Live Your Life: 14 Days to the Best You

Review: 
In just 14 days, you can become the best you! Each chapter has a section entitled "Thinking Points" and "Action Items" that gives you practical questions to consider and tips to try in order to kickstart a new and improved you. According to LeFevre, you will find contentment, satisfaction, motivation, desire and passion, and genuine excitement in your life if you follow her advice. 

"My purpose in writing this book is simple- I want to remind you of things you already know but may have forgotten, teach you some new skills, encourage you to find the strength and commitment to make changes where needed, and walk beside you as you make this amazing journey."  

I felt that this book is very clear and concise and practical for the everyday seeker of self improvement. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a quick read and needs some motivation for improvement. 

About the book:

Author Ann LeFevre doesn’t waste a minute of your valuable time getting to the heart of each easy-to-apply lesson in Live Your Life: 14 Days to the Best You, so you can start feeling better quickly. Using relatable examples and ever-present humor, Dr. LeFevre walks you through step-by-step action items, guiding you to make simple changes that will bring clarity, purpose, and peace to your life.

Some of these practical lessons you likely already know and have forgotten, some may be brand new to you. All are written in a clear, easy-to-implement style that will have you inspired right from the start.

Each chapter includes an illustration of how the lesson can be applied, additional details and suggestions to set you up for success, and bulleted lists of thinking points and action items to walk you through applying the lesson to your life, one step at a time. The lessons have been taught by the author to countless clients over the past 16 years, with fast, consistent, positive results. 

For additional support and guidance, readers are invited at the beginning of the book to download a free companion workbook, and to view brief, informative videos throughout the book on Dr. LeFevre’s website.

If you are feeling overwhelmed with stress, wondering how you’re going to get through the day, or just struggling to find meaning in your daily routine, this book has the potential to change your life. 

After working as a psychotherapist for nearly 20 years, Dr. Ann LeFevre has decided to share a series of lessons in her book, Live Your Life: 14 Days to the Best You, that have inspired countless clients to take control of their lives, manage stress naturally and holistically, enjoy lives filled with meaning and value, and to start living the lives they’ve always dreamed of. 

The link for the book on Amazon is:

And Then I Am Gone: A Walk with Thoreau by Mathias B. Freese

And Then I Am Gone: A Walk with Thoreau tells the Story of a New York City man who becomes an Alabama man. Despite his radical migration to simpler living and a late-life marriage to a saint of sorts, his persistent pet anxieties and unanswerable questions follow him. Mathias Freese wants his retreat from the societal "it" to be a brave safari for the self rather than cowardly avoidance, so who better to guide him but Henry David Thoreau, the self-aware philosopher who retreated to Walden Pond "to live deliberately" and cease "the hurry and waste of life"? In this memoir, Freese wishes to share how and why he came to Harvest, Alabama (both literally and figuratively), to impart his existential impressions and concerns, and to leave his mark before he is gone. 

Title: And Then I Am Gone: A Walk with Thoreau 
Author: Mathias B. Freese 
Genre: Non-Fiction, Memoir 
Formats: Paperback & eBook 
Published by: Wheatmark ISBN: 978-1627875387 
Pub. Date: September 22, 2017 
Number of pages: 117 pages

Purchase at: 
Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and Barnes&Noble.com

Book Awards: 
• The i Tetralogy: Allbooks Review Editor’s Choice Award 2007 
• Down to a Sunless Sea: National Indie Excellence finalist Book Awards 2007 & 
• Allbooks Reviews Editor’s Choice Award 2007. 
• This Mobius Strip of Ifs: National Indie (Winner) Book Awards, 2012 & Global Ebook Award finalist, 2012. 
• I Truly Lament: Working Through the Holocaust: Finalist in the 2012 Leapfrog Press Fiction Contest out of 424 submissions, Beverly Hills Book Awards, Winner; 
• Readers' Favorites, Five Stars; Indie Excellence Book Awards, Finalist; Readers' 
• Favorite, Book Award Winner - Bronze medal 
• Tesserae: A Memoir of Two Summers: 2016 Los Angeles Book Festival Honorable Mention, Great Northwest Book Festival Winner in Biography/Autobiography 
• Category, Runner-up in General Non-Fiction Category in the San Francisco Book Festival, Winner for General Non-Fiction in The Beach Book Festival & Runner-Up in General Non-Fiction in the Paris Book Festival

This Mobius Strip of Ifs is the winner of the 2012 National Indie Excellence Awards in the non-fiction category of autobiography/memoirs.

From the author: I authored The i Tetralogy, a Holocaust novel, winner of the Allbooks Review Editor’s Choice Award, and Down to a Sunless Sea, a collection of short fiction, finalist for the Indie Excellence Book Awards.

This Mobius Strip of Ifs, a new book of essays and memoirs written over four decades, a kind of  Bilsdungroman of my psychological life as a writer, psychotherapist, spiritual seeker, and teacher was published in February.

Midwest Book Review writes: We often live in lives of regret and unfulfilled dreams. "This  Mobius Strip of Ifs" is a collection of essays from Mathias B. Freese as he discusses American culture and how we determine our goals and dreams, as well as our doubts. Speaking clearly on this history and offering much pondering on the nature of the truths of the world, "This Mobius Strip of Ifs" is a thoughtful and inspirational collection of essays on psychology, philosophy, and thought, very much recommended. 

Synopsis: A mixture of the author’s reminiscences, insights, observations, and criticism, This Möbius Strip of Ifs examines the use and misuse of psychotherapy, childhood trauma, complicated family relationships, his frustration as a teacher, and the enduring value of tenaciously writing through it all. Freese scathingly describes the conditioning society imposes upon artists and awakened souls.

The 7% Solution by John Graves

The 7% Solution

by John H. Graves
isbn 978-0983573128
Pub. date 4/1/12

From the author: Our parents taught us to live within our means during the fifties. We carry this lesson through life: wise habits of saving, debt management, tithing and frugality. These are our foundation for a comfortable retirement lifestyle. We can manage our retirement portfolio, on our own, with these precepts in mind. Look for companies with strong ‘free cash flow, low debt, capital commitments to their future and in support of their suppliers, customers and communities. These firms also pay good dividends. As shareholders, we want to enjoy these dividends. We also look to own bonds from firms with good debt management. A wise combination of income from these sources, as well as others, can earn us as much as 7% during retirement. You manage the portfolio to your income needs. You CAN do this yourself, or working with an advisor who listens to you. The good steward of his resources plants and harvests in tune with his season.

My Thoughts/Review:

Managing money can be overwhelming and sometimes a professional is needed. Don’t be nervous about your future, this book contains practical advice and gives compelling reasons for the importance of planning for a comfortable future. Throughout the book, different investment options are explained in ways that non-professionals will understand. You’ll learn how to start a financial plan and how to maintain and monitor the plan once it’s in place. We all want less stress in the financial area of our lives and Graves will give you the confidence you need to gain a handle on your personal finances. The interesting approach the author takes is in his following of his own advice for years, sort of being his own guinea pig. 

Graves assures the reader that no matter what the economy looks like, it is up to us to take control of our finances. The reality is that no one will care for your financial needs and know what you will need in your latter years more than you do. He shows you how to get a clear picture of what you will need in your retirement years by explaining clearly, concisely and coherently what to do.

He helps you to develop a worksheet that will lay out the reality of your current financial situation and where that will take you. You will then be able to realize whether or not you are heading in the right direction towards the “7% solution” in your retirement years. You can then determine where the strengths and weaknesses in your portfolio lie and what adjustments can be made to get the desired results.

Although, I’d never heard of John H. Graves before reading this book, I will be highly recommending this book to my friends and colleagues that are in the process of retiring. It is a great book for understanding strategic portfolio depth, sources of income, decreasing debt, and alleviating the stress of retirement, by being responsible, strategic, and intentionally proactive in developing a plan that works for you and providing for your family in your latter years. This book is helpful for young people who are just starting out and older folks who are nearing retirement.

Disclosure:  I received a copy of The 7% Solution gratis. Any opinions expressed are my honest opinions and were not impacted by my receipt of the free book. I received no monetary compensation for this post.


WHERE TO BUY - The book is available at a discount on Amazon.