This is a great little book to inspire someone you love. It is written by Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D. She took parts of her bigger book and made this inspiring little book. Her big book is called the “Kitchen Table Wisdom”. Dr. Remen believes that we learn wisdom through sharing our stories. What one person has experienced may be just what another person needs to hear on their personal journey. In one or two sentences she shares thoughts on becoming whole, teachers and healers, loss, suffering, aliveness, choosing life, love, connection, refuge and holiness. These are the can opener thoughts…I mean the kind of thoughts that resonate at a heart level and help you to feel a response to what she says. They may resonate with me because of personal experience but since so many people have read her other book, I think it is more likely that she helps us to feel the connectedness we have to other human beings and their experiences. Many of us learn and grow through what happens to other people and how that affects us. Our experiences become part of the fabric of who we are and sometimes those experiences help us to know who we do not want to be in this life.
Her section on love really jostled me. I read, ” Approval is a form of judgment. When we approve of people , we sit in judgment of them as surely as when we criticize them.” p.99 Wow! This was something new for me to think about.
If you need some discussion starters or just a thought for the day, this little book is for you.
Blessings, Eileen