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In this gently presented, contemplative guide, author Kingsfield does not seek to advise her readers but rather to lead them toward their own conclusions. She accomplishes this through seven segments, each focusing on a different aspect of our human qualities that can comprise an answer to the time-honored question, “Who am I?” The central points offered by Kingsfield for further exploration are energy, connecting, meditations, relationships, healthy diet, security, and purpose.
In the portion on energy, the author asserts that being happy is a driving force for her, comprising a formula encompassing the other points and including her ability to love as a primary aspect. Connecting follows, suggesting a pipeline between her meditations and the people in her life. She constantly has to choose between negativity—creating arguments, illness, and loss—and compassion that gives rise to harmony and happiness. Meditation is described in a lively, contemporary way: “I plug into this loving energy and download as much as I can.” This receptivity gives her the comforting sense that she is not alone.
Because she allows other people into her life, she sees relationships as a means of finding those companions who bring out the best in us, eliminating negative aspects like removing weeds from a garden. A healthy diet plays a role; she avoids toxic foods such as sugar and consumes more vegetables. She also exercises regularly and practices yoga. Again, Kingsfield asserts, she is not advising her readers to do as she does but merely stating what works best for her. The development of a feeling of security comes about by having reliable, loving people in her life and giving back to them through paid employment and volunteering. All of these efforts and accumulated constructive feelings add up to a sense of purpose, the means to maintain her loving energy through actions and aspirations, and to affect change in the world by changing herself in positive ways.
Kingsfield is modest regarding her accomplishments, but it is noteworthy that she has been practicing meditation for fifteen years. Her working as a volunteer for eleven of those years seems to indicate a correlation between her inner reception and outer giving. She has deftly prepared this short collection of ideas and ideals as a further means of sharing, keeping to her promise not to give advice but simply to point the way for others by showing the path she has chosen and the happiness it has given her. In her introduction, she is careful to invite readers to decide for themselves how to use her writings.
Following each of her chapters, she has created a blank page, which she titles “Self-reflection.” This is space that can be used by readers to create a journal of the feelings evoked by each section. Thus, the book becomes an interactive device, easily transportable because it is small and allowing for a spontaneous flow of thought between Kingsfield and her readership. It is easy to envision Kingsfield, with her experience in volunteerism and her dedication to meditative and yogic practices, using her book to lead workshops for groups involved in or considering such new, mind-opening directions.
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