For the next few months, I am going to do a brief recap of some powerful parenting (with educational topics) books I’ve read.
Sometimes reading quotes from books helps shift my mindset on certain topics and gets me focused on what’s really important when raising children.
Book Title: Chasing Slow
Author: Erin Loechner Narrator: Hayley Cresswell
Book Synopsis:
In Chasing Slow, viral sensation and HGTV.com star Erin Loechner turns away from fast and fame and frenzy. Follow along as she blazes the trail toward a new-fashioned lifestyle – one that will refresh your perspective, renew your priorities, and shift your focus to the journey that matters most.
My Review:
I listened to this book on audio and enjoyed the authenticity and honest ways the author described motherhood. If I were to run into her on the street, I would say THANK YOU for writing this book and highlighting the joy and satisfaction of slowing down.
Top Ten Quotes:
- “I used to think the opposite of control was chaos. But it’s not. The opposite of control is surrender.”
- “This is a quote in the book but I LOVED it! “I was part of that strange race of people aptly described as spending their lives doing things they detest, to make money they don’t want, to buy things they don’t need, to impress people they don’t like. —Emile”
- “I do not know that everything happens for a reason. I simply know that everything happens.”
- “We know better than to compare ourselves with others online. We know a Facebook feed, for most, is a glorified highlights reel, a round-up of our best moments, our funniest selves, our greatest champions. We know not to compare our worst with someone else’s best.”
- “A girlfriend once shared with me the theory about the three buckets we hold in our lives. One bucket contains our connection, another our vitality, and a third our contribution. The theory goes like this: when one bucket is empty, the others need to be filled. When you’re feeling lonely, alienated, and low on connection, boost your vitality and contribution. Take a walk, cook a nutritious meal, volunteer to bake cookies for the blood drive. When you’re feeling spent and low on energy, on stamina, perhaps you’ve been neglecting connections and contributions. Invite a few friends over for takeout and brainstorm creative projects. When you’re feeling as if you have nothing to give, nothing to contribute, fill your connection and vitality buckets.”
- “Another quote inside a quote- “Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know.” Buddhist nun Pema Chodron”
- “Here is the secret to subtraction. It doesn’t matter what you remove. What matters is that you stop adding it back.”
- “For just one second, look at your life and see how perfect it is. Stop looking for the next secret door that is going to lead you to your real life. Stop waiting. This is it: there’s nothing else. It’s here, and you’d better decide to enjoy it or you’re going to be miserable wherever you go, for the rest of your life, forever. —Lev Grossman, The Magicians S”
- “Even if I’m setting myself up for failure, I think it’s worth trying to be a mother who delights in who her children are, in their knock-knock jokes and earnest questions. A mother who spends less time obsessing about what will happen, or what has happened, and more time reveling in what is. A mother who doesn’t fret over failings and slights, who realizes her worries and anxieties are just thoughts, the continuous chattering and judgement of a too busy mind. A mother who doesn’t worry so much about being bad or good but just recognizes that she’s both, and neither. A mother who does her best, and for whom that is good enough, even if, in the end, her best turns out to be, simply, not bad. —Ayelet Waldman, Bad Mother”
- “Sometime when we’re not looking for what we want, we find what we need.”
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