::: and the winner... :::

...of the book Find Your Strongest Life by Marcus Buckingham goes to...

GRACE!

The Baby was involved in an emotional breakdown when it was time to draw names, so Bo did the honors.

Congratulations, Grace. I really believe this book will serve you well. E-mail me with the address you want me to send it to!

::: book review and giveaway: find your strongest life: what the happiest and most successful women do differently :::

Are you a frenzied woman?
Has your life become a juggling act, requiring you to keep everything in the air, barely allowing each aspect to register on your fingers before the next one comes flying at you?
Are you unclear about which direction your life should take?
Are you constantly struggling to "find the balance" in your life?

It's no surprise. According to the book Find Your Strongest Life: What the Happiest and Most Successful Women Do Differently by Marcus Buckingham from Thomas Nelson Publishers, though both men and women suffer under life's pressures, women suffer more.

In Buckingham's book, he shares that:

• As men and women age, men become more satisfied as women become less satisfied with every aspect of their lives;
• An extra hour of free time doubles a man's feelings of relaxation, but it does nothing for a woman's;
• Contrary to popular belief, women are not better at multitasking than men and that your IQ actually drops ten points when multitasking;
• Women, in general, have become less happy over the last forty years than men, in spite of increased availability of education, better jobs, better pay and more freedoms. 

So what can be done?

Buckingham suggests that finding balance is not the answer, that we should be tipping the scales toward ourselves in certain areas of our lives. He tells us that we are not taking advantage of our strong moments, that our lives should not to drain and exhaust us, but fill us up. By offering the Strong Life Test, Buckingham helps the reader to focus on the areas of her life that bring her the most strength based on her Leading and Supporting Roles, to trust her own judgment about what fills her up, and, maybe more importantly, to determine what exhausts us, even in our relationships, and what we should do with those aspects.

This is not a book I would typically choose to read, but from the first few pages, I was drawn in and compelled to read more. Some of the book seemed to delve into an overly-strong self-importance, but Buckingham reminds the reader that it's impossible to give effectively to those we love if we're drained by life.

While a large portion of the book seems to be tailored to the professional woman, especially working mothers, including the online Strong Life Test, Find Your Strongest Life offers plenty of suggestions for women from all walks of life, and even includes chapters titled Tactics for Stronger Relationships and Tactics for Stronger Kids.

If you believe you need to find a balance, don't have a direction, or feel unhappy with the role you're playing in your own life, pick up Find Your Strongest Life and discover the role you were born to play.

Leave a comment in the comment field to win my review copy, underlining and all, of Find Your Strongest Life by Marcus Buckingham. A winner will be chosen at random on Friday, October 9th. 

::: a million miles in a thousand years winner :::

This morning, I printed out the responses for the new Donald Miller Book and had The Baby choose one at random. And she chose...

Truevyne! 

Congrats, dear True! E-mail me at todayslessons AT gmail DOT come with your address and I'll whisk it on its way. I wish I had a copy of the book for each of you!

::: book review and giveaway: a million miles in a thousand years: what i learned while editing my life :::

When I was a child, during those moments of intense drama, I was certain there were cameras hidden in my home, recording each moment, storing them up for the time when editing would take place and I would be the star of an after-school pre-teen melodrama. It never occurred to me that long periods of my life would be dull and uninteresting to an audience. And that is what Donald Miller and I had in common.

Donald Miller, author of Blue Like Jazz, is thrust into an interesting situation in his latest memoir, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life, when he receives a call from a director and cinematographer who are eager to turn his years-old memoir, Blue Like Jazz, into an independent film. As Don, Steve and Ben meet to begin fictionalizing Don's story, Don comes to the realization that his life has stalled and isn't as screenworthy as he would like it to be, so he sets out to inject more intentionality into his existence. 


Miller's honesty and transparency, his acknowledgment that he is fallible, is both heartbreaking and endearing. Miller's confusion, suffering and tenderness of spirit, his King-David-like crying out to God in the depths of his disappointment, and his actions, imbued with a strong desire to create a better story and dotted with humor, made for an interesting memoir.

As an added surprise, Don's book spoke to me as a writer as he learns for himself and teaches his readers about story, protagonists, antagonists, and inciting incidents. 

But his book also spoke to me as one who is Written by the One who wants to make a better story of my life, "the One who knows a better story."


If you enjoy the works of writer Anne Lamott, or if you're feeling that your real life needs a bit of editing, or if you'd like to delve into the mind of Don the Writer, then you'll be right at home peddling A Million Miles in a Thousand Years along with Donald Miller.

For your chance to win a free copy of this new book, leave a comment in the comment field. One reader will be chosen at random on Friday, October 2nd to receive a complimentary copy of A Million Miles in a Thousand Years.  Leave your comment today for your chance to win!