Making Time: A New Vision for Crafting a Life Beyond Productivity

by Maria Bowler

We are constantly fed the line that more productivity will bring more ease, satisfaction, and meaning to our lives. But what if all the gold stars and checkboxes are just a distraction? What if we could stop project-managing life and act from our being instead of all our doing?

If you long to leave the pressure to do enough behind in favor of a life full of meaning, creativity, and joy--a life where you don't feel rushed because you can't fall behind--Making Time is for you. You won't find any life hacks to control your schedule in order to cram in more work. It's about liberating yourself from the myth that humans are producers and discovering the freedom of being a maker who trusts life as a creative process. In this bold, revitalizing call back to human being, you'll learn how to

· let go of the constant pressure to do more
· find deeper meaning in how you spend your time and energy
· resist external noise that crowds out inspiration
· make what you really desire to make with your time

You don't need to do more or try harder. It just takes a new, transformative vision for how to live from your values every day.

Genres: Nonfiction, Business, Writing, Self Help, Personal Growth

224 pages, Paperback

Published January 21, 2025

Reviews

[Holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book took me a LONG time to finish—and it’s only 216 pages.

As someone who coaches others on productivity, Making Time sounded like it would be right up my alley. But I quickly realized this book isn’t about productivity in the traditional sense. It’s not about optimizing your to-do list or getting more done. Instead, it’s about shifting your mindset from producer to maker—focusing on creating something meaningful rather than just checking tasks off a list.

At times, I found myself rereading paragraphs, unsure of what I just read. I don’t consider myself a philosopher, but the author clearly is. The writing often felt abstract, almost like it was talking in circles.

That said, there are some golden nuggets throughout the book—especially for those who want to make an impact rather than just be another cog in the wheel. The emphasis on human BEING versus human DOING was a refreshing perspective. Instead of asking, “How do I fix this?” the book encourages you to first ask, “Who am I being?”

If you enjoy deep philosophical discussions, this book might resonate with you. If you're looking for a way to break free from the "producer" mindset and tap into your creativity, you’ll likely find value here. But if you're after practical productivity tips and strategies, this isn’t the book for you.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. I was under no obligation to provide a review, and the opinions expressed here are my own.

[Hallie Waugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Think of this as a long and companionable walk through the philosophical territories of time, productivity, and creation. Bowler is a lovely guide.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was beautifully written. It provides a different way of looking at how we spend our time and why we choose to spend time on things in our lives. Are you a maker of your life or merely a producer of what the outside world says you should produce? Personally, I think it's time for me to be a maker. I think after reading this book, you will, too.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a thought-provoking and helpful read. It's a reminder to stop focusing on doing and focus instead on being and creating and living a life of intention, not production. So much of life seems like a checklist, with everyone asking, "what do you do?" and each of us feeling like our existence matters only because of what we accomplish. This isn't an answer book, but a reminder to slow down and live in the present and be intentional about what we're creating with our life. Here are some quotes I liked:

"Read... not as a user manual but rather in the same way you would read a message in a bottle washed onto the shore: just let the words land with you wherever you are (p. 13)."

"I studied under Benedictine nuns to learn the mysteries of the contemplative life and how to accompany others (p. 14)."

"'Who are you being when you are not out there doing? How alive can you stand to be exactly where you are, as you are?' (p. 16)"

"The more you turn away from arbitrary checkboxes and gold stars, the more flexible and energetic your capacity for making grows (p. 17)."

"When we forget our natural creativity, we are not well (p. 18)."

"Humans are meaning-making creatures who want our time to count (p. 19)."

"When will I stop worrying about running out of time, money, energy, and love so I can do what I really want to do? (p. 20)"

"We are not producers for some faceless boss in the sky evaluating our value, our input-output ratio--even if the aim is noble and of service to others (p. 20)."

"I'm inviting you to evaluate your time and effort creatively, not productively. As a maker, a fully alive collaborator in a vast web of creation, effort takes on a whole new meaning (p. 21)."

"It is a never-ending relationship with every season of growth, including silent hours in which it appears no new life will sprout, when nothing is happening (p. 22)."

"How did productivity become the measure for making meaning in our lives (p. 25)?"

"In the same spirit with which your phone reports your daily steps, screen time, and GPS location, ever-more-accurate measurements become necessary as markers for our earthly status (p. 26)."

"'When white-collar people get jobs, they sell not only their time and energy but their personalities as well' (p. 28)."

"In addition to your actual job descriptions, paid or unpaid, you must decide what it is to do--since you swim in endless options and opinions about the one best way. We are now all project managers, all the time (p. 29)."

"Even as we live in the land of productivity, it's time to remember who we really are (p. 29)."

"A maker is someone who cooperates with reality to draw out more life: someone who receives the stuff around them not as objects to extract value from, but as an unfolding world to playfully connect with (p. 30)."

"A maker does not simply do more but makes more meaning from every act, which your soul cannot help but do when you let it (p. 31)."

"Mere doing is always demanding you answer the question 'What do I do about that?'--where that is a feeling or an unanswerable question such as 'What is my soul's purpose?'... You can only do or not do (p. 33)."

"Whether you are making yourself tea, a spreadsheet, or a political speech, the quality of action is one of an intimate relationship between the maker and the world--as opposed to doing, where are you acting on it and running from it (p. 35)."

"You will never feel free within the limits of your time, money, and the goodwill of others until you make peace with the fact that there will come a day when the limits win (p. 36)."

"The world cannot be full of life for a producer when they are focused on avoiding death (p. 37)."

"The way to stop being trapped by lack is to embrace it: your lack of time, breath, and motivation. To see the way that all things are collaborating creatively for abundant life, stop arguing with all the edges (p. 38)."

"Be calm but don't get pushed around. Stay disciplined but don't be rigid. Be sensitive and aware but don't need anything. Be unique but not weird. Live in the house everyone else wants, but be true to yourself! (p. 41)"

"'There is nothing to get done except allow your thoughts on the page, even and especially when they don't make any sense' (p. 45)."

"Real rest is mentally releasing the need to solve a problem, including an emotion (p. 58)."

"Maybe you're a field that needs to be fallowed--leaving the soil unsown with seeds of expectations for a growing season or more (p. 59)."

"You have to set your will down a little in order to rest, to embrace the composting part of your life where all of the unconscious materials and minerals get to form fertile soil. You get to leave decisions alone for a while (p. 60)."

"Unproductive time becomes not-working time, a feeling of being in an airport waiting for your next flight... No one feels restored. No one has more energy... Any work without a 'ta-da' at the end, without a product, gets lumped into not-work. That's why the efforts of caregivers, who tend to living beings, are so easily overlooked and underpaid, and maternity leave can be mistakenly called a 'vacation' (p. 61)."

"Making takes effort, but not the kind we're used to as we put out fires and react to notifications (p. 62)."

"Stare out the window. Chop vegetables. Close your email and dial the phone number, type the letter, or sketch. Weed the flower beds. Go to a coffee shop and drink tea and expect to find the person at the table next to you inspiring your short story. Turn the music up in your living room and move the sofa. This is how we make time. At the end of the day, you will have reminded yourself of who you are: one who not only works but receives and gives in equal measure from the life of the world (p. 62)."

"As a producer, when you procrastinate, your inner middle manager berates the rest of you for what you're not doing. You're not simply resisting action; you are resisting your own resistance to action. Two equal and opposite forces within you have locked horns. No wonder you're exhausted (p. 63)."

"I both love and hate the email notifications popping up on a Saturday while waiting in line at a busy coffee shop (p. 66)."

"Everything happens so much. With us and without us. Everything happens so much. Yet you exist (p. 67)."

"If I never get anywhere else other than where I am now, what would be worth it for me to respond to? (p. 69)"

"Producers can desire what it takes to stay productive, but anything beyond that is a luxury (p. 70)."

"A desire is also uncomfortable for your producer self because you can't hold the sensation in your body without doing something about it (p. 70)."

"As a producer, you must take your desires literally, so as to deal with them as quickly as possible (p. 71)."

"Certainty is currency in the land of productivity. If you are what you do, you better be sure of what you choose to do (p. 72)."

"That was our task: aliveness (p. 73)."

"What if we looked at our time this way: Is it alive? If not, why not? If the answer is no, that doesn't mean we must make it alive again. We must see why. Maybe it was alive, but something has changed (p. 74)."

"The maker's trust comes not from rigid plans or infallible methods but from staying awake (p. 75)."

"Producers often struggle with big decisions, and too many decisions feel big (p. 76)."

"We cannot evolve with mere doing. Creating happens when we've unlearned how everything is supposed to go. Creating requires responding to what is: improvising with reality (p. 77)."

"Her relationship with her business shifted from a complicated math problem to a collaborative art project (p. 80)."

"You can't feel fully, creatively human unless you can tolerate deep shadow and light at once, because our days on a most basic level require both (p. 83)."

"The productive 'best life' creates two opposing options: the one says aim for the version of you that transcends all your current limitations. It says, tune in to your best self (p. 87)."

"This is not to say that there's no place for a plan (p. 91)."

"Who are you being when you are doing nothing? Who are you being before you've done anything and after you're done? Ask your best friends. Your pets. They feel your presence and find it beloved. That is why there is no such thing as doing nothing--the great sin of our culture--because there is no such thing as being nothing. I want to convince you that the quality of being trumps your actions every time (p. 96)."

"Unlike the land of production, which can only be driven by data and scientific materialism, the inner knowing offers a more holistic, interconnected, and profound understanding of our world and ourselves (p. 98)."

"Try shutting your eyes and you'll find it's even noisier within the mind (p. 100)."

"For the doing self, your inner knowing is very embarrassing. It makes you vulnerable to nature, other people, and bodily sensations. This creativity is disgustingly hopeful and uncynical. It's inefficient and unreasonable (p. 101)."

"A creative life thrives and withers in direct correlation with the truth. Not a mathematical truth or anything so provable--the truth of what is alive in you and what is not (p. 103)."

"When you ask yourself what you want to experience after finally producing enough, you find that you are seeking the qualities that your inner knowing already has in spades: peace, connection, curiosity, wonder, generosity, to offer a short list (p. 105)."

"What happens when you're done? And then what? What way of being are you holding hostage under the ransom of more doing (p. 107)?"

"What if your distractions are the socially acceptable shape of your creative power (p. 109)?"

"When the focus is on doing or not doing, your relationship to that action that you wanted becomes transactional instead of intimate (p. 110)."

"Our inconsistencies are golden places, holding valuable information about where we are and who we are (p. 111)."

"You can work out consistently because you're afraid if you don't, then you'll lose control. Or you can have a relationship with your body that is expressed and explored in movements (p. 111)."

"Telling yourself what not to do keeps you out of a creative life because it places terms and conditions on your wholeness (p. 116)."

"Presence makes real growth, not just 'change,' possible (p. 118)."

"Are you afraid of failure, or are you afraid of how you'll punish yourself if you fail (p. 126)?"

"These are the secret threats you have been taught were 'motivation':
Do it or you will go broke.
Do it or you will lose love.
Do it or you will be a loser.
Do it or you will have to give up forever.
Do not do it or you will prove them right.
Do not do it or everyone will suffer.
Do not do it or they will leave you.
Do not do it or everyone will see what you're really like (p. 127)."

"'How are you really? What do you need?" (p. 129)"

"I would much prefer to be a disciple of what is alive in me, to 'stick to it' by following a thread of something: learning, or life, or intention (p. 132)."

"We are all disciples of something, though not necessarily on purpose (p. 133)."

"All your work to ensure a neat ending in unnecessary (p. 136)."

"'If I had no idea what others would say and no outcome was determined, what would I see? What would I want? What would I think? What would I do?' (p. 139)"

"Your anger is what passion feels like when it's been ignored too long (p. 143)."

"If you treat the mistakes of your past with tender are and reverence, you can trust that future-you will treat present-you with the same respect... You were fully human then, you are fully human now, and you will be fully human in the future. There is nothing to run from (p. 145)."

"When we believe we are what we do, then we think we are responsible for making our very selves--that our life is a product to project manage (p. 146)."

"A maker knows we are not isolated actors. We are collaborators, made up of history, the earth, time, and each other. We become who we are in the presence of others (p. 147)."

"The role of a maker is to listen to yourself and the world around you. Maybe that sounds like a passive act, as if you're a bored but tolerant psychoanalyst nodding while a patient discusses her dreams. A more apt metaphor is this: you're sitting in a boat, holding one end of a delicate line in the water. On the other end is a heavy. flailing fish: the truth trying to climb up out of the water into the air with you (p. 147)."

"Their listening told me I was real--even when I struggled to believe it myself (p. 148)."

"You need the dark side of your mind like a painter needs a canvas to paint on (p. 156)."

"Silence isn't just an absence of noise, it's a posture of attention with the body (p. 157)."

"As stillness practices like meditation and prayer tend to show us, you will notice more sensations in your body that you were too busy doing over to find. You must also sit in the discomfort that you will never do silence enough, because that's the way it is with infinite things. This makes us not want to do t at all; this makes us not want to put ourselves in the way of it. Don't be precious about it. If you want up early to watch the sunrise for eight minutes every day, or turn your phone off, don't let it be an achievement. Don't let it become another obligation that you need to uphold (p. 158)."

"We cover our boredom with stress because that makes it feel more important (p. 159)."

"Every kind of boredom is a signal that some form of life is being ignored somewhere (p. 160)."

"Making: how to bring your inner world to the outer world (p. 163)"

"I define creativity as cooperating with reality to draw out more life (p. 165)."

"'If you think creativity is only for artists... think again' (p. 167)."

"Creative beings are often assumed to be willing to work at their passions harder, longer, and for less pay (p. 168)."

"To be a human is to have a divine spark of life within you to tend, nurture, and apply transformative effort. If you ignore it, throw it down the stairs into the basement of your consciousness, it will burn your house down (p. 169)."

"There is a cost to abandoning the spark of life within (p. 169)."

"A maker is driven by love... Your work is not you. You are in a living dynamic with the material of life, so ask yourself: What is the quality of that dance? To be intimate with your efforts means you have to deliberately reach out to the world and let the process change you (p. 172)."

"Intention is the invisible way you extend yourself toward a new way of being (p. 173)."

"Intentions differ from goals, but the difference can be subtle... Intention shifts your gaze. Your intention helps you slip past the how, past the bad infinity of the marketplace, past the boss, past the habitual self-consciousness that blocks your presence (p. 174)."

"What do you hope to learn, to experience in all your efforts? What would make showing up worth it for you if you released the result as an offering? Sincerely stretch your attention toward this possibility and see what magic unfolds (p. 175)."

"Connection--not correctness--creates momentum (p. 177)."

"We think failure means the game is over (p. 181)."

"Ideas don't run out. When you use one, three more appear (p. 184)."

"As a maker, you learn the difference between living with abundance and having enough (p. 184)."

"You are as brilliant and beautiful as your heroes and as ignorant and annoying as the person you least like at your dinner party (p. 186)."

"An inspired life can't decide in advance what part of life is worth paying attention to (p. 188)."

"Real humility is detaching from how important or unimportant, how good or not good, enough or not enough, you might be in order to surrender to the divine spark... Truth and beauty are not frivolous. Creating is responsible... It is a gift to be alive (p. 190)."

"Making makes you come alive (p. 191)."

"If only you could stop caring about the unanswered emails, dirty dishes, garden gathering weeds, the promotion that isn't yet yours, you would be content (p. 192)."

"Delight tends to dissolve our urge to control. It takes a cooperative approach toward reality. When you allow yourself to delight in something, you are open to being charmed by it. Unexpectedly and pleasantly transformed by it (p. 192)."

"Delight is not a diversion. It is not a task you can fail to put on your to-do list; it is a part of your nature that will find its way into your life (p. 193)."

"We work to repair the world, and... hope for a more beautiful future (p. 197)."

"Keep going. Inch by inch is enough. We need what you can see from where you are (p. 199)."

"In every 'unproductive' period of your life, the divine spark within you has always been committed to your fullest expression, no matter where you ended up. You have found exactly what you needed where you were and brought it with you (p. 201)."

"Trust how life has already prepare you instead of willing yourself to perform each day (p. 201)."

"You will never know how much there is within you until you allow yourself to be seen making meaning, making your presence felt (p. 201)."

"Show yourself and others the way that you, and only you, can give effort, intention, purpose (p. 203)."

"Our efforts will travel beyond us, because nothing true is wasted (p. 203)."

"Do not rush to make big plans or set yourself a program you must fulfill. Remember that the desire to make something new, to extend yourself in any direction, means that you are already the person who can hold this idea and see it through (p. 204)."

"Letting go of... the outdated self-images, the unsustainable relationships, the efforts whose time has come--isn't a defeat. It's an act of creative courage (p. 207)."

"Passion reminds us that our control is limited and our heart extends outside our body (p. 208)."

"Congratulation yourself for the willingness to love (p. 209)."

"You must have courage to look so closely at the mundane and love it enough that it tells you what else is happening, that which was hidden by productive fantasy (p. 211)."

"The future demands your imagination, your particular way of regenerating the earth (p. 211)."

"You aren't meant to know how your efforts matter. Trust that the impulse to plant, water, and weed is plenty. No checking notifications required. While you are sleeping, the beauty and wisdom you let flow through you when you were awake is finding its way to where it is needed (p. 213)."

"The sparks you made will fly long after you close your eyes for the last time (p. 214)."

[Audrey Marcusen McMacken · Rating 4 out of 5]

The irony in the rate I consumed this book discussing making versus producing is not lost on me. But I also heard the parts on napping all day and not feeling rested. And that rest can look like reading a book, or cleaning the house with no one home, or baking bread, or time with those friends who are comfortable and easy, or perhaps table tennis with your family.

And right now as the CDC Medical Eligibility for Contraception site, a robust information resource physicians rely on to help remove unnecessary barriers to contraception for people with certain medical conditions or characteristics has gone dark because of an executive order. And a felony arrest warrant has been issued for a NY physician for prescribing mifepristone. And the count of letters I've written or calls I've made to my state office holders in Washington increases (19 in the month of January). And I have all sorts of feelings and actually if I'm honest fears about my government withholding scientific information important to my daily work, it doesn't feel like a poor choice to binge on this lovely book. And it feels more like making than producing and certainly feels better than doomscrolling or reading the news. Although the line between letting things go and important action is hard to discern in this weird time in our country.

Regardless this book felt like a great use of time- especially in reminding me of other ways to view time. And how many of the of decisions our "doing" self are based in scarcity mentality "danger you might run out of time or fabric or energy making sure you know what you are doing before you commit so you do it correctly" and that something we are called to just create without the worry of correct or perfect. Especially since the scarcity belief that we might waste time or ideas often leads us to actually putter around and create waste. And an excellent reminder that my identity doesn't depend on what I did or didn't do.


"This morning I danced to an exuberant pop rap artist in my living at no point did I think this infectious song is bringing me life but she really should have been solving climate change. It goes without saying that we work to repair the world and most of us have a visceral need to hope for a more beautiful future but obsessive fault finding attenuates this hope as it overwhelms you and keeps you, and this fault finding is about you, inactive. Your doing self brings up every ill in the world, every possible criticism, every hard thing and says 'yeah but are you solving for that, if not don't bother' isn't it self indulgent to share your inner self with the other world. In other words if I can't do everything I will do nothing."

[Mario Gudec · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you’ve ever felt like you’re running on a never-ending treadmill of to-do lists and productivity hacks, this book will be a breath of fresh air. Making Time challenges the idea that our worth is tied to how much we get done and instead offers a more intentional, fulfilling way to think about time.

Maria Bowler’s approach is both philosophical and practical. She doesn’t just tell you to slow down—she actually explores why we’ve become obsessed with maximizing every minute and how this mindset disconnects us from creativity, joy, and deep thinking. She makes you rethink how you measure success and encourages you to reclaim time for what truly matters.

Her writing is engaging, thoughtful, and (thankfully) not preachy. It feels like having a deep conversation with a wise friend who just gets it. If you’re tired of the constant pressure to "optimize" every moment of your life and want a more meaningful way to exist in time, this book is a must-read.

Highly recommend for anyone looking to escape the productivity trap and rediscover what time should feel like.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book with content to think about. Bowler encourages us to re-establish a relationship with our natural creative self. She wants us to be aware of our inner knowing, live in harmony with our soul, who we are. This is a good book for those tired of the emptiness of productivity. It is a book for those who want to feel alive again, who want to feel like they are living their true self. The chapters are short. They can be read one a day as a jumping off point for reflective thinking. This is a personal book as Bowler shares many of her own experiences and reflections. It's a good book to think about who you are being. It will help you unlearn productivity as a way of life and rather be who you are on the inside.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.

[M. Kircher · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is suffused with wise, inventive, and original tips for the creative maker in us all. Instead of pushing us to get more done in a culture that's all about the hustle, Maria invites us to rethink how we approach time. She challenges the obsession with being busy and encourages people to embrace creativity, presence, and meaning. I'm underlining sentence after sentence; it's that good!

The book is broken into shorter chapters, allowing you to easily move through it. I enjoy how I can sit down and read a chapter in ten minutes but think about her words and insights for the rest of the day! If you’re feeling burnt out or stuck, Making Time is a reminder that life is about more than crossing things off a to-do list. It’s a gentle nudge to rethink what it means to be alive and find joy in simply being.

[Violeta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though this started out as a fast read, the more seen (and called out) I felt while reading, the more I slowed my pace to really underline, annotate, and absorb this book’s wisdom.

Making Time’s vision for creativity is tender, intuitive, and expansive (also: deep, delightful, sacred). Bowler meets her reader with an incisive understanding of the “productivity land” we’re swimming in, then opens into the abundance, connection, and possibilities that become available when we see ourselves as makers collaborating with life and guided by inner knowing instead.

This book needs to live on my desk where I can revisit it often!

[April Yamasaki · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I saw the title "Making Time" written by a writing coach, I thought the book might be about how to make time to write in the midst of a busy life. What I discovered was so much more! Instead of focusing on time management and how to organize the hours of the day, Maria Bowler looks more deeply at productivity and creativity, at some of the assumptions, attitudes, and beliefs that can block creative expression. I've highlighted many portions of her book that I'd like to return to—from rethinking "balance" to undoing imposter syndrome and more.

[Adriana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Small steps for all the things that lead to a creative, productive life!

Biggest takeaway - time is an invention due to industrialist/ capitalist thinking and motives. How can we create separate from these worries of how we fit into concepts of time? Efficiency is a personal path, always….

Also - what is getting in the way of your inner knowing? Honor it, always

Maker > producer is the thesis.

“A maker’s presence creates belonging for others.”

Your creative and beautiful self is IT! ALWAYS !!

Thank you, Maria.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual rating would be 3.5 stars, because I didn’t think it was bad but I did have a harder time connecting. Like it was only a 5 hour audio book and it took me over a week to get through it, even when I liked some of her points.

So a different format might have gone better for me, especially because there were so many times the author was really aiming for precision and it felt like she was using way more words than necessary.

[Emily Silva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Making Time reminds me of The War of Art by Stephen Pressfield in that both are a sirens call to creators to create. Equal parts a loving and understanding fellow creative sitting in the trenches of doubt and blocks AND loving and encouraging fellow creative who helps to remind you of the undeniable spark within.

The last part of the book was quite beautiful and inspiring. I’ll be keeping this handy for the days when I doubt my creativity.

[Emma Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a self-help book, this book provides a unique perspective on organizing your life but also prioritizing your creativity instead of productivity. I also especially loved that they highlighted the fact that we are almost addicted to being in a constant state of productivity and if we aren’t being productive, what’s the point? This book makes you consider how important is to make time for things that bring you closer to your creativity and passions.

[Leanne Roed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do you want to be kinder and more creative? This book is a great step on that path. Highly recommended!

[Lindsey Schoeneman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so helpful with learning how to relate to my creative self and practice in new ways!

[Shan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A little woo woo but it landed and I find myself applying its wisdom to my everyday life. It's hard to argue with results.

[Ashley McNeese]

I absolutely loved this!

[Sophia · Rating 3 out of 5]

endless

[Mariah · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 30%

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reads like a collection of musings; easy to pick up and put down over a few weeks. Gave me a lot to think about in terms of creating. I will be revisiting parts of it.

[Tina Mullener · Rating 4 out of 5]

I definitely recommend this book to read, however I caution thinking of this as a self help book. It is more a philosophy of self book.

[Mar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm so glad I read this book. A great reminder that we are naturally creative and the ways that capitalism and other pressures can create distance between our selves and our creativity.

[Bridgett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life-changing.

[Anchan · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are - or want to be - a recovering type-A person who want’s to give their artistic side some room to breathe, this is a must-read!

Maria has this gentle, non-judgmental lens of looking at things and addressing the common pitfalls of our culture’s encouragement of measuring fulfillment through achievement.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The fact that this book was so challenging for me to read really points to how much I needed the content in it. Whether you have a specific creative outlet or just want to create more space & meaning in your life, check it out.

[Straw · Rating 5 out of 5]

THIS BOOK! It has made me PREGNANT with pause, presence and a depth of rootedness to wander in wonder. It has inspired me to be in congruence with my self. It has awakened me to the truth that I am not trying to be a diamond, and therefore, pressure is no longer my chosen approach to life.