The Places Where There Are Spaces by Lisa Hopkins is a thoughtful and inspiring collection of short essays that really encourages you to slow down and be more present. Hopkins pulls from her background as a performer, educator, and coach, sharing personal insights on creativity, mindfulness, and intentional living.

I am so happy I was approved and provided a copy of this book to read from NetGalley! The Places Where There Are Spaces is a gentle, reflective collection of short essays that really made me slow down and think about how I move through the world—creatively, intentionally, and with more awareness.

The format is simple but really effective: each piece is short, almost like a journal entry, followed by a quote or a prompt that encourages reflection. I loved how it gave me space (literally and mentally) to pause and engage with the ideas. It never felt preachy or overly self-help-y. Instead, it felt like having a conversation with a thoughtful friend who’s just a few steps ahead on the journey.

Lisa Hopkins draws from her life as a performer and coach, but her stories are so relatable—about everyday choices, creativity, and finding meaning in the in-between moments. It reminded me that it’s okay to slow down, to not have everything figured out, and to appreciate the quiet, open spaces in life.

If you're someone who enjoys journaling, mindfulness, or just wants a book that helps you feel more connected to your own path, I think you’d really appreciate this. I definitely see myself revisiting it whenever I need a reset or a moment to breathe.

I liked this. It had short chapters with some nice insights and I had some takeaways. I really felt there should have been 52 chapters though as the quick reads would have made them ideal for a thought a week. Thanks to NetGalley for the copy of this.

I've joined mindfulness classes, Buddhism meditation classes and read books about the practices of mindfulness and meditation over many years. I found this to be a good book with short chapters that are to the point instead of one of those repetitive books where the author tries to find as many ways to say the same thing over and over again to make it longer.

This is a valuable resource for beginners and also offers some possible different insights for those who feel they just need to go over things again and maybe ;learn something new.

I was hoping for some exciting or new suggestions to help build creative practices or connect more with creativity/intuition, but this just felt like a long list of more of the same things that I’ve read in other self help books. Maybe my bar was too high, but I was expecting some more creative options for this list!

Hopkins poses some interesting questions in this book. Surely, the idea of living mindfully and fully, with wide, open and fresh spaces is wonderful.
I am sure many readers would find this book with Hopkins’ short essays and relevant anecdotes beneficial and calming.
It fell flat for me due to reasons such as my reading history having fresh and unique examples about these themes.
I wish the book the best journey. I will not be reviewing this publicly.
2 stars for writing.
3 stars for the overall effort and the possibility that this may be a book with a more unique take and narrative in another edit.

Such a worthwhile and easy read! 59 really short chapters always ending with thought provoking quote, quip, or blurb and a space to make notes or write down your own thoughts. Thought-provoking and insightful, inspiring ways to look at your own daily life and activities and live in a more mindful intentional manner.

The art of ‘Living in the Moment’ is a much discussed topic along with ‘Mindfulness’, both of which when discovered, make wonderfully easy changes in the way you view the world.

Lisa Hopkins shares many of her reflective moments as she has journeyed on her pathway of performer and life coach in a thoughtfully created book The Places Where There Are Spaces, which will become an instant favourite will help you discover a more positive way forward.

Shared lessons, moments of joy and practical experiences rub comfortably together, as you use this book to set out on a journey of exploring not only who you are, but life itself.

Lisa Hopkins says in her life as a dancer and performer, there were always moments in between, a space between the leaping and landing that begged to be investigated. And so it is with life; there are always those intriguing spaces which bear further investigation.

There are fifty-nine small chapters, each one filled with learned wisdom, concluding with a page for jotting down thoughts and reflections. Not meant to be read from cover to cover, but can be if you are a very methodical person, you can simply select a heading that fits the moment under inspection.

How can such intriguing titles as The Many Shades of You, the very prosaic The Power of Soup or Sorting Through Your Garbage or even Life is a Wide-Open Stage fail to tease you into further investigation?

The Places Where There Are Spaces is an absolute gem and will be a ‘go to’ to help through those tough, frustrating and i