How It Feels to Find Yourself: Navigating Life's Changes with Purpose, Clarity, and Heart

by Meera Lee Patel

From the author of Start Where You Are comes an illustrated guide for moving through life’s biggest transitions with purpose and clarity.

   How It Feels to Find Yourself pairs vibrant color palettes with thoughtful observations and guidance for navigating the most important relationship in our the one we have with ourselves.
    Through illustrated charts, honest essays, and insightful questions for deeper reflection, Meera Lee Patel encourages us to sharpen our internal compasses—so we can discover our purpose, let go of what we’ve outgrown, and navigate challenging relationships with confidence.
    How It Feels to Find Yourself provides comfort for the difficult moments in life while serving as a source for deeper learning. It is a valuable gift for anyone who is facing uncertainty or entering a new chapter in life. Each page creates nostalgia for the places and experiences we’ve already encountered, while shining a hopeful light toward where we are headed next.

Genres: Self Help, Nonfiction, Psychology, Personal Growth, How To, Audiobook, Inspirational

176 pages, Hardcover

First published May 23, 2023

About the author

Meera Lee Patel is a self-taught artist, writer, and internationally recognized best-selling author. She writes books that help people connect with themselves, each other, and the world around them. Her books & journals for everyone have sold well over a million copies and have been translated into more than a dozen languages worldwide.

Her latest book, How it Feels to Find Yourself, is a vibrant guide towards deeper self-knowing. Through illustrated palettes, honest essays, and insightful questions for reflection, Patel encourages you to sharpen your internal compasses—so you can discover your purpose, let go of what you’ve outgrown, and navigate challenging relationships with greater confidence.

Her other books include My Friend Fear: Finding Magic in the Unknown, as well as 3 best-selling journals: Create Your Own Calm, Made Out of Stars, and Start Where You Are.

She writes a weekly newsletter, Dear Somebody, on Substack: meeraleepatel.substack.com.

Meera lives with her family in St. Louis, MO. To learn more about her, please visit www.meeralee.com.

Reviews

[Madam Book Worm]

4.25 stars

Favorite quote: “The only person I can change is myself, and the only people I can help are the ones who ask for it. Some relationships are forever, some are for now, and some are simply better left behind.”

I appreciated the format of this book. Each page is a different topic/issue so you don’t have to read this book chronologically (I did). I’m not sure if I remember what I read but I remember reading some topics and I thought the author’s thoughts and experiences were 100% similar to mines. It’s a great feeling when someone can put into words how you feel better than you can express.

[Jess]

This book was given to me as a gift and for the longest time I let is sit on a counter. But I should NOT have let it sit for as long as I let it because it is incredibly written! A lot of life lessons, suggestions and over a great book to really reflect on your life and the people that surround it. The last few pages are great because the author left blank spaces for you to fill in.

[Michelle F.]

So much wisdom and comfort in the words of the author; a mental health peer.

[ChuuCoLay]

The book is nice. I did enjoy the insights and reminders the author provided. It did feel relaxing and reassuring, to just take many aspects in our daily lives with small steps and gentle attitudes. I didn't learn much from it though, which is fine because as long as I got reminders of pacing my life, that's enough.
Something that I didn't like was how some stories the author shared I couldn't relate to or didn't see their alignment with the title of the section. I understand that it probably was more of her own self-reflection presented in this book, but I expected more substance. I honestly wouldn't recommend it, but I also don't regret reading it either.

[Jessica]

A fun, feel good read about the humanness that exists within us all and a shift in perspective on how to navigate it all. Some quotes that struck a chord:

“I learned that stability isn’t a steady job or someone to come home to every night. It’s the knowledge that no matter what thunderstorms rumble outside my window, my self-reliance won’t be shaken”

“How I feel is up to me; no one else can poison my happiness or well-being unless I let them”

“There are so many beautiful things waiting for me on the other side of my fear”

[Madison]

The author writes from a first person perspective about different situations she has lived through. She walks us through her mindset as well as affirmations and questions. This was very refreshing to read and I think relatable in some parts. She also uses pretty art visuals to explain things because she is an artist.

[Kaylee Hales]

4⭐️ some heavy hitting questions in this one. which I had a physical book to annotate while I was listing to it

[Reading_ Tamishly]

Another favourite mindfulness book. Each chapter and illustration provide so much more! Just gift yourself this book. It’s awesome.

[theleighbrary]

3.2 stars

Part memoir, part instruction manual, this one had some gems but didn’t captivate me. I felt like there were a lot of bullet-point lists but not a whole lot of depth in either the story or the directions.

[Erica Ferraro]

This book feels like a yoga class. Each page left me feeling less anxious, more at peace, and with a great perspective on life, relationships, purpose, and myself.

[Michelle Nelson]

This was gifted to me by my friend Mandy while I’m on stress leave from work. Exactly the book I need right now. Will be referring to it often.

[Leah Montes]

This was really refreshing and surprisingly well written/ structured. Definitely made me think.

[Imani Vega]

honestly, the only reason I would ever glance at a self help book would be because a loved one gifted it to me and that’s exactly what happened in this case. But this book reiterates why I hate self help, it lacks substance and it’s basic common sense repackaged as “self help”. Reading this was boring and it lacked any sort of philosophical take that might actually surprise me or excite me to apply to my life. Nonetheless , I’m grateful to think someone I care for thought about me enough to gift it to me.

[Rachel | All the RAD Reads]

this was such a beautiful collection of art and reflections on change, grouped in themes that felt so relevant to SO many seasons of life — i liked the art the most (so many venn diagrams and cool palettes and illustrations that perfectly depicted different transitions or emotions or circumstances) and think this would be a great grad gift! 💝 it didn’t blow me away but i think if i had read it in college, it would have been really meaningful to me and felt like one of those books that JUST GOT ME.

[Lyon.Brit.andthebookshelf]

This book is visually stunning!

As a visual learner I took to the vibrant color palette that Meera uses throughout of charts that make the information shared easy to take in and reflect. A great book of life’s major transitions. That will have you reflecting on your past and where you want to be. I think this would make for a great gift especially for someone who is going through one of life’s transitions.

[Kaela]

Wouldn’t count this as a self-help book! This was more of a collection of essays on different aspects the author went through. It was like browsing through someone’s journal.

PROS: I looove the art here. I also found myself nodding along to essays I related to.

CONS: Didn’t learn anything particularly new. I just felt seen at parts, and others I wanted to skip.

[Lori Neff]

Beautiful book. I had a few moments of insight - especially around the friendship portion. This would likely been very helpful for a reader younger than me.

[Lane Pybas]

This is a beautiful book to look at and hold but there’s not a ton of substance to it.

[Laura Cirne]

Reading this book was like meeting a kindred spirit ♡

[Erin McAuliffe]

nice! nothing groundbreaking. quick read

[Sam Bright]

I was in a real funk and had called out of work for the last two days when I stumbled on this book at the library last Friday. I'm really glad I did!

It was really weird having my negative emotions so clearly written about throughout this book, it took such a weight off of my shoulders. As I continue to make radical changes in my life, I need to be gentle with and remind myself that learning about me really is a journey. If there are bumps along the way, or if it feels like I'm going backwards for a second; this book reminded me to make sure that I'm centering myself in my expectations (not what I want others to think) and that when it doesn't feel great that it's okay to let it fail and pick myself back up when I'm ready to do that picking up.

There were some great journal prompts in the back that I used to write how I was feeling too!

The art in this book does a great job of visualizing some of these feelings too. The author combines that with great, personal storytelling that connected with me. I can't recommend this book highly enough!

[Bridgitte Rodguez]

I enjoyed this. Though I listened to the audiobook version, so not sure if the illustrated part would have added to what I learned. The author was thoughtful in her observations and I appreciated her personal experiences, and how she created a path for the reader to follow, and instill purpose in their own lives.

[Brianna Alarcon]

It feels good to finish my first book of the year even if it was one I started last year. I really love these books, I wasn’t expecting the last couple of pages to have that sort of guided reflection like her other work so it was a nice surprise. This book has me excited for the new year, we simply are able to just begin again.

[Anandi]

It read like a collection of journal entries that skipped back and forth through time and tenses.

There were some stylistic choices that baffled me and some attempts at poetic sentences that felt unnatural.

It didn't really get deep into the struggles but have some sense of mental health concerns.

[Hannah Lappy]

I am always searching for books that (in a true and sounding dramatic way) tug at my soul. I locked eyes with this book on a random more heavy day at Target. I debated spending money on another book but I’m so grateful. This was a very thoughtful kind and meaningful book.

[Abby]

Comforting words, with beautiful illustrations. I want to buy two copies for myself. One to put on my nightstand to read over and over, and one to carefully cut out the illustrations to hang where I'll see them each day.

[Dizo]

I was thinking this book were going to lead the reader to their insides that it was a trip of self consciousness.

It more a story of the author finding, she talks about her own life, which sometimes not applies to the reader life.

The illustrations are cool and help to understand emotions.

[Nirali Parikh]

This book is beautiful. The illustrations are beautiful and for me it was particularly helpful that the illustrations were attached to emotions. I wish I had this book in my late teens early 20s!

[Tarana]

Very insightful!

Loved the detailed Descriptions
Enjoyed the colors,they were so meaningful and bright
Love all of meera books
Looking forward to more

[Shagufta]

Had high hopes but this disappointed me! It didn’t have a lot of depth or detail to it. 2 and a half to three stars.