This small book gathers 52 of the authors reflections. Within each reflection is the sharing of life stories by the author and a prayer to contemplate individually.
A lovely little book that can be worked through, explored and come back to time and again.
Thank you Rodale and NetGalley for this ARC.

This is a nice inspirational book full of prayers and a bit of self-help. The author covers a variety of topics. Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for an ARC.

I won't resummarize the book as the publisher's book description does a fine job of giving potential readers the information they need to decide whether or not to read the book. My review contains only my reactions to and opinions of the book.

This book of prayers is very different from any I have read before. Non-denominational throughout, it is based on the tenets of Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness (MSIA) which is dedicated to a path of soul transcendence. The author seeks to help readers honor and deepen the connection to the inner light present in everyone through prayer as she believes prayer connects us to the spirit within, the God in everyone. "I never thing of God as a being; I think of God as a state of being."

There are prayers for a wide variety of situations. Each entry has a personal anecdote from the author's life and ends with a prayer that starts with "Dear Beloved," and ends with "So be it".

While I enjoyed the exposure to a different philosophy, I was put off by a couple of things. Although I realize the author used her personal life experiences to tie into the prayer and make it more relatable to the reader, this sometimes had the opposite effect on me. At times it seems as if the book is about the author, which in my humble opinion, takes away from her intent.

Another thing that I disliked is that according to the tenets the author follows, basically, you are praying to yourself. While I do believe that God, our creator, is each of us, I had a hard time with the lack of recognition of a higher power external to the individual.

Despite these two points, I did find things within some of the prayers that resonated with me.

My thanks to Harmony who granted me access to an ARC of this book via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own, and are freely given.

I received an advanced reader's copy to review this book, and really enjoyed it. It’s one of those you aren’t sure what to expect, but then realize it actually is more than you expected. The book is like a memoir, inspirational or self-help, and prayer book all in one. Each chapter takes on a different topic, with life lessons from the author and prayers to go along with that topic. It reminds me of reading someone's journal and their prayers for that certain topic, but also offered insight as well. For instance with the one on creativity, the author shares her journey, teaches how she heard the whisper of her creativity, and offered a prayer you can use to find your own way. But one should not expect this to be a traditional prayer book. I enjoyed the book and found some great ideas to apply to my own life.

You get 52 reflections (2-3 pages each) on various aspects of Life, that if you actually have any experience with might help; however, I founding it difficult to relate to most of them. Each reflection opens with a personal anecdote with a little self analysis that I felt would apply more specifically to the author than to me. Increasing the disconnect is the actual form of the Prayer. If your spirituality is more independent of more established religions and you care comfortable with more generic language, the Prayers probably are not that bad … but I just could not get past the opening of Dear Beloved and ending with So Be It for all of them. The language is generic enough to potentially fit within any tradition … or no tradition; but that actually makes it difficult to connect to somebody with a solid connection to a particular tradition … which is the primary issue that I had with this (for me, there just was no spark and spirituality is all about the spark). While I [think] I understand what the author was going for, it was enough beyond my comfort zone to impede any spiritual benefit I might have found if the topic were more relavent to me.

<spoiler>Introduction

Living
1: My Birthday Wish: May My Life Be an Offering
2: How to Dial the Spirit for Directions
3: It’s Not a Trade; It’s an Offering
4: The Sweetness of Doing Nothing
5: The Gifts That Lie in the In-Between Times
6: God, Help Me Laugh Again!
7: Finding the Extraordinary in the Ordinary
8: The Courage to Give All Parts of Yourself a Voice
9: Putting the Day to Rest

Creating
10: Reviving Your Enthusiasm for Each New Day
11: Hearing the Whisper of Your Creativity
12: AskingGod to Come with Me to My Job Interview
13: You Hold the Keys to Your Purpose

Becoming
14: Becoming You: The Greatest Accomplishment
15: The God Diet
16: The Hidden Gifts of Being Alone
17: Replace Your Addiction with God
18: The Imprisonment of Perfectionism
19: The Importance of Feeling Unimportant
20: Our Divine Right to Heal
21: To Thine Own Self Be True
22: You Are Never Really Abandoned
23: Stand in Your Mighty Self and Banish Self-Doubt

Overcoming
24: How to Get Out of a Toxic Environment
25: You’re Bigger That Your Fear
26: The Discouragement Trap
27: The the Wisdom in Your Disappointment
28: Reframing Failure to Your Advantage
29: In the Eye of the Hurricane: Finding Calm in Crisis
30: Having the Freedom to Choose How You React
31: Resetting Your Balance
32: Yes, You Can Kick the Worry Habit
33: When You Shut Others Out, You Shut Yourself Down

Loving
34: The Gift of Praying for Others
35: Finding Your People
36: To Compare Is to Despair
37: Free Yourself from Being Caught in the Middle
38: How to Lose an Argument and Still Be Okay
39: Breaking the Pattern of Unhealthy Attachments
40: Breaking Up: A Divine Opportunity to Upgrade Yourself
41: Yes, You Can Be Happy After Divorce
42: Parenting Through the Ups and Downs of the Teenage Years
43 Partnering with Spirit to Care for Aging Parents
44: Finding Comfort and Grace in the Loss of a Loved One
45: Being at Home Wherever You Are
46: Love Yourself the Way You Want to Be Loved
47: You Are the One You’re Looking For

Transforming
48: Embracing All Aspects of the Feminine in You
49: How to Navigate Being an Empath
50: Living with a Sense of Timelessness
51: Forgiveness: The Greatest Gift of All
52: Gratitude: The Key to Happiness and Fulfillment

Ending Questions</spoiler>

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
#SpeakingwithSpirit #NetGalley.