Author: Daphne Michaels
Publisher: Daphne Michaels Books
Pages: 130
Genre: Personal Development/Spirituality
Format: Paperback / Kindle
Purchase at AMAZON
In The Gifted: How to Live the Life of Your Dreams author, speaker and licensed psychotherapist Daphne Michaels celebrates the nine gifts that are our birthright, guiding readers in how to recognize and use them to transform their lives. In her author’s preface, Michaels reveals how her own journey of life transformation began when she was young and realized that human existence wore two conflicting faces–one of love and joy, and one of fear and despair. She decided then to commit her life to reconciling these two visions because she knew that, irreconcilable though they seemed, together these two faces held the secret to living a life of endless possibility and authentic happiness. Her personal journey and formal education in social science, human services and integral psychology led to the founding of the Daphne Michaels Institute, which has helped hundreds of men and women design the lives of their dreams.
In The Gifted Michaels shows us that the first three “gifts” we must recognize and embrace within us if we are to re-design our lives are Awareness, Potential and Stillness. These three allow us to identify and use the remaining six with a life-changing power: Disharmony, Harmony, Ease, Clarity, Freedom and Engagement. Each of these six relies on the “essential three” for its own power to change our lives, and each has its own gifts–its “children.” By approaching the nine gifts with real-world metaphors, Michaels answers in easily understood ways what for many readers have been lingering questions about personal transformation—such as how it works, what kind of commitment it takes, and why, if we’re committed, real transformation becomes inevitable—and addresses obstacles that readers may have encountered in the past in trying to reach in life a happiness every human deserves.
While the human universe’s face of love is celebrated in The Gifted, so is the face of fear that haunted a young girl decades ago. As Michaels shows us in her book, even Disharmony—the “quagmire” of life born of the human ego’s fear, defenses, delusions and despair—is a gift, too, and one as important as the others if we know how to see it clearly and use it. Once we understand Disharmony, we are ready to understand the real purpose of Harmony in our lives. Disharmony does not need to rule us. It is ours to use as we design the lives of our dreams.
The final gift in The Gifted, Michaels tells us, is the gift of Engagement. Engagement—with the universe and with ourselves—allows us to use all of the other gifts with more power and joy than we ever imagined possible.
That mountaintop decision never left me. It drove my life’s work and over the years led me to understand that there are gifts – nine of them, in fact – that we are all born with but rarely experience in their full glory and potential. These gifts – which make each and every one of us “The Gifted” of this book’s title – are the keys to living lives of endless possibilities and, in turn, achieving an authentic happiness that cannot be lost. They are, in other words, the keys to achieving the life of our dreams.
Review:
I have read lots of self-help books on the subject of finding happiness, getting rich, reaching your goals, etc., but Daphne Michaels' The Gifted: How to Live the Life of Your Dreams is a one of a kind and I'll tell you why I think so. This book had a real profound effect on me. As I was reading it, I kept saying, "She's right! Why didn't I think of that?"
In her book, Michaels explains that there are nine gifts we are all born with and they are the keys to living our lives of endless opportunities and achieving happiness. In a sense, the keys to achieving the life of our dreams. Each chapter explains each of the nine gifts we have - Awareness, Potential, Stillness, Disharmony, Harmony, Ease, Clarity, Freedom and Engagement. By going through these chapters, I could fully understand the author's message by comparing it to my own life and at the very end, I got it.
She makes great points. Here's one under Potential:
"When two people just wait for one another - no matter how much potential there might be in their union - nothing happens." Isn't that true?
Here's one under Disharmony:
"We learn that disharmony is a gift - one that can teach us what is real and what is illusion."
Daphne Michaels has great insight helping us achieve self-satisfaction with our own lives and for this give The Gifted: How to Live the Life of Your Dreams five book trees.
My Rating:
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