I am not one to read, or even like, self-help books. Especially religious self-help books. I don't like feeling like I'm being preached at. I go to church on Sunday for sermons. And regular "self-help" style books I find often are really unrealistic in their advice and what you need to do in already super busy life to make things better. So let me go ahead and say this is not a self help book.

I was intrigued by the notion of self-care in a religious sense. That idea goes against everything I feel we are raised to believe in church. You give to others, you do for others, you sacrifice your time and energy for others. Never have I been told to stop and put me first. So I really wanted to read what the author had to say about this. We are all overly busy in our lives, have more than we can handle on our plates. Whether you are a parent, work a full time job or both, there are not enough hours in the day or days in the week to get done what's on your to-do list. This book explores four gifts that come from one of the greatest commandments - "to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength" and to "love your neighbor as yourself". (Mark 12:30-31). These are gifts you give yourself to enhance your relationship with God and strengthen who you are as an individual.

"Somehow, simplifying my life turns out to be more complicated than I'd hoped. Instead of relieving my already to do list, self care becomes just one more thing to do."

Amen! That is normally how it is. April Yamasaki talks through how you give these gifts to yourself without adding more actions on your already busy day. In fact, she recommends taking things off your list. Learn how to stop saying yes to everything. What an incredible concept! And she interweaves these ideas with real life examples from her life (she walks the talk!) and she does so in a manner where you feel like you are having a conversation with an old friend. It's comfortable, warm, and nourishing to the soul. I enjoyed this book and the concepts it presents.

My thanks to April Yamasaki, Herald Press, and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Practical, thoughtful, heartfelt ways to care for yourself

April Yamasaki writes not from mere knowledge but from experience. It is clear from her reflections that she has made self care a priority in her life and she does so in a holistic way we could all learn from. This book is well researched and full of ideas for ways we can practice self care in heart, soul, mind,and strength.

This is an easy read on taking care of yourself in every aspect of your life.

Nothing groundbreaking here, but well structured and a good took for self examination as to how to implement regular, holistic, Jesus-centered self care.

”…(T)his book explores four gifts drawn from the words of Jesus to ‘love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength’ and to ‘love your neighbor as yourself’ (Mark 12:30-31, emphasis added). These four gifts offer a framework of self-card that includes (1) our total well-being, represented by the hear; (2) our spiritual well-being, represented by the soul; (3) our mental well-being, represented by the mind;(4) our physical well-being represented by strength.”

I joined a Facebook book club this year. It has been put together by Sarah Bessey (https://sarahbessey.com/) whose books I like. I thought that this reading would be a good change from some of the books I have read in the last few years. So far, this seems like a good choice.

Bessey picked books that are focused on spiritual formation that are written in the voices of women and/or black, indigenous, and POC writers. Hopefully I will review each of title as the months progress. (My shelf for these books is field notes – you can search that to find all 12 titles.)

We started with this book by Yamasaki. I found it to be interesting. She uses her own life to illustrate the pluses and minuses of self-care. I found her use of Biblical references to be especially useful and sometimes thought-provoking. I have always thought of the phrase “love your neighbor as yourself” to be a sign that self-care is a reasonable approach to life. Yamasaki gave me some new things to think about this phrase.

She also made me more conscious of how the digital world has changed the way we care for ourselves, especially in terms of mental care. The whole chapter made me think about mental health and social media.

One of my favorite sections was chapter seven, called The Soul’s Lament. I had not seen lament through the same lens as Yamasaki does. I am grateful for her insights.

All in all, if you are female and a Christian, you might want to pick this book up. Not everything in the text is likely to be new to you. However, Yamasaki has put together an overview of self-care that would be helpful to many. This book would also be a good study guide for a small group.

I look forward to seeing what other subjects Yamasaki will choose to write about in her future books. Thanks to the Field Notes Book Club and this book, I am already reading Yamasaki’s blog on a regular basis.

Really appreciated this book and the blend of practical and theological focus on self-care. I’ve read various articles about self-care and this is my first book all about self-care. I like the comprehensive approach to all parts of self - soul, heart, mind, and strength. I also appreciate the focus on self-care as part of faith in God to care for us and empowering us to continue serving and loving others. I also found helpful the reflective questions at the end of sections and the tips at the end of chapters.

The reason I put it at 4 instead of 5 stars is some of the chapters seemed less in-depth or I didn’t find super insightful or practical (like the chapter on food). Also parts of the book are pretty specific to this current time, and may get outdated in a few years. But overall I really enjoyed this book and found a lot of practical advice and theology for the importance of self-care. I plan to go back to some ideas, questions and suggestions to apply over time.

It feels like life can go to two extremes these days - work until you drop or self-care feeling, well...selfish. So much today talks about self-care as pampering or taking time out/off for yourself. April Yamasaki instead brings a much more nuanced and holistic approach to self-care in this book. Not only does she focus on the four parts of our life (total well-being, spiritual, mental, and physical well-being) but she also discusses how caring for ourselves affects our ability to care for others and engage in social change. If you are looking for a book that not only gives you practical application but also theological insight into caring for the whole self, this book is for you.

This is the first “self help” book that I plan to return to again and again not only for helpful reminders as I continue to digest this book, but also for ongoing meditations to center my prayer time. I am also looking forward to rereading and discussing this book with small groups in the future.

I find Yamasaki’s approach to be both authentic and empathetic as she identifies with our challenges in sustaining our self care even as we strive to live our Christian faith.

Read this one for Sarah Bessey’s Field Notes Book Club (sign up for her email newsletter!) and have to say, I sadly was underwhelmed by it. I wanted to love it, but I just didn’t really connect with the writing style (it felt super direct and not very personal, and I just didn’t really resonate or find it engaging). There are helpful thoughts here about self-care (focusing on heart, soul, mind, and strength as in Mark 12:30) that go beyond just massages and bubble baths into things like healthy boundaries, sleep, etc. Not a must-read, but definitely helpful for those needing to work out a better balance of loving God and others while still taking care of self.