MBR reviews Simple Serenity by Nancy Oelklaus

Reviewer’s Bookwatch: April 2022
Carolyn Wilhelm’s Bookshelf

I didn’t think I needed any more finding joy books, so started reading thinking it would be the same old. The author suggested writing, drawing, painting, or other activities to help process the book. Not just read it through? Well, it seems I changed my mind soon after beginning to read. This is not a “preachy” text as Oelklaus explains how her thoughts helped her to find peace. She discusses being “in love” as opposed to trying to fix other people. She explains how she stopped being a fixer of other people and says it is freeing to her to mind her own business.

Yes, some of the short writing pieces with questions at the end did seem quite easy. Some seemed to be great for writing group prompts, some seemed good for a reading group discussion warm-up, or even useful for art class. I think counselors might refer to some chapters for finding discussion topics. One of her ideas to solve feeling overwhelmed is explained in terms of her practical and step-by-step system. All in a very short chapter, which others could try although it is explained in terms of her own life. Her lesson from a ceiling fan recently happened to me after I found a telescoping and bending duster online, bought it, and was able to dust our ceiling fans. The vignettes are relatable. She asks:

“When have you felt as if you were being held hostage and your world was narrowing? How did you work your way out of it?”

A wardrobe can support the life you truly want to live, according to Oelklaus. She tells about buying three pieces of clothing and donating four. No piling all the clothes you own in one room, just thinking about the life you want.

She also discusses a “God box.” Any nagging thoughts can be put in such a box until you can see it clearly for what is really is about.

With poetry, stories from real life, and questions, this book offers a chance for a new view of life. Highly recommend.

Dropping the Eyelids
+3

Dropping the Eyelids

978-1-61599-631-5
$9.95
Non-Fiction for the Soul
In stock
1
Product Details

In this latest collection of nonfiction stories and essays, Ernest Dempsey takes readers to the darker corners of human consciousness that make the boundary of our collective vulnerabilities. In these pages, readers will walk through episodes of heartbreak and grief, memories of childhood peace oblivious to the violence lurking in future, and daggers of disillusionment slashing the great expectations out of a naïve heart.

While themes of these stories and essays are varied, due to multiple accounts weaved around real-life deaths, Dropping the Eyelids can be called Dempsey's unofficial sequel to his short fiction book The Blue Fairy and Other Tales of Transcendence (Loving Healing Press, 2009). However, the narration and mode of the entries in this collection are more critical, self-conscious, and poignant than reassuring and veiled.

Dropping the Eyelids is a book of nonfiction for the soul, and at the same time it marks a campsite for the author, who ventures into the creative wilderness-unarmed but undeterred.

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Simple Serenity: Finding Joy in Your Life
Nancy Oelklaus
http://nancyoelklaus.com
Loving Healing Press
https://www.lhpress.com
9781615996636, $16.95 Paperback, $28.95 Hardcover, $4.95 Kindle, 168p

Carolyn Wilhelm, Reviewer
Wise Owl Factory LLC

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