Part 2: 11 Reasons Why I Wrote a Book Devoted to the Heart

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Part 2 of 2

Last week I mentioned 5 of the 11 reasons on why I wrote 40 Days of the Art of Wholeness: A Daily Devotional for the Heart. You can read about those here in Part 1.

Here are a few more reasons I was inspired to figure out how to self-publish a book.

Reasons 6-11

#6. I Enjoy Questioning Everything... Especially My Own Thoughts and Beliefs

The other day my 7 year old son was encouraged to swap out the rear differential on his remote control car. There are 2 cars - one didn't work and one did, so Jesse (Dad) encouraged him to combine them and make one good car.

Bobby said "I don't know how to do that, I can't do it." To which I replied, "Well, how you find out how to do something is to just begin." And then he said, "But it's going to take me all day." To which I replied, "Do you really know that? Do you know how much time it will take?" "No," he said. To which I said, "Bobby, just because you have a thought doesn't mean it's true." And then Dad set up the card table, got out the tools, and helped him just enough to begin.

He switched it out! It took about 30 minutes and he was so full of pride and accomplishment afterwards that he did it.

That pretty much sums it up.

Every time we overcome some limiting aspect of ourselves and/or our view of others or of the world, we feel more whole, more capable, more stable. We feel like we belong a little bit more. I honestly did not write a book for any accolades or criticisms or opinions of any kind from others. I wrote it so I could get over myself and my limits that I didn't know how, it would take too long, it was too hard - you know, that voice in our heads that tries to talk us out of our greatness all because of one little big thing: fear.

#7. I Love My Clients

I love creating resources for my clients. I love them. I pour my heart and my attention into every session. Quite often people will say that my work is so much more than just a massage. That is my intention. I want people to know that they can access incredible states of being on and off the table, anytime, anywhere with anyone. I create meditations for them. I create voice memos for them. And now, I wrote a book for them. And for you. And for me. I love co-creation.

#8. For Counterbalance

If you spend all day hunched over a computer or driving or doing manual labor with rounded shoulders, adding in a counterbalance will help that pain between your shoulder blades, release your neck and take the brunt of the work off of your spinal muscles.

According to Merriam Webster, a counterbalance is a weight that balances another weight, or a force or influence that offsets an opposing one.

Our bodies are always looking to find equilibrium. That pain between your shoulder blades? It's a friendly message letting you know that it's time to add in a counterbalance. That's all. So, if you then lie down for 5 to 10 minutes with a pillow or rolled up towel or even just flat on your back with your arms in a cross or cactus position, and you let gravity act as a counterbalance, your muscles will come back into right relationship. Add in some slow, deep breathing and a sincere feeling of gratitude for you body and all that it does for you and you are going to feel all the feels that come with balance: relief, lightness, and a charged inner battery.

A devotional for the heart is my offering for adding in a counterbalance for the onslaught of society's constant stimulation and our excessive mental activity. Our internal noise and life's external influence is basically akin to our chronically hunched and rounded shoulder position, which, if you notice, looks like it's closing down and around our hearts, almost unconsciously protecting them.

Excessive anything calls for a counterbalance. Lying down with our hearts open is incredibly restorative and balancing for our bodies. I believe going within, getting to know ourselves, and asking our heart for its wisdom, answers, and guidance is also a very potent, very necessary act to counterbalance our fears, our doubts, our anxieties and worries about pretty much everything.

#9. To Simplify Our Addiction to Complexity

I say in the preface that "this devotional will serve you well if you drink deeply from its intended simplicity and hold it lightly in your heart, using it to practice and to contemplate."

Information is everywhere and I believe this is a good thing, but going with #8, it can get excessive quick and leave us in the wake of confusion on where to start and how to practically apply it to our daily lives... which leaves us in analysis paralysis. Then we don't do anything except repeat words without action because we don't know how. I spent many years here so I totally get it.

This book is for the next step: Keeping it really simple.

Emotional regulation is a life skill. Learning how to breathe slow and deep in our hearts is a life skill. Practicing presence is a life skill. Feeling is a life skill. Most of these things we were never taught. We know they're helpful for us because of all of the current information out there, but we don't know how to do it.

This book is meant to be, not just informational, but a friendly opportunity to practice. It invites your participation. And for those who are super anxious, like I have been most of my life, no one has to know you're doing it - you can be private and cautious and courageous all at the same time in a way that's perfect for you. Just you and me, 1 on 1, practicing life skills, one day at a time for 40 days.

#10. An Internal Massage

When our muscles ache, by instinct we bring our hands to that area and massage them. Why do we do this? Because touch is medicine. Loving attention is medicine. It's instinctual to reach out and touch something, someone in need. This is our natural state.

We can do the same internally. We can massage our internal organs with breath and movement. We can massage our brains with questions and contemplation. We can massage our hearts with activating elevated emotions of the heart through memories and by thinking of someone or something we care about.

We get rid of the knots with our attention, our awareness, our feeling of them, our making contact with them. Those thoughts getting in the way... the resentment and anger getting in the way... that pain in the neck getting in the way... a massage helps bring them into balance, right relationship, healing and wholeness.

The words heal, health, whole, holy, holistic all come from the same Old English root word hāl, meaning "whole or uninjured". True well-being is multi-faceted and interconnected.

This book takes us through physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of awareness in the 40 Day journey of living life as an Art of Wholeness. This devotional for the heart is to expand the idea of massage beyond just the physical body. It's a massage for your heart, brain and spirit as well.

#11. I Just Wanted To

And that's enough of a reason. I hope you remember that on your journey, too.

So, what do you want to do? Can you infuse your doing with your being? Perhaps reading this book will help you move more in that direction, guided by heart. From the depths of my being, I sincerely hope so.

Love,

Sarah

You can read Part 1 for Reasons 1-5 here.

P.S. 40 Days of the Art of Wholeness: A Daily Devotional for the Heart is available for purchase in either paperback, hardcover or kindle form through Amazon.

Also, beginning the first half of June, it will be available through the following local businesses: Moonflower Market, Moab Made and The Last Page Bookshop and Juice Bar.

I set up a little shop on my website if you'd like to order through me directly. As I have some travel plans coming up, please note that orders through my website will not be shipped until the end of June, but they will contain a personalized love note of heart-felt appreciation ♡. Shipping is included in the price.