Books Worth Reading

Book Review: Bringing Up Bébé

Bringing Up Bébé

I recently finished reading a book about a story of an American mom, Pamela Druckerman, living in Paris. In her book, Bringing Up Bébé, she talks about the differences between American and French parenting and how French babies don’t have eating or sleeping problems.

This book saved my life. As a new mom with a baby that wouldn’t sleep, I was exhausted and at my wits end. The wisdom I learned from this book gave me the confidence to train my baby to sleep. It gave me my life back.

The differences between French and American parenting are so interesting. French parents can take their babies and toddlers to restaurants and enjoy a nice meal together whereas most American parents work hard entertaining their children at restaurants and end up leaving a huge tip because they feel bad that their kids created a huge mess that the waitstaff would then have to clean up. French babies sleep through the night at 2 months. Yes, 2 months! Miraculous… Most American books tell us to not even attempt sleep training until the baby is old enough, at the very least 4-6 months of age.

How can French babies not have any sleep problems when there are sooooooo many American parents struggling with baby sleep problems (including me)? With so many books dedicated to the subject, sleep consultants, and websites where moms connect to discuss their baby’s sleep problems in the U.S., it seemed impossible that an entire country could have babies that slept through the night with no problems at all. I was curious and I had to find out.

I was determined to uncover what I needed to do to train my baby to sleep through the night. I had been suffering for more than a year with sleep deprivation because my baby was still not sleeping through the night. Read more →

Success Story: Terry’s Toffees

An incredible story about how a new business can be born effortlessly. It all started with the book, The Artist’s Way.

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The Boy Who Built a Windmill to Fight Famine


This story is amazing. William Kamkwamba was a guest on Jon Stewart’s show. He is the author of the new book, “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind,” which is an autobiographical story of William’s mission to fight famine in his country of Malawi by building a windmill just from pictures in a book from a library.

Watch the video here.

You can visit William’s blog here.

What an amazing story! Incredible. His book is available on Amazon. Read more →

Book Review: Harmonic Wealth

This book is absolutely amazing. I really liked how the author, James Ray, uses 5 pillars to divide up different aspects of your life to determine how “harmonic” our life is. When you hear the word “wealth,” most people think of financial abundance, but true wealth is more than just having a lot of money in the bank. What good is a lot of money if the other aspects of your life are suffering? James Ray talks about how to achieve wealth in 5 different pillars:

1. Financial
2. Relational (Your Relationships)
3. Physical
4. Mental
5. Spiritual

By going through exercises and a series of questions in each of these pillars, I was able to look at my life from this perspective. It made me realize that I have been focusing on three of the pillars: Relational, Mental, and Spiritual, but my Financial and Physical had been quite lacking. And it’s not that I’m not working on those, but because I had neglected them for so long and paid more attention to other areas of my life, I have a deeper mess to dig out of, which is fine, because now I’m clearly aware of it and am doing something about it.

This book takes a very holistic and spiritual perspective in taking a look at your life, a perspective I believe will sustain true wealth for people who are seeking a wealthy life. As you work on yourself and do the internal work necessary to become better, your external life will mirror what’s on the inside. That’s the true message of this book. It’s a fabulous book that takes a look at life from a deeper level, one that will help you become a better person, and wealthy, not just on the financial front, but on all levels. Read more →

Embracing Uncertainty in Search of Your Life Purpose

In Eckhart Tolle’s book, A New Earth, he says on page 274, “When you become comfortable with uncertainty, infinite possibilities open up in your life.”

Listen to the webcast that answers a question from someone that asks about finding a career path that merges her inner purpose with her outer purpose.

Reading this book has created a profound shift in my thinking. At first, it was a little bit too academic for me, but after giving it a second try, I was able to read the book and find some profound wisdom in the book that completely shifted the way I approached certain aspects of my life. It helped me to let go of the perfectionist tendencies I have–the ones that were detrimental to my happiness–and become more comfortable with where I am and being happy with the present moment.

Eckhart Tolle asks, “Can you be at ease with not knowing?”

This is a difficult task for most of us, and it takes practice to get to a point when you can be comfortable with where you are at, not knowing what lies before you. I was in this position for almost all of last year. I didn’t know what the future held, and during the process I tried several different career paths to learn that these were not the ones that would fulfill me over the long run, but rather things I would like to incorporate into my life. After each step, I felt as if I was starting all over again, but looking back, I realize now that all of those experiences were necessary for me to learn more about myself. Each one of those experiences brought me closer to finding my true purpose and career path.

I am not completely out of the woods yet. I am still a bit uncertain where this path will lead me. Read more →

Book Review: Leaving Microsoft to Change the World

I’ve been reading a book called Leaving Microsoft to Change the World. It’s been such an inspiring book that I feel moved to do something to make a big difference in this world.


Perhaps for me it will be setting up the new non-profit that I was asked to undertake to help feed the homeless and to help them get back on their feet. Helping the homeless is one of those things I’ve felt called and compelled to do for many years, but was not sure what I can do other than go to soup kitchens and donate some money. Last year, however, an idea came to me that perhaps I can build shelters for the homeless, designed with their well-being in mind, to really support their transition from homelessness to independence. I thought this might be something that I might begin to think about 5 or 10 years down the road. That would give me enough time to pay off my student loans and have enough capital saved up to do something really impactful.

What I’m finding, though, is that when you decide to do something, the resources somehow start to appear to make it all happen. It’s the decision to do it that gets the ball rolling. After feeling inspired by the idea that came to me last year, I made a decision that someday I would help the homeless and start a non-profit organization. I didn’t know how, I didn’t know when, but I knew I would do it. And I knew that I would need some experience in the non-profit world first for me to even think of undertaking this task, but I didn’t necessarily want a job in the non-profit sector. I enjoyed my working in the business community, but still wanted the experience. Maybe I could sit on a board of a non-profit someday? Read more →

Book Review: I Lost My Job and I Liked It


I just finished reading a book called I Lost My Job and I Liked It by Lilou Mace this past weekend. Wow, it was so interesting to see how many parallels I saw between her life and mine! We’re both in the process of making a career transition, and I’ve been watching her videos through the 100 Day Reality Challenge on Co-Creating Our Reality (CCOR). I have also been posting videos of my journey, which you can see on my profile.

Her honesty and openness in sharing her journey with her readers really blew me away. I find that most people want to edit everything they present to the public by trying to act like an authority figure on a subject matter, when in fact we are all constantly learning and expanding all the time. Lilou takes a very different approach compared to other books I’ve read by sharing her journey—trials, tribulations, triumphs, and all—with the intent of empowering millions of people to pursue their dreams.

Her open and honest approach has inspired me to do the same. I’ve been a bit hesitant in the past to share my journey online, only posting things that were positive in nature and wouldn’t divulge my inner most thoughts. After reading her book, I’ve changed my mind. I’m going to come out, as Lilou did, and share my journey with the world, with the hope that in truly inspires people to go after their dreams and their passions, like I am doing now. Thanks Lilou!

Read Lilou’s book or join CCOR to start your journey today! You can also add me as a friend or follow me on twitter. Wishing you the best of luck on your journey!

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