A Year of Living Consciously: 365 Daily Inspirations for Creating a Life of Passion and Purpose

I had long heard about the life quality gains to be had from conscious living, but was at a complete loss for how to go about that beyond focusing on the moment. The book is organized well, although formatted to begin on January 1, which I find irksome because I started the exercises well after that and did not intend it to be a New Year's resolution type thing. I would prefer that it were organized simply as Day 1, Day 2, etc., but really it's a minor complaint. Each day provides you with some food for thought, followed by a question to think about throughout the day, or instructions such as considering how you react to someone, or how your body functions throughout the day. Perfectly easy to use, and if you are so interested, many of the days make sense to journal, especially if your thinking like mine, is clearer when writing.I tend to reflect to excess, causing sleepless nights, nervous over-planning, and full-on obsessive rumination.I purchased this book as a companion to Gay Hendricks's book _Learning to Love Yourself_, and have paired them with a new method of meditation. I am shocked by the difference in my day to day life. The changes were subtle, but within a month I noticed that my anxious tendencies had decreased dramatically, and instead of 7 nights of poor sleep a week, I was often down to 1 or 2. I admit, the exercises in this book require a lot of reflection on past experiences, and critical self-examination, which is not quite what I was expecting. I was anticipating something more focused on the future, but, I do not intend that to be a negative critique. I find that, although I am prone to brief bursts of emotion when something in an exercise triggers me to remember or confront something challenging or troubling about my life experiences, that I do not then carry that stress or trauma with me for the rest of the day, as I otherwise would have in the past. I highly recommend purchasing _Learning to Love Yourself_ as well, if you haven't already read it. There is a moment in _Learning to Love Yourself_ that Hendricks writes about allowing yourself to fully feel and experience your emotions, rather than trying to talk yourself out of them or stuff them down. That advice among other aspects of the VERY short but meaningful read, I feel has given me some of the tools I need to get a fuller and more positive experience about the daily exercises in _A Year of Living Consciously_. Without some of the pointers in that book, I am not sure my experience with this one would be as fruitful.

This book is everything I wanted and NEEDED it to be. Not too religious and quite spiritual. It is a blessing on my morning quite time. Thank you for this wonderful book!

No matter what day, this book is chock full of wisdom.

I've been using this book for three years now. After having it a few months, I began using it in an early morning custom of reading, meditation, and journaling as the sun comes up on a new day. It has truly changed my emotional and physical health. This morning, as the horizon began to turn pink, I didn't want to spoil the view by turning on an electric light to read. It "dawned" on me that there might be a Kindle version I could read in dim light. There is, and I've just downloaded it onto all my devices, so now I can read and meditate without spoiling the sunrise, no matter where I am.

This book is seriously a one-of-a-kind! It has helped me exponentially in my personal growth and I cannot recommend it enough! My husband was so impressed with how much I learned from this that we bought him his own copy to begin this year. Don't wait until a new year to start though. You can easily begin at any time. The author really breaks self-growth down into bite-size pieces. I've just begun my second year with this book!

This is one of the special books that I have on my nightstand and before I close my eyes for the day I pick it up and get inspired to live the life that brings me the most joy! I have to admit I don't usually read it day by day as indicated in the books daily entries. I usually start out with the present day but then I skip around and see what hits me.... Love it, makes me think outside the box! I really think about what is important in my life and how the little things can distract me sometimes. Like making a list of to do things for the day and make the one you dread the most number one and do it first instead of putting it off. If you do that then the rest of the day is an entire vacation day. A no brainer but one I tend to do a lot! I have given this book as gifts to many friends that I know look for the deeper meaning of life, instead of just getting a paycheck, focusing on material things and looking for greener pastures. It is right in your own back yard you just have to open your eyes. Wonderful!!!!!!

As part of my new routine that my coach put me on for the mornings, I decided to use this book for a daily reading. Totally by coincidence, as I later found out that my coach was a fan and student of Gay's.The book is structured really well and that is what drew me to it; quotation, explanation and exercise for each day. But as I read it, it was (and is) the content and the concepts of living consciously that made this such and important book for me in a very important year. I finally wrote a book and launched a new business with the help of Gay Hendricks and this year of conscious living. Thanks.

Thoughtful way to begin each day centered. This became an integral part of my daily morning meditation, and as it is on my Kindle app on my phone it is portable for when I travel (so no need to bring my pile of books). I enjoy the quotes that start each daily inspirational message.

This book is everything it says on the cover: a day by day journey of transformative practice's. Every one of the exercises, suggestions, ideas in the book is well thought of, well described and rich. A book I will come back to over and over.Highly recommended!

Every day, a new piece of wisdom drawing from Taoist, Stoic, and Other Wisdom.Will wake you up, and remind you of what is possible in this life !Thank you Gay !

Un complément parfait au livre Living consciously. J'adore pouvoir lire une page en debut de journée et y repenser en cours de journée. Ou alors m'endormir sur une page le soir et me réveiller au matin avec une meilleure compréhension d'un concept. Facile à aborder et à comprendre, je le recommande à ceux qui ont lu Living Consciouly.