It’s good but so much information. I think this would be better as a physical book so you could mark it up and return to certain areas and topics as needed.
Biggest takeaways: trust in the divine (which definitely was NOT just a Christian God as she clearly explained in the beginning of the book, unlike what some people are saying). She was calling out to whatever you hold sacred and by whatever name you use, and she said that clearly right up front. It is as applicable to Christians as Pastafarians. The other biggest takeaway was that love is everything. Love is it. Love is the answer, love is the solution. That fit perfectly with my family’s mindset of “Family is everything,“ and I would much rather look at this world from a loving perspective than one of fear, hatred, or distrust.
I must admit, she lost a star with her Zen approach to the 2020 election and all the tragedy that happens in the world.
Don’t get me wrong. I admired her refusal to get drawn into the fight because whatever you do, you have people on both sides. However, she pressed too hard on the idea that whatever would happen would be for the best. Perhaps in a karmic, universal manner that would be true. And to a certain extent, you might even be able to practice that in your own life.
But to expect that level of acceptance and poise from everyone when you have a sick child, or a loved one who passes away, or a disaster happens, or some of the truly horrible things that are occurring in society play out on the daily news, or there’s another school shooting… That bothered me. I couldn’t make that leap. I’m pleased that she could say that she trusted in her faith, and that everything would be fine, but I kept thinking of all the people for whom that could never be true. The lost star is for the tone-deafness and the lack of empathy or understanding that some people might need a greater coping mechanism than that, particularly for the people who have gone through some truly heinous things in this world.
I read through that section twice. And I kept saying “but what about“ in my head, and thinking that, at some point, you have to consider all of the real, honest trauma in the world, and put yourself in others’ shoes. It’s easy to say to trust in a higher power, but when you’re in the thick of it, and that higher power seems to have deserted you, and you’ve lost a child, there is no way that anyone could ever rationalize that away. You cannot make sense of the senseless and to just brush it away with “it is a higher plan“ or “we are here to learn on earth” doesn’t take into account the true pain that people feel. They need more than easy platitudes.
So overall pretty good, but for even a confirmed Pollyanna such as myself, it was a little bit too rosy and unrealistic.