feliciaclark's reviews
720 reviews

The storytelling in Chop Wood Carry Water was a unique and powerful way to help readers choose healthy habits, enlightenment, and fulfillment, and understand the process to get there.

I am planning to check out the Chop Wood Carry Water 90 day challenge as I pick back up on my physical health journey. She ebbs and flows, but—speaking of gratitude—books like this bring me back to my best self and I am grateful for receiving this book as a gift many moons ago.

Kai Harris wrote a beautiful coming-of-age story about a Black family of four in 1995 from the perspective of 11-year-old Kenyatta (aka KB). After her father dies, KB and her teenage sister Nia move in with their estranged grandfather after their mother disappears. 

It is a heart-wrenching, beautifully written story about family, race, and overcoming obstacles when life begins to fall apart.

HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

I am guilty of half listening to people so I can have my response ready because I’m always afraid they are expecting something healing and relatable to come out of my mouth. I experience people who interrupt my thoughts with questions or advice. (Also guilty of this!)

This book helps retrain our brains HOW to be a good listener and how to use those listening skills for better conversation. This, in turn, helps us be better creatives. A writer must listen to ask the right questions to get to the heart of the person or story. An actor must listen to their counterparts to continue through a scene and build off it. 

I recommend this after completing The Artist’s Way and/or if you want to improve your own listening and attention skills for deeper creativity. 

Note: I listened to this audiobook in one week instead of doing each section week by week as recommended because of time restraints. However, I think it’d be much more effective if I followed along like I did with the 12-week Artist’s Way program.

#listening #attention #creativity #thelisteningpath #juliacameron #readersofinstagram #bookreview 

This book led me back to the art as Amanda Palmer hoped it would! It also gave me a new perspective on what it means to be a paid artist, which I appreciate as a writer who was once afraid to make authorship a full-time career. What another beautiful pathway for creative souls, and a great follow up to Julia Cameron’s “The Artist’s Way.”

“Love, Within Reason” is the fourth book in The Pilsen Story series by Everalda Ocampo and my first ARC read!

This story begins with a love triangle between Mari Ortega, Javy De La Torre, and Marcos Lopez. Marcos has loved Mari his whole life whether or not he likes to admit it as an adult. Mari is known to protect others with her bulldozer courage. Unfortunately, this also includes overprotecting her own heart.

When Mari and Javy finally call it quits, Marcos and Mari finally give into their feelings for each other. Readers will journey through a spicy honeymoon phase of the relationship, complete with an adorable dog named Max.

It is a story about two unhealthy people learning how to heal and trusting they will be each others’ safe space to grow.

Thank you to Everalda for gifting me the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book! You can get your own copy June 18, 2024. Follow Everalda for more details!

As suspected/as we all probably know, our food isn’t really food anymore, which is leading to many health issues and premature death. The people in power have the ability to make the change but they won’t so we ride the abusive cycle fighting against society standards and what our world provides us to eat. 

Take Nestle for example. They produce fake foods that make us sick and now offer drugs to bandaid the sickness their products give us.

This was an infuriating read but now every time I eat an Ultra Processed Food (UPF), I know it by flavor and its effects on my body. It’s given me more mindfulness again of what I put in my body. But one can truly escape the addiction, so it’s best to blame the regulations and corrupt companies than ourselves for our obesity or health problems. It takes two to tango, and we’re not the lead.

From eating the most appropriate foods America provides us (and it’s not much) to portion control and frequency to levels of activity to getting more sleep, this book covers how to achieve optimal health. 

In additional to all of that, this health program is the first thing that stopped my migraines with aura flashes and harsh blood sugar crashes through recommendations for hydration, cutting out alcohol and sugar, trying new movement activities, and learning to choose the healthiest food options available to us.

I did give it a 3 because I didn’t appreciate some of the toxic diet culture language used. I highly recommend they hire a Gen Z editor to republish a version that is more sensitive and politically correct in those instances.

I’m sure we’ve all seen at least one scary food documentary, and this book breaks down the science behind why and how this health program works to bring us to our most energized and healthy selves, taking what’s already been proven into account.  Please know that this program (when followed exactly) does market itself as a weight loss tool, but it’s so much more than that and I wish they advertised the other perks more. 

Jay Shetty has become the expert on love. As a former Monk, he’s done the work within himself before he returned to society to share his experiences and findings. I enjoyed this book, especially since intimacy and vulnerability have been difficult for me and am working on what comes following happy ever after in my current relationship. 

I absolutely love getting new perspectives from the experts. These recommendations bring the light back to where shadows may have formed over the course of our lives. From friendships, colleagues, strangers, partners, family and community, Jay Shetty covers it all!

This book changed my life. I spent the last 12 weeks reading each chapter and following the tasks. I do morning pages every day and artist dates every week. I am now publishing a book of poetry thanks to the contents of this book. 

I highly recommend if you’re seeking clarity for your inner artist. As a creative, I have self-sabotaged, ignored opportunities and lived in fear of being published, which has also been the biggest dream and life goal of mine. This course helped me find my confidence and start creating seriously.

This novel tells the story of Lydia Quixano Pérez and her son Luca who, overnight, are in grave danger of being murdered and must flee their home in Mexico to head el norte. It is gripping, tense and heart wrenching. What an important story to show the realities of immigration and the reasons why some may need to give up the only homes they’ve ever known.

HARD RECOMMEND.