WELLNESS

WELLth

How I Learned to Build a Life, Not a Resume

Founder and CEO of MINDBODYGREEN

Jason Wachob

Jason Wachob is the Founder and CEO of the Blog MINDBODYGREEN.  In his book he talks about creating more Wellness instead of Wealth. That life should be more than just about money, but living a life that incorporates a lifestyle of mental, physical, spiritual and emotional health.

The book chapter are broken down just like the website. I have been a subscriber  to the website for years.  So I knew the book would be something I would want to read. Eat.Move.Work.Believe.Explore.Breathe.Connect.Love.Heal.Thank.Ground.Live.Laugh.

Jason Wachob name these as the “building blocks of wellth”. This book is part memoir and prescriptive advice.  I actually enjoyed the personal life stories I felt were full of honesty.  The book will show you a way to have a more fuller and happier life.  This is the type of book that you can always refer back to. The author says to use this book as a guide to help you with your journey to a better life.  Wellth has a wealth of information that you can’t buy.  Who doesn’t want a more healthier and meaningful life.

Check out the website for yourself: http://www.mindbodygreen.com/

 

 

Gratitude

Gratitude

by Dani DiPirro

This is a little book that has a lot of quotes, fresh insights an activities that motivate and that helps cultivate an attitude of gratitude.

Some of the quotes in this book are:

“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” Marcel Proust French novelist (1871-1922)

“Write down one memory you are truly thankful to have within your heart.”

“Some people grumble that roses have thorns; I am grateful that thorns have roses.” Alphonse Karr French writer (1808-1890)

I started a quote book over a year ago, some of the quotes were new to me and some were not.  Having a book of quotes can help you when you have a rough day. I pull the book out when I am having a hard day and sit it on my desk to a quote that I can read and meditate on through out my day. For people who are looking for ways to stay grateful this book is for you.

I received a free ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

 

 

Life is Real

HONESTLY

Getting Real About Jesus and Our Messy Lives

by Daniel Fusco with D.R. Jacobsen

Honesty is a journey through the book of Ephesians.  Daniel Fusco shares two thoughts with us, one God is Real and the other is Life is Messy.    Daniel Fusco is a lead pastor of Crossroad Community Church in Vancouver, Washington.

Daniel Fusco uses the four-parts in A Love Supreme, by John Coltrane to speak about our messy lives. The parts of Love Supreme are: Acknowledgement, Resolution, Pursuance, and Psalms.

This book is about going through the messiness of life by first acknowledging that we have mess.  Whether in our relationships, family, job or church we all have lives that are filled with junk.  Daniel Fusco tells us that the remedy for the mess is God’s grace and God’s peace.  By God’s grace and  peace we can find resolution by putting away our old lives and living a new life as a Christian.  We can’t get around the messiness in our lives without Jesus.  We have to pursue a relationship with God which takes conversation. Prayer and Praise together is the key. We should pray when  life gives us lemon and pray when we are given lemonade. We need to walk on the road God is calling us to walk, a path that he has prepared and equipped  for us. In the section Psalms, it is about love, Love Supreme the perfect love.  The love that God gives us.  The love we give our family, friends, and yes enemies.

This book was provided to me free from the publisher through the Tyndale review blogger program. I was not required to write a positive review and, the opinions I have expressed are my own. As a person who has a been through the good and bad of life.  Life is real. I could appreciate the author’s real approach to live.

 

instant Happy journal

instant Happy journal

365 days of inspiration, gratitude, and joy

Karen Salmansohn

I was very excited about receiving this book to review.  The cover is bright and colorful. The pages are different every day.  The Author states the mission of this book is “to help you to live your happiest life”.  The book is filled with what the author calls “happiness prompters”.  These prompters are meant to inspire you to reflect and focus on your day.  Where is the most joy, appreciation and love is found in you life or day?  I like that you have a fill in date, this way you can start on any day you choose. The book is very happy and will inspire you to want to journal your thoughts.  The pages are beautifully designed and the prompts are thoughtful.

Here is an example of two of the “happiness prompters”.

“It’s time to let old habits go!”

Your Mantra

“I release the need for these old habits in my life!”

“NOW TALK YOURSELF INTO LETTING THESE OLD HABITS BECOME ANCIENT HISTORY.”

Space is left for you to journal your thoughts.

or

“DO IT NOW”

“Sometimes later becomes never.”

Space is left for you to journal your thoughts.

This book was provided to me free from the publisher through the Blogging For Books review blogger program. I was not required to write a positive review and, the opinions I have expressed are my own.

 

YOUNGER NEXT YEAR

YOUNGER NEXT YEAR

The Exercise Program

Chris Crowley &

Henry S. Lodge, M.D.

With a Whole-Body Exercise Regimen

by Bill Fabrocini, P.T

The authors of Younger Next Year and Thinner Next Year strikes again. In this book they combine Younger Next Year and Thinner Next Year to come up with what they call “road map to your best life”.

This is another health and fitness book. They tell you what exercises to do and how to do them. This book is to help you get through the first month of exercise and the author hope this book will be a reference book you will use the rest of your life. There is also a how to book on the right way to exercises.

The authors recommend we exercise six days a week for 45 minutes a day plus 10 minute warm-up.  After the first month two days would be substituted for strength training. The is a lay out of warm-up exercises and strength training by Bill Fabrocini, Physical Therapist and  Riggs Klika PHD. You can download six-page illustrated cheat sheet for the warm-ups and a guide for the 25 scared strength training exercises free at youngernextyear.com.

The author suggested we treat exercise like it is a job. Pencil it into our calendar.  Stating that we would not call out on a job so fast, so, we should treat exercise the same way we treat our real jobs.

I enjoyed the book even though a lot of it I have heard before, sometime you need that motivation to get you started moving again.  Someone to tell you that by not exercising you are allowing decay to set in but if you just get moving you can change the way the story ends. I received a free ARC of this book from NetGalley and Workman Publishing Company in exchange for my honest review.

 

 

Your New Money Mindset

Your New Money Mindset

Create A Healthy Relationship with Money

Co-author Brad Hewitt CEO of Thrivent Financial

James Moline Licensed Psychologist

A New Money Mindset is a Christian book about generosity. The authors believe if we as Christian’s can manage our money better, then in turn we can maximize our giving. The book talks about us sharing not just money but our time, energy, wisdom, talents, attention, empathy, compassion and self.  We should find ways to bless others, even when we feel we don’t have enough money to do so.  Many people will not give because they are waiting on getting enough money. When we believe God will supply all our needs, we don’t have to wait in order to give. The books states that our mindset around money cause us to believe more “money” or “stuff” is the answer to our problems.  In order to assess your money mindset we need to know where we are, before we can get to know where we are going.

The book uses fictional characters Ryan and Aylcia to demonstrate one couples unhealthy relationship with money.  They both want a better life and who can blame them. They are hard workers who only want the best for their family.  Ryan and Aylcia continues to spend more and more even afraid that their world will come crashing down around them. Fear and uneasiness is what happens when we live beyond our means.

The book starts off talking about our money problems.  Our culture makes it impossible for any of us to be content.  Every year a new iPhone, iPad or iSomething comes out.  It is hard stand on the sidelines watching everyone else run around trying to have more. Our kids if they go to college they get out saddle with debt and have to get a job to start paying the money back so they start out way behind and only with determination will they catch up or if they don’t go to college they end up behind with low paying jobs.

Most people long for security, no one wants to struggle. Feeling security comes from planning by taking a look at our lives and make a right practical decision. Having a strategy in place to overcome life fears and worrying by trusting in God. This books goes over the strategies in the chapter Living in Freedom by have a rich relationship with God.

Consumerism is “our desire to acquire more for ourselves when we already have enough”. The book states it is our obsession about money and all it can buy. The authors explain no matter where we are on the socioeconomic ladder, all of us can thrive right now–personally as a family and as a part of a community.  The ripple effects of sharing that we have enough for ourselves and enough to share.

Thrivent Financial came up with five distinct attitudes people hold toward money.  The 5Ss are Surviving, Struggling, Stable, Secure, and Surplus. Surplus is where everyone wants to be. The authors state that always wanting more and more and keeping all for ourselves has not made us happy or brought joy into our lives.  I found the book to be an easy read, what I got out of the book is that if I was smart with my money, resource and time, I could give in order to help someone else.  The book was an easy ready and had some valid points about finances and giving.

This book was provided to me free from the publisher through the Tyndale review blogger program. I was not required to write a positive review and, the opinions I have expressed are my own.

 

Shadow Play

Shadow Play

By Iris Johansen

Fiction

I have to say when I saw this book by Iris Johansen, I knew immediately I wanted to review it. I have read all the Eve Duncan Series and have loved all of them.

Eve Duncan is a Forensic Sculptor. She is always busy doing reconstructions on missing people to help them find their way home. Her husband Joe Quinn is a FBI/Ex Navy Seal/Cop who is always willing to help Eve. Eve gets a call from a sheriff in California about a skull that was found of a nine-year old child.  He begs Eve to put the missing child at the top of her list of reconstructions. Someone else is out there that doesn’t want this skull to be identified.  He will do whatever it takes to stop the identity of the skull from being found out.  The skull of the nine-year begins to speak to Eve.  This makes Eve more determine to bring the 9 year old’s killer to justices. Eve get’s help from her friend Margaret Douglas who can read the minds of animals to help her identify the killer.  Margaret soon suspects the good sheriff has something to hide.  But what?

Iris Johansen, Shadow Play is suspenseful and the fans of Eve Duncan will enjoy it.  I received a free ARC of this book from NetGalley and St Martin’s Press in exchange for my honest review.

 

Smoothie Girl

The Blender Girl

Smoothies

100 gluten-free, vegan & paleo-friendly recipes

Tess Masters

Tess Masters is the Blender Girl.  In her book, she takes you through how to create different healthy smoothies.  She first take you through strategies for success.The order to put your ingredients into the blender to using protein powders. Then she gives you the six steps to creating spectacular smoothies. Next is build your own smoothie.  This is an ingredients list like the types of liquid, bases, creams, greens, boosters and magic. Chapter two “find your perfect blend”, all recipes make two servings of about 16 ounces.  All recipes are vegan and gluten-free, but  Tess states that they have been tested using daily milk and unsweetened plain or vanilla Greek-style yogurt.  She use icons tags to help you with choosing a recipe.   If you want to detox you might choose Crazy for Cantaloupe smoothie or Mystical Mango. If you are looking for something a little more adventurous Strawberry Heat for weight loss or maybe the Can’t Beet Red Velvet Cake to energize you.

This book gives you a smoothie in any color you like. The recipes are simple and each one comes with two boosters like minced ginger or wheatgrass powder, hemp seeds, chia seeds or cashews.

My favorite recipe in the book is on page 114-115.  Pear and Arugula Salad, it is suppose to energize, detox, weight loss and it is unsweetened.  The ingredients are 1 cup of unfiltered apple juice, 3 ripe pears with skin on cored and diced, 1/2 cup of firmly packed arugula, 1 cup of ice cubes. I didn’t use the optional boost of 1 small rib celery diced, 2 tablespoons raw walnuts soaked, 1 tablespoon flaxseed oil. This smoothie 58 cal with no fat.  The other smoothie I like is so simple, it is called Pink Cooler.  The ingredients consist of 3 1/2 cups f chopped seedless watermelon and 2 cups of strawberries that it.  Optional booster, 1 teaspoon of minced ginger, 2 tablespons chopped mint and 1 tablespoon pomegranate powder.  I didn’t try the boosters in this one either. This smoothie has 135 cal no fat and four grams of fiber. It is suppose to help inflammation, detox, weight loss, alkaline, unsweetened.

I really like this book.  I looking forward to trying different smoothies. Check out the App store for the the blender girl smoothie app to “find your perfect blend.”

This book was provided to me free from the publisher through the Blogging For Books review blogger program. I was not required to write a positive review and, the opinions I have expressed are my own.

 

CENTRALIA-Things are not what they seem

Photo credit: Proper Pictures / Foter / CC BY

BY MIKE DELLOSSO

Centralia is about Peter Ryan the perfect soldier.  Peter awakes up on a typical morning only to find out that he is alone.  He calls is neighbor only to find out that his wife and child was killed in a car wreck.  He is devastated and he can’t memory the funeral that he had for wife and child. When he finds a note from his daughter telling him that they were in Centralia.  He said second guessing everything.  Then armed men show up and he doesn’t know where he got the skills to handle himself like a soldier.  Peter now find himself on the run.  His memory is going in and out. He’ don’t know whom to trust.  This book has a lot of twist and turns.  If you like Christian fiction you will enjoy Mike Dellosso.  This book will have you sitting on the edge of your sit.

Here is a link to the Youtube video by JohnnyIshootstuff  on the near ghost town of Centralia located in Pennysyvannia. There are a total of 8 people living in Centralia. The town was abandoned in 1962, when an underground mine fire started burning. The file is still burning today.  https://youtu.be/ZpNkUuvBIQE

This book was provided to me free from the publisher through the Tyndale review blogger program. I was not required to write a positive review and, the opinions I have expressed are my own.

 

 

Creating a Better Life for Yourself

Thrive

The third metric to redefining success and creating a life of well-being, wisdom and wonder.

Arianna Huffington

When I came across this book I couldn’t wait to read it.  Arianna Huffington talks about the day she had a wake up call and knew she needed to change her life.  Her wake up call came with broken cheekbone and a nasty gash over her eye cause by a fall brought on by exhaustion and lack of sleep.

Money and Power has been the traditional success metric. Huffington compares this to a 3-legged stool where money and power are two legs and cannot stand with out the third.  Third leg of this metric is well-being, wisdom and wonder.  Huffington spells out how we can redefine our lives by creating a life of wisdom and wonder.  Most of this we all have read in other books, but it is good to hear it again as a reminder that we need to treat ourselves as number one.

We are so plugged in to electronic these days that we sometimes forget to be in the moment, take care of ourselves, be grateful, exercise, listen to the tiny voice within and giving. When our love ones
are talking to us, oftentimes we are there physically but not mentally.  We spend a lot of time on our cell phones, keeping up with our friends on Facebook or working 60 hours a week. We don’t always have time for the important things.

Life is short and we should enjoy every moment of the journey. Chasing money and power shouldn’t be the only things in life you are chasing.  A balance needs to be in place so we can enjoy the important things in life.

This book was provided to me free from the publisher through the Blogging For Books review blogger program. I was not required to write a positive review and, the opinions I have expressed are my own.