Title - Living Lightly
Author - Dale Curd and Kimberly Alexander
Genre - Personal Growth / Happiness / SELF-HELP / Motivational & Inspirational / BODY, MIND & SPIRIT / Mindfulness & Meditation
Publisher - Harper Collins
Book Blurb –
Living Lightly is a daily devotional that offers a year’s worth of opportunities to commune, in the deepest and most beautiful sense of that word, with your self and your life. Partners and therapists, Dale and Kim Curd step through the universal doorways of life and offer us a nudge to slow down and experiences to help return us to our selves. Their personal reflections invoke gentle introspection, and come from their own healing journeys and from being active therapists. Living Lightly invites you to explore how your mind works, understand and express your feelings and be reminded that you are much, much stronger than you realize. Living Lightly is a great way to start or end the day.
Excerpt from p. 135 for April 23 -
I’ve listened to literally thousands of people, and I can tell you honestly that you and I have many more things in common than things that set us apart.
I have to confess that, until a few years ago, I was someone who tended to notice the things that made me different from others rather than the ways we were all united. I had my own history of pain, challenges and life-defining moments, and others had theirs. I was attached—too attached—to the specifics of my life, and I would hear people share their stories through a filter of who had it worse: them or me. As a result, I found it difficult to relate to other people because no one I met had led a life exactly like mine—I was attached to the belief that relating meant finding my mirror in another. I know now that that mirror will never exist.
Relating, I have learned, is about appreciating what is universal among us. This too is a filter—one through which we see strong connections between ourselves and others based on our shared emotions. To relate means to find that place inside our own self where we have felt the same emotion as others, even if we haven’t necessarily experienced the same event.
I have felt joy and elation—but have never won a lottery jackpot. I have felt separation and loss—but have never been a refugee.
I have felt despair and grief—but do not have a terminal illness.
I have felt curiosity and wonder—but I am no longer a child. The universal truth is that our feelings bond us. And when we hear the details of another person’s life journey, it helps us to develop a deeper appreciation for them as a person rather than giving us markers for how they are different from us. We can hold them in higher esteem for what they have experienced and relate to them more profoundly for how our two journeys feel aligned.
By shifting our filter on the world from one of seeing difference to one in which we notice similarity, we also unintentionally give our- selves a deep gift of belonging. We see the truth as it has always been and always will be: we are not alone.
Buy Links -
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Author Biography - About Dale and Kim
Dale is a mental health professional, the host of CBC TV’s Hello Goodbye and a co-host of Life Story Project on the Oprah Winfrey Network. The creator of an acclaimed Empathetic Listening Method, Dale leads specialized workshops for law enforcement, hospitals and corporations across North America.
Kim spent twenty years in the tech startup world, helping to launch successful online companies in US banking, healthcare, organizational collaboration and international development. She has travelled extensively and considers travel one of her greatest pleasures. In 2014 she completed her training as a therapist, merging her worlds of technology and therapy, by offering clients online video counselling. Kim is a lifelong learner, always engaged in activities and ventures that expand her self-awareness, from writing, raising animals, to listening to horses and trees.
Dale and Kim founded The Child Therapy List and The Men’s List, two global, online mental wellness professional directories, to help normalize therapy and end mental health stigma. They created LivingLightlyToday.com as an online community to acknowledge and connect with readers and inspire people to share in their passion for beauty. In 2015 Dale and Kim left city life to live on a historic farm in Muskoka.
www.livinglightlytoday.com is a growing online community of souls committed to living fully, exploring new experiences, making new discoveries in our inner and outer landscapes. Dale and Kim are so excited for your images and stories, of beauty and connection. Come join the journey—we are waiting for you!
Social Media Links –
Facebook: www.facebook.com/livinglightlytoday
IG: www.instagram.com/livinglightlytoday
Twitter: www.twitter.com/livelighttoday