Find Your Strongest Life, book review for Thomas Nelson

Conventional wisdom once taught that with enough training and encouragement any person could successfully accomplish any task. Author, Marcus Buckingham, leads the way in busting this myth with his newest release, Find Your Strongest Life, published by Thomas Nelson. In this book, targeted specifically for women, Buckingham pairs his expertise as a strengths-based solutions consultant with twenty years experience working for the Gallup Organization to demonstrate what the happiest and most successful women do differently.

As it turns out, today’s woman has more opportunities than she’s ever had before. She also has more responsibilities. Therefore, every moment of each of her days is filled to the brim with activities, thoughts and relationships. Not every moment, but only specific ones fulfill her and make her happy .

Buckingham defines how to identify these strong moments and draw them out. Then he shows you how to create more of them, so you can live your strongest life. To accomplish this he uses real life character sketches of women he has counseled, pointing out how each handled similar situations differently, then compares the end results. Additionally, Buckingham shares several studies, such as one done on men and women measuring their level of happiness at various stages of their lives. Midway through the book, Buckingham suggests that the reader take the Strong Life Test found online. He goes on to explain what the results mean and how to use that information to the best advantage for finding your strongest life.

I found the Strong Life Test to be surprisingly accurate in describing what circumstances make me feel most fulfilled and purposeful. Also, when Buckingham explained how "Attention Amplifies Everything", he showed me how the principles he discusses can be put into practice for strengthening relationships, such as marriage.

Sure, it does take practice. You can’t make the best choice every time. But paring away the choices that make you feel weak and learning to choose what makes you feel strong is what this book is about. I recommend reading Find Your Strongest Life to help you do just that.

Strong Moments and Weaknesses and Unused Kleenex

Today is Tuesday. Except it isn't today. It is tonight. For one more hour and ten full minutes it is Tuesday. Today was a great day. When customers, at the bookstore where I work, asked me questions today, I was able to offer helpful answers. I like that. It is a strong moment for me when my suggestion is helpful and evokes a smile from the helpee. Finding the Happy Birthday, Pastor greeting card, a devotional book that would make a perfect present for a friend's 20-something granddaughter and the book that goes with the study guide-these moments are showing me how to find my strongest life.

Months ago, I decided to be a book reviewer for Thomas Nelson. I was accepted as a book reviewer, got really excited about it, went to the website and chose my first book to review: Beautiful Mess, a story about the life and times of country singing group, Diamond Rio. Why I chose this book, I will never know. I just got so excited that I was a new book reviewer for Thomas Nelson that I clicked on the book and wala, a few days later, it was there on my doorstep in a brown paper package tied up with string. I began reading it, but I just didn't care- I was like that girl in A Chorus Line who sang about Mr. Karp's acting class- I dug right down to the bottom of my soul to see what I had inside... I tried...But. I. Felt. Nothingggg....

But I had to keep reading, because I was a reviewer for Thomas Nelson and what would Thomas Nelson think? So I did. Slowly. Then I got this e-mail from Tom and it said something like this: "...normally you cannot choose a second book to review until your first book is reviewed, proven by your provision of two URL's where your reviews of that book may be found...BUT we are having an exception...a special deal...this book: Find Your Strongest Life by Marcus Buckingham- is about to be released and we want our reviewers to read this book, if they want to, and post their reviews all on the same day, the day the book hits the street...SO, if you want to bypass the current book you are working on and read this book, you may do that NOW."

And I thought, here's my chance. I can table this Beautiful Mess and Find my Strongest Life and get on with the reviewing. I clicked on the special offer. When the book arrived, I looked at the cover, at Marcus there on the cover, and I thought, what is this guy gonna know about what women do differently to find their strongest life. Suddenly, I found myself thinking, if I read this it is sure to turn my life into a Beautiful Mess. So, I went back to reading about Diamond Rio. The musicians' biographies in there began to interest me. After a few nights, guilt plagued me, because I knew I had a deadline on the Find Your Strongest Life review. I figured I had to read it or get a bad reputation with Tom and the gang. So I did. And let me tell you something, Marcus Buckingham does know a lot about what the happiest and most successful women do differently. In fact, his book, First Break All the Rules, Now Discover Your Strengths, has taken the corporate world by storm. He says: quit trying to turn your weaknesses into strengths. Identify your strengths, focus on them, duplicate the situations in your life that feed them and you will find your strongest life. The way he explains it makes a good deal of sense.

I didn't get the book read in time to post the review on the release date. I still haven't posted the review. This isn't the review. So, I don't know if I am in or out with Thomas Nelson, but I plan to put the review up and then put one up for Beautiful Mess and see what becomes of me. I feel terrible that I missed the deadline. I want to succeed at being a reviewer for Thomas Nelson. I'm never late for work (at my new job, that is), but meeting deadlines does seem to be a weakness. Marcus says I should not focus on that or I will amplify it. So. I will move on to an area that I am not sure is a strength or weakness. I'll let the people decide.

I cleaned my kitchen up until it was spotless. I put all the recycling in the bin out in the garage and shredded the junk mail that was strewn across the counters. I scrubbed with Clorox Clean-Up and threw away unneeded debris. I put every small appliance in a cupboard to free up space and create clean lines (this is decorator talk). The whole time I was working around this one thing:

...a perfectly good wad of unused Kleenex. I don't know where the wad came from, but it was clearly unused. I could not bring myself to throw the wad away. But where should one put a wad of unused Kleenex? It doesn't belong on the kitchen counter. It doesn't fit nicely back into the Kleenex box. It would get dirty in my purse. It would end up going through the wash and rinse cycle if I put it in my pocket. A perfectly clean kitchen with clean lines and a wad of unused Kleenex on the counter create tension. Don't worry- Ziah, the bonsai, is in the living room.

Anyway. Is it a strength or a weakness to not be able to throw away a perfectly decent, unused wad of Kleenex?

With Mondays like this Who Needs Dentists?

After a fitful night's sleep, due to I.T.'s and my tense, Sunday afternoon discussion concerning a certain budget (thank you, Dave Ramsey, for that Financial Police University), Monday rolled in about an hour late for what the responsible, working world finds acceptable. Thus, this mother/daughter home educating duo reluctantly marked themselves tardy. Two and a half cups of coffee (drunk from a uniquely Charleston mug *smile*) later, the discovery of the empty toilet paper roll came too late.

Mind far from the day's schedule and farther still from the calendar in the kitchen drawer by the phone that tells it, caused the call from the perturbed dentist's receptionist, which rang in as I stepped from the shower, to deliver a quick shock followed by a deep sinking feeling like being tied to a pole in the bowels of the Titanic after she hit the iceberg. Failure, my favorite feeling - punctuated by the fact that this was the rescheduled appointment from the one I missed last month. Who needs dentists anyway? I brush. "Well can you get here in two minutes?" No, I can't get there in two minutes, my hair is wet and I haven't brushed my teeth.... "Oh. Well. Then. I guess we can RE-schedule you for next Monday at...." But next Monday I may still be feeling too embarrassed and schmucky to face the dentist. I think I'll just move to Australia like Alexander in that Horrible, Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day book.

The cupboards are bare, the shopping list lies on the counter. But is it possible to stay within the budget? Don't shop on an empty stomach. I am hungry. But the samples at Costco are enough for any girl's lunch. Costco. Budget? Costco. Budget? ???? It's 2 o'clock in the afternoon for crying out loud. I've gotta get going. I.T. will be home soon and no dinner could lead to another budget discussion. No thank you.

Tuesday, come quickly- I need to start over.

Uniquely Charleston Giveaways Arrived- Pictorial

Remember back in August, Greg, from Greg's General Store, decided to have a giveaway? I entered and then went on vacation. I returned to find I'd won! Thursday was my birthday and the giveaway arrived on Saturday. What a nice birthday present! Thank you, Greg! See what I got....

(yes, purple polka dot pajammies)

(Fash's birthday card to me is playing peek-a-boo in the background)

No sweat. Time flew...and then it was here!!

Awesome, Charleston mug!

And the flip side.

A pair of matching Charleston mugs!!

The only tea plantation in the U.S.- is just down the street from Greg's place! Cool!

A bag of biscotti! Yummy! Only three left, as I type...("I can't believe I ate the whole thing.") and a bag of coffee- mmmm....

Thank you so much, Greg! These uniquely Charleston gifts are terrific. Everyone is welcome for a cup of Charleston tea- anytime!

Thankful Thursday, the Birthday Edition

Thanks to Sonya, at Truth 4 the Journey, every Thursday bloggers everywhere can celebrate the top five anythings for which they are truly thankful! What could be better?

1. I.T. presented me with a birthday card this morning. When I opened it, a band was playing and I.T. (or someone) was singing:

Youuuu're still the one....we're still havin' fuuu-un and you're still the one.....

2. Fash gave me a card with a monkey on the front, of course, and inside she wrote," Thanks for always being there for me, I greatly enjoy our relationship." Nothing could be finer than to read that one-liner in the mo-oh-oh-rning. I love it that I have a "relationship" with my daughter, that she greatly enjoys. I GREATLY enjoy it, too, Fashy!

3. Dinner out tonight- Celebrate good times, come on...there's a par-tee goin' on right here...

4. Fash is staying in the dorm tonight with someone she knows who attends the college we'll be visiting tomorrow. I.T. and I will be in our hotel room. "Yoooore still the one....who can stratch my itch........we're still havin' fu-u-un and yoooore sti- ill the one...." Woot woot!

5. 46 years of family and fellowship with the one, true God who fashioned me in His own image, calls me by name and meets me where I am each and every day, takes me by the hand and leads me on the path of righteousness. It doesn't get any better.......

Thank you for all the birthday wishes and birthday singers from cyberspace. I tried and tried to get a YouTube of "Still the One", but I could not figure out how to put it on here for you. Would anyone like to leave me some clear instructions in the comments on how to get a video from YouTube onto my blogpost? Thanks again everyone! Eat a piece of cake for me today!
One of my favorite books as a child- I still love it.

The Blog or the Husband? The Project. What's Real?

The house is a mess. The "project" in our bathroom continues. Three coats of skim coating (thin layers of plaster slathered on every square inch of wall and ceiling, then sanded off, then put on, off, on....repeat, repeat, repeat........)

In the past two days, I learned that there is such a thing as a husband feeling replaced by a blog. This problem demands action.

I've had visions of me sitting alone on half a barrel in my new, run-down studio apartment (run-down, because that'd be likely all I could afford) clacking out comments on blogposts and pouring out woes on my own blog, using a laptop with a cracked screen from the trash bin outside the apartment complex, while my cat (I don't have a cat-this would be a cat I found in an alley) weaves around my ankles begging me to take time to open our last 33 cent can of tuna. Believe it or not, in the vision, my mouth is not smiling and my eyes are not happy. But I'm blogging.

(If there is an artist out there, who would like to paint this scene in oil on canvas, or sketch it in pen and ink- I'll take a copy. It'd be a perfect, purposeful piece to hang in my bathroom.)

This would be my alley cat in brighter days, before she became addicted to a blogger.

How is it I can be so drawn to a world of strangers, as kind and caring as they are, that I neglect my household- chores and people? Let's get real, Heidi. But bloggies are real.

Outside the Box and Fash, my live-in counselors, tell me blogging is not evil and it is a valid outlet for the love of writing. But really, mom, you gotta get a grip. Set a limit. Set a timer. You see how well their mother has taught them? I now get back at me the teaching I doled out over the years. Isn't it wonderful?

The blogging has become my great escape- from "the Project". Poor I.T., he slathers away, as I slither away to the computer nook to blog. Not good.

So. I'm thinking about my predicament. I'm wondering if the 12 step program will work for blogging addiction.

In the meantime, I'll blog, but maybe less. I'll read blogs and comment- not sure if less will do. I'm only on step 1, remember. But one thing is for sure. I will hold the light to the ceiling, so I.T. can see where cracks still show through, for as long as he needs me to hold the light. I'll hold the vacuum hose under the sander to catch as much plaster dust as possible, until the sanding is done. I'll vacuum up all the plaster dust and wipe down the entire stinking bathroom, even though the sanding will resume within 24 hours. I'll try not to burn the rice, as I did last night- again -(because I just couldn't pull myself away from reading and commenting on Dandy's bachelorette party and Greg's broken cars , I mean Dandy needs to know what color dress I should wear if she wants me to be the alternate in the event that a bridesmaid drops out and I certainly cannot ignore Greg in the midst of his jalopy troubles) even though the timer was going BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP,BE....... At least I set the timer!This is what I do for the sake of "The Project".

Tomorrow is my 46th birthday. October 8. I'll be riding in a silver, Chevy Malibu Maxx south to Indiana with I.T. and Fash to see if the college there will suit her fancy. Never mind we have oodles of colleges right here in Michigan. That's okay, Fash. Because you're something really special, we understand it will take a really special college to get you educated for the real world launch.

As for my birthday- I'm getting a steady stream of lovely cards from my aunts. My amazing and ridiculously birthday card sending time conscious aunts are the most faithful birthday card senders, who ever lived. In fact. It is said in my family that if you do not receive a birthday card from my aunt Donna Lou, it probably isn't your birthday. I can't believe how blessed I am to have aunts like this, who think of me, the peon niece in Michigan, every single year after year, and send me a glittery, "you're the best niece" card. This always makes me smile.

By the way, did anyone notice my fantastically intelligent cousin, K.D.'s comment about the bee? She informed us that the bee is a woman. The men bees only fly when it's time to mate (aha!). After that they just laze around until the hard-working girly bees get tired of them and eat them up. So much to ponder here. Go visit my cousin's blog! You'll love the title. She has collected elephants for as long as I have known her and been involved in Girl Scouts for longer than any girl I know on the planet. She IS Juliette Low, probably. It'll be easy for you to get to know her right off the bat, as she participated in the Random Dozen meme last week. Go! Go meet K.D. and leave her a comment, so she'll know you were there. Say hello for me!

I'm hoping to have 50 followers by my 46th birthday. I have 49. Who wants to be my "birthday present follower"? I have a gift for my 50th follower, but you'll have to leave me your e-mail in a comment, so I can get an address. It'll be something from the Christian bookstore, where I work. Where I love to work. Gosh, I love that bookstore.

Finally, most importantly, see the button in the sidebar of my blog, at the top, that says "Please Pray for Andrew.", well- please pray for this precious boy, his mother-a faithful follower of Jesus Christ and their family and their doctors. Thank you.



To God be the glory, great things He has done,

A Bee

All summer I tried to get a shot of this bee. More than once I almost got stung. She or he, is this a he or a she bee? Probably our friend, KW will know. I'll guess he. He would not stay on one flower long enough for me to choose the best setting, focus, try to figure out how to get the light right. Today I just didn't worry about it. I put the camera close and holding it as still as possible, pushed the button down. Yeah, I see the shadow and some fuzz, but I did get that bee! See....

Buzzin' off to bed-