#selfimprovement

The Little Book of Greatness: A parable about unlocking your destiny, by Ari Gunzburg: A Book Review 📚

4.8/5

Genre: Self Help

My Review

Like many people, I have read a variety of self help books. And like most folks, usually I pick them up when I am struggling with one of life’s many issues. I often find something in the text that resonates and helps me deal with my conflict of the moment. Occasionally I will read one of these books to brighten my mood in general, and am reminded of certain coping strategies that have bolstered my outlook in the past.

All of the books I have read followed a rather similar literary structure of chapter based organization. Generally, the reader is instructed to complete a section which explains the mechanism, discusses the reasoning behind why this approach is beneficial and then describes examples of people putting the strategy into practice. Often there are questions to guide journaling and suggested exercises to reinforce the premise. A perfectly reasonable and effective dissemination of the material. This approach provides a “textbook” feel for the reader, and until now was the only experience I have encountered.

Ari Gunzburg utilizes an entirely different approach in his parable , The Little Book of Greatness , a parable about unlocking your destiny. In this thoroughly engaging storyline, Gunzburg creates a narrative that provides the framework for his “5 keys to greatness”. Each key corresponds to a life strategy that would be analogous to a chapter in the traditional self help format. But this fable, and interplay among the characters, is a far more inviting way to present his framework.

I found myself drawn into the storyline and genuinely interested in the main characters journey, as he searched for meaning in each of the 5 keys. I appreciated the opportunity to think for myself about the meaning and application to my own life experiences, as opposed to having that “lecture to” feeling from the previous formats. While the coping strategies themselves are similar to other frameworks (ie giving, being present in the moment..) the novel presentation of this approach made the material feel fresh, and I found myself really thinking about the Keys and where I could make some lasting and positive change.

The Little Book of Greatness will help those looking for answers in turbulent times, and the folks who already feel good about their status quo. There is a positive connection for everyone to find in this story. 😊

Buy Ari Gunzburg’s The Little Book of Greatness here

I am so touched and humbled by this!

“The Growing Self Blogger Award has been created to acknowledge and celebrate amazing individuals, in the blogging community, who are persevering through life’s challenges not only to GROW as individuals, but to reach out and help others GROW as well.” ~Roda

I feel truly blessed to have met so many wonderful individuals through this process called blogging! I had no idea this world even existed a year ago. I started blogging to deal with my personal pain and isolation and found a network of strong, funny, talented, artistic and kind human beings! Many of whom were dealing with life’s struggles just like me.

I never would have dreamed that the friends I have made in the blogosphere would help me in my “real world” relationships as well. I have been more open, more willing to try new things and, dare I say it, more trusting. Actually, I am still working on that last one 🙂

Many bloggers have been generous to me and nominated my blog for awards, and all of those are important to me. I admit, I am way behind! Embarrassingly so! I hope to start catching up soon. But one lovely human, one that I will never be able to put on the back burner, has nominated me for the award that she herself has crafted. Which makes it extra special! If you know Roda, then you understand what I am talking about! Her nomination brought tears to my eyes, so I will begin digging out of the backlog with “The Growing Self Blogger Award”

How it works:

Put the award logo/image on your blog
List the rules
Thank the individual that nominated you and provide a link to their blog
Describe the award and mention the creator: Roda – Growingself.blog
Nominate up to 5 blogs. Remember, the purpose of this award is to specifically celebrate those individuals that have made a difference in your life or the lives of others.
Give at least 1 reason why you nominated each individual.
Notify your nominees of the award

Today I would like to nominate:

Sophie from Foodzesty

Monika from Everyday Healthy Recipes

Jay from My Truth is Now

Linda from Mainepaperpusher

Sophie- You are my long lost sister from Greece! No, we don’t look alike, I’m sure, as I have red hair, freckles and burn instantly so no one would ever confuse me for a Greek beauty! But, we connected so quickly and strongly from the instant we started messaging. You are so kind and considerate and inspire me to get into the kitchen and try new recipes. We have our mutual love of Rafa to bind us across time zones and you are the first person I think of when a tennis match pops up on my TV. Thank you my dear friend for all the emails and the beautiful post card from Greece!

Monka- I have learned so much from you! Your healthy recipes help me stay on track and fuel my, sometimes, insane workout schedule. I have found new ingredients and tried new techniques which have helped me grow my culinary repertoire. Thank you for putting up with all my questions! One day I will figure out how to get to your cooking site to share those recipes. You are so sweet to take the time to research my queries and help me navigate the blogosphere!

Jay- You are such a sweet man! You inspire me to read more than my usual “goto genres”. I am a creature of habit and will easily fall back on my usual authors. You have made me a better analyst, helping me look beyond the obvious and uncover the many underlying possibilities. I am honored to be a witness to your literary ascent! Please know that I am truly privileged to be a small part of helping you on your way 🙂

Linda-I know, I know, you don’t do awards. I also know that you break the rules when you feel strongly about something. Guess what? Your friendship is so important to me that I am breaking your rule! I am not nominating you to be irritating, but because I feel so strongly about the impact you have made on my life that I am going to talk about you whether you like it or not! So there! We have much in common, and I know if we lived on the same coast we would be fast friends. You inspire me to keep putting myself out there, we both know how easy it is it become isolated. Those of us who are a little too comfortable with alone time can become overlooked, as it were. And, we have the same sense of humor! Your Guest in Jest series is one of my favorite weekly posts! I would give just about anything to spend an afternoon with you drinking coffee, eating cookies and laughing our asses off. Thank you, my friend 🙂

And Roda….The only reason you are not nominated is because you nominated me! I will find you in Colorado, or Seattle, one day. And, hug the stuffing out you 🙂

SaveSave

One Lovely Blog Award!

The lovely and talented Sophie from “Foodzesty” kindly nominated me for this award. This is the first time I have been nominated for this one, so thank you Sophie! If you have not made it to her blog yet then you are in for a treat! Sophie is a wonderful cook and has shared a number of delicious recipes-go now and plan your dinner!

Here are the rules for accepting this award:

Each nominee must thank the person who nominated them and link their blog in their post.
They must include the rules and add the blog award badge as an image.
Must add 7 facts about themselves.
Nominate 15 people to do the award

Hmmm, 7 facts about me…

I am the mother of two young adults, and am very proud of them!

2. You can see from this picture that we like to rock climb as a family

3. I turned 50 last February and got a tattoo to mark the occasion. This is my one and only!

4 & 5. My husband and I like to run half marathons and travel as much as possible.

6. I have a Ph.D. in molecular biology and taught at the college level for 25+ years.

my daughter and I at my graduation from USC

7. A few years ago, I went to culinary school because I enjoy baking and cooking and needed to get better at both!

Now for my nominees! Please do not feel pressure to respond to this award, my intention is to recognize how much I appreciate your blog and your talents!

Recipes by chefkreso

The Austrian Dish

ONCE UPON A HOT FLASH

Everyone Else has the best titles

wakinguponthewrongsideof50

thisismytruthnow

Thank you all for your friendship, advice and your positivity 🙂

An Award I Have Never Heard of Before!

The beautiful and positive Roda sent me a message the other day. She said “I have nominated you for the Black Cat Blue Sea Award!” I thought, is she pulling my leg? It sounded kind of like a joke-but it’s not. What I found out is that the intent behind this award is to recognize those bloggers who attempt to write for everybody, regardless of the number of viewers they acquire. It is designed to acknowledge writing from one’s passions and not really targeting a blog that necessarily has a large following or a tremendous amount of “likes”. The official statement is:

What Is This Award

This award is for bloggers who strive to write for everybody, and no matter how many viewers they get, make an impact on a reader. This award is an expression of gratitude to the nominee. It should be awarded to anybody that you choose deserves it, and it doesn’t mean that they must have hundreds of followers and likes.

As Roda put it “This award is an expression of gratitude to the nominee and it should be awarded to anybody that you choose deserves it.”

How kind is that! We all enjoy followers and “likes” of course, but I think we sometimes get caught up in that loop and forget that we started this for ourselves and our passions. I love the ideal behind this award and am honored that Roda thought of me!

Rules

anybody nominated can nominate up to eight other bloggers
the nominee answers three questions posed by the nominator
the questions you ask while nominating can be any three questions

Roda’s Questions to me:

What would you like bloggers to do more of that they aren’t doing right now?

This is tough for me to address because I follow a number of really diverse blogs. Cooking, rock climbing, running, story writing, photography-all are approached differently and I enjoy that diversity in my Reader feed. As long as everyone stays positive and supportive of one another I am happy. I have yet to find a blog that is negative or demeaning in any way (thankfully!). If I did run into that I would not follow, comment or like any part of it!

Tell us 4 things about yourself, one of which is not true… and see if we can guess.

I have a Ph.D. in molecular biology
I have a twin sister
I have run 3 half marathons, to date and
I went to culinary school

Describe a perfect day that balances all the things you love.

I rise early and get in a good run then come home and have a scone (or two!) that I made earlier. I head out with my family for a day of rock climbing (of course I never fall because it is my “perfect day”!) We go out for a tasty dinner and a cocktail or two, then I spend the rest of the evening with my husband-not filling in any more details from here on!!

My Questions to you

Where do you look for inspirations for your blog posts?
How has your blog changed / evolved over time? Was the change in line with your expectations?
What would you like to be doing in the future? Are you still blogging?

I do realize that not everyone participates in awards and my only intent is to honor and recognize those blogs that I truly enjoy! Please do not feel any pressure to engage with this post and know that I appreciate all that you do!

My Nominees:

Ink Owl

In Diane’s Kitchen

This is My Truth Now

Running Forward, My way

Normalisoverated2016