Customer Reviews

29 Gifts: How a Month of Giving Can Change Your Life (Library Edition)

5 star:		(42)
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3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I just received this book yesterday, and while I didn't read it all in one sitting, I thought about it for the whole day until I could come home and pick it up again. In a way, reading this book is like having a best friend trusting you with her deepest, darkest secrets, and you feel honored to be there for her. Cami Walker writes with poignant honesty about her diagnosis with MS, her recurring addictions and depression, and the stress that chronic illness places on marriage. And yet, most amazingly, this book is uplifting! While each chapter title focuses on the gift given that day, the writing style is more memoir and flows seamlessly between "past" (before diagnosis) and present day. There are references to spiritual leaders and healing messages, but they are subtle and "real", not over the top as too often found in books of similiar genres.

The title ("29 Gifts: How a Month of Giving Can Change Your Life") gives insight into only a small portion of what this book is about -the reminder that gratitude can start in the smallest of places. It is the act of giving, not the gift received, that makes the world a better place. This is not a how to book, it is not a book about unrealistic expectations or what you will get in return, except that I already feel like i have been given a gift, and look forward to passing this book on to others.

This is an amazing first book / memior, inviting you in to share Cami Walker's ride back to recovery after receiving a diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and subsequent tailspin into anxiety, depression and addiction. Cami teaches us, through the help of her teachers, and searingly honest prose, to give consciously, without resentment, from our abundant selves: to be bigger that we think we are. Her book takes us through each day of her 29 day giving journey and the wonderful change in her mind set, as she stops focusing all her mental energy on her diagnosis, and starts to open up to others through simple, mindful activities. As she does so, the world starts to unfold and give back, buoying her back to better health, restored relationship, and a new path. I didn't put this book down until I reached the 29th day of Cami Walker's journey of giving: a great effort! Thank you for sharing, Cami.

29 gifts is an amazing book. Writer Cami Walker writes with raw vulnerability, power, inspiration, humor and integrity. This book is about how giving changed Cami's life as well as influencing thousands of people. I cannot recommend this book enough to anyone. If you want to be reminded of the good the world, read this book. If you want to be reminded of miracles in the world, read this book. If you want to know that abundance is in this world, read this book. If you are in a tough place and need inspiration, read this book. If you want to learn how to create new perspective in your life, read this book. And if you just want to feel the humanity in the world, read this book. Thank you Cami for writing this book.

I read Cami Walker's 29 Gifts in two sittings because it was hard to put down. Cami writes with stark and compelling honesty that grabbed me from the very first page. Her story is real and grounded yet deeply inspirational. While in the depths of despair as her life is crumbling from the effects of MS, a very wise woman, Mbali, gives Cami a simple but profound prescription to give away 29 gifts in 29 days. This is the story of how that prescription changed her life and inspired her to share it with others, growing into a world wide giving movement. Cami is a gifted writer with a beautiful message. I have already passed my copy of her book on to a friend.

This is the kind of book I'll keep close by for those days I need a lift to my spirit and a reminder to approach life with more gratitude. I found myself pinching the corners of certain pages so I can easily return to those words that helped me discover something about myself.

Cami's courage to share the intimate details of her journey with MS is powerful, eye opening and a generous gift. But, you don't need to be struggling with a chronic disease to appreciate her words. The concept of giving to find out what we have to offer in this world is good medicine for anyone.

Cami Walker got an unusual prescription from a holistic health educator to treat her multiple sclerosis: Rx = "give a gift a day to someone else for 29 days." The gifts didn't need to be expensive: save a piece of cake for her new husband, make a phone call to support a friend, send an email complimenting a friend for an accomplishment, etc.

The Rx didn't cure her MS, of course, but Walker believes it helped her cope with fatigue, insomnia, pain and preoccupation with her disease. This practical, straight forward book explains how well it worked for her.

She writes: "My first reaction was that I thought it was an insane idea. But it has given me a more positive outlook on life. It's about stepping outside of your own story long enough to make a connection with someone else."

A recent Well blog in "The New York Times" describes a number of scientific studies that support the effect. "In one, a 2002 Boston College study, researchers found that patients with chronic pain fared better when they counseled other pain patients, experiencing less depression, intense pain and disability. Another study, at the Buck Institute for Age Research in Novato, Calif., also found a strong benefit to volunteerism, and after controlling for a number of variables, showed that elderly people who volunteered for more than four hours a week were 44 percent less likely to die during the study period."

Ironically, my wife received a copy of this book a few weeks ago from a friend who suffers from a variety of serious issues. She's been following the Rx for a few weeks, and she reports that she feels better, and certainly her gait and mental state has improved.

As a long term care giver for my wife, this little book makes a great deal of sense. I've been following a similar approach: each day I write down three things I'm grateful for. At first, they were big things; now even small pleasures appear on my list.

Gifting or remembering pleasures -- both have the same purpose -- putting one in a happier frame of mind. Getting outside of one's personal problems certainly makes us feel better and may help us improve our personal health as well.

What, after all, do you have to lose?

Robert C. Ross 2009

This book is an inspiration account of the author's process of healing her body, life and spirit through giving. I found it touching and deeply personal. It is the kind of book that stays with you long after being read. Highly recommended.

I literally just finished this book and needed to share with others how incredible it is. I have never written a book review before, but felt it was more than necessary! Cami Walker's story is so honest and easy to relate to. You feel like if you were in her situation you would be thinking, saying, and doing exactly what she does. Her diagnosis of MS and her past of addiction bring such a profound sense of strength to her story. Though the 29 gifts don't come easy, this book shows you the remarkable journey the giving takes her on. Seeing how much giving with kind intentions has helped her life, I am inspired to start my own 29 days of giving. I can't wait for each and everyone of my friends and family members to read this book! And what a perfect time of year to begin a more conscious practice of giving!

Cami is suffering with M.S., she is also suffering over her suffering. She called her "spiritual advisor" for support and received an answer she didn't expect. Essentially get out of yourself and each day for 29 days give something to someone else. It can be something very simple, but do it consciously with thought.

This is the story of how that small actions on her part brought about not only her metamorphosis from self-pitying prescription drug addict totally disabled with MS to a generous loving human being with a purpose for her life and her disease remission. She helped not only herself but many others. [...]. While the book is her story, it includes experiences of others in the epilogue. It is a compelling read.

There is a Buddhist practice called Tonglen The Pema Chodron Audio Collection: Pure Meditation:Good Medicine:From Fear to Fearlessness in which one mentally takes on the sufferings of others and burns them up with the fire of our own selfishness, turning them into love and giving that love to others. This is a preparatory practice to learn to place others' needs ahead of our own which seems either counterintuitive, martyrish or stupid. Someone once asked a Lama whether it heals others. His answer was ,"I don't know if it helps others, but it helps you."
Cami takes this practice into the reality of everyday life and by her actions she is helped.

These are troubled times for so many. If each of us to just a moment to help others for the sake of helping, not for the purpose of getting anything in return, what a great world we would have.

Here is the prescription:
1) Read 29 days: How a Month of Giving Can Change Your Life
2) Give atleast one thing or action for the next 29 days joyously
3) See how it makes you feel, you will be surprised.

This is one of those books that can be life changing. I did not want the book to end. I have decided to take the challenge of giving for 29 days. My first gift is to share this book with as many people as possible through emails, phone calls, and a few extra copies of the book to share with friends. Thank you Cami for being so candid. Love it. Would give it ten stars if it were possible.Sincerely, Jane