I'm Happy for You (Sort of...Not Really): Finding Contentment in a Culture of Comparison by Kay Wills Wyma

Kay Wills Wyma does an incredible job of putting into words what happens in all of our minds at one time or another (realistically, more often than not). Her writing is like you are have conversation with her over coffee, her humor makes you chuckle out loud and her honesty allows you to say, "thank goodness I am not the only one who feels this way." If everyone would read this book, we would all find such freedom in our differences, such grace in our shortcomings and such humility in our strengths. Imagine how our relationships with eachother (and ourselves) would change! 

What a fun read and help for life in the process! Ms Wyma takes us on a walk up the comparison trail and brings us with openness and laughter to realize we are on it and it is affecting our life negatively. Yet, not to worry, we learn we are not alone and many tips for letting go of comparison walking instead into compassion and contentment.For a book that majorly kicked my hind end around with it's  message, this was a lot of fun to read! Kay Wills Wyma writes with both heart and humor, and that makes the medicine of the message go down a lot easier! Maybe you're like me...you can't really think of any Jones's you're trying to keep up with. I mean, we don't have new cars of a bright, shiny house, but I'm happy and content with my lot in life. At least, I thought I was....

meQuilibrium= a balanced life

This book is alot more powerful than it appears at first glance of the overall book. Although I write about many things this book discusses, I like this book because it gets right to the point, with sufficient detail to make the point AND have people do the homework and implementation easily. It does it far more efficiently than my many pieces on related subjects trying to have my readers understand and motivate them to do something.

And it results in tangible effects in each of of the 14 days.

I will be recommending the book to my readers as a way to catapult themselves forward into getting the benefits, which are:

1. To feel calmer, more peaceful, despite what is going on.
2. To clear your mind, so that you can use your higher brain (to see what is going on more clearly and to solve problems).
3. To identify and challenge and resolve the beliefs that pop up to create the undesirable emotions and stresses.
4. To identify and replace effectively those iceberg (core underlying) beliefs that you've been operating on since you were 10 years old.
5. To get unstuck (get out of the revolving treadmill).
6. To get the life balance without which no human being can do well.
7. To actually live your life goals.
Plus...

But, you say, don't other books do the same thing?

Yes, together a number of books might do that but not so directly and rapidly nor as effectively.

Even for relatively sophisticated people in terms of knowledge about this type of thing, I'd recommend this book to move ANY person forward in life.

Bend Your Brain by Marbles: The Brain Store

I’ve been trying the puzzles in BEND YOUR BRAIN the last few days, and my brain hurts. That’s a good thing! Thanks to the variety of included puzzles, I can feel myself thinking differently. Sounds weird, but it’s true. In  recent books like THE ORGANIZED MIND or HOW WE LEARN, we learn to pick up associations and patterns and to minimize distractions: this book helps us do that. Doing these puzzles over the weekend has helped my work performance today.

Variety is king. A lot of these types of puzzles I’ve seen before: mazes, Sudoku, and crosswords, etc. Then they change the method (and madness) on several of these: random letters instead of numbers in Sudoku, mazes covering front-and-back pages, and several hundred dot-to-dots. Then!—they add puzzles I’ve never seen before such as linking words through various shapes, strategizing the placement of battleships, and making compound words from pictures.

There are various levels of intensity, but some of the “mind blowing” puzzles may seem easier than the “warming up” puzzles. Depends on the person, I suppose.

All that is not without its faults. Sometimes I can’t tell what something is by its black & white picture (is that a piece of gum or sandpaper?). They ask me to identify a corporate logo I’ve never seen before. The dot-to-dots run down into the crease of the book. They ask me to recall the date the original TWILIGHT book was released (really?!?). They ask me to know the year the Starz movie channel was founded (again, really?!?). And they want me to identify celebrities by the photos of their mouths (fill-in-the-blank nonetheless).

Overall the good outweighs the bad or frustrating. I like this book so much that I want more! There are a lot of challenging and fun puzzles that I’ll continue to look forward to completing.

Get it at Amazon

The Perfect Kill: 21 Laws for Assassins by Robert B. Baer

I found this book to be an enjoyable and informative read. It discusses the world of political murder (assassination) in a comprehendible and logical manner. The premise of the book deals with the several recent assassinations in the Middle East and the CIA's role, mainly Baer's role, in them. As the title denotes, there are 21 "laws" of assassination that Baer discusses in the book, which are contained within numbered chapters for clarity. The chapters do not follow a chronological order, but rather are grouped by themes or "laws/rules" for political murder. This sometimes makes the book a bit difficult to followwithout prior knowledge of the subject, but Baer does an excellent job of tying the stories and anecdotes to each chapter's theme. 

Baer does an excellent job of keeping the narrative engaging, while also providing behind-the-scenes details about intelligence operations. I especially enjoyed the language of the story, as Baer makes it easy to understand how covert operations. He speaks in a frank, no-nonsense manner that gives the reader a true feel of life as a CIA officer. I appreciated Baer's use of personal stories as well as using historical examples to tie together both the history of political murder and his narrative on recent CIA operations in the Middle East.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the CIA, espionage, or the Middle East. I will be certainly be placing Baer's other books on my reading list.

Buy it here: Amazon   

A String of Beads by Thomas Perry

"A String of Beads" is the latest installment in Thomas Perry's popular series featuring Jane Whitefield. Jane, who lives in New York State with her husband, a surgeon named Carey McKinnon, is physically fit and stays in shape by running and practicing tai chi. In her spare time, she does volunteer and charity work. What makes her unique is her a secret and hazardous avocation: She is a guide who helps desperate people flee from precarious situations. If necessary, she sets her clients up with forged papers so that they can start over in new locations under assumed names.

One day, Jane receives an unexpected visit from eight Seneca Clan Mothers. They appear to know Jane's secret past and they urge her to employ her talents--she is an expert tracker and markswoman who thinks strategically and is trained in hand-to-hand combat--to assist Jimmy Sanders, her childhood friend. He is in hiding after being framed for a murder that he did not commit.

Thomas Perry has long been a favorite among thriller fans because of his well-crafted prose and dialogue, intriguing characters, engrossing plot lines, and exciting action sequences. The Whitefield books have an added dimension because of their emphasis on Jane's reverence for the Seneca traditions and customs. "A String of Beads" shows Jane at her most impressive. She uses her intellect and instincts to anticipate danger before it approaches, and then devises ways of evading or confronting her antagonists. When violence cannot be avoided, she does what is necessary to stay alive and protect those who depend on her. Some may argue that Jane is a little too good to be true; she is unselfish, generous, and incredibly proficient at the skills needed for survival. Furthermore, the villains are little more than one-dimensional thugs--and none too bright, at that. Nevertheless, Jane's fans will willingly suspend their disbelief and continue to embrace this clever, determined, and tough heroine who, time and again, persuades would-be victims to trust her with their lives.

Amazon:
A String of Beads (Jane Whitefield)