Customer Reviews

Honor Yourself: The Inner Art of Giving and Receiving

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Beautifully written and designed, Honor Yourself is a perfect book. Author Patricia Spadaro has given us a gift from her heart that is sure to transform the lives of many, many people. Drawing on her own impressive knowledge of the perennial wisdom of East and West, she has created an ideal self-help guide. Honor Yourself never preaches, but illuminates life's paradoxes with easy clarity, gently leading us into wise choices based on Spadaro's rich personal experience and insightful stories from the world's great sages. This is a book to relish and ponder--and then recommend to everyone you know who has ever struggled with the question of how to give to others without losing your self in the process.

I read Patricia's book eagerly.....almost obsessively. I recognized so many sign posts of life on the path of personal growth, stories of detours we have all taken, plus practical insight and advice. I am re-inspired to make my own life more expansive, expressive and rich in the spirit.

Rarely does a debut solo work of non-fiction explode on the scene with such deftness and clarity. In the first chapter alone, every sentence can stand on its own, demonstrating a paradox. Does writing so perfectly executed just flow from brain to text? The answer is no. Something so fluid, so easy to read took painstaking correcting and rewriting until the finished product looks natural and flows seemlessly off the page. But what makes any book great, from Dostoyevsky to Tolle, is when the reader pauses every so often to ponder what he has just read. This is just what I found myself doing from chapter to chapter. The author teaches us the path of balance and the middle way, pointing out that this oftentimes requires us to recognize and navigate life's paradoxes. Ms. Spadaro's command of the English language is equalled if not surpassed by her knowledge of the world's great mysteries, healing traditions, writers and philosophers, all of which she brings to bear in illuminating quotes and examples of the higher path.

This book was fun and exciting to read. I was astounded at how my beliefs and behaviors about giving and receiving affect so much of my life--finances, relationships, career, everything. I loved how I was able to discover my own personal patterns of giving and receiving(some of them pretty destructive--although very common). And I liked the tools the author provides to help change bad beliefs and bring them back into balance. I highly recommend this book and would love to see it featured on Oprah. I think the author, Patricia Spadaro, would be an insightful guest.

I loved how this author shatters the myths about giving and receiving that so many of us have grown up with. She shows us how it is not only OK to seek wholeness and care for ourselves before we try to help others but how it is in fact essential. We no longer need to feel guilty about balancing what others need with what we need. It also shows when we do need to give. Her story about the little girl and her open-hearted giving is worth the price of the book and will bring joy to your heart and a tear (of happiness) to your eye. This is a beautiful and empowering book that in a practical and heartfelt way will show you the keys to drawing boundaries, finding your own voice, honoring endings and giving with the heart in lieu of the head. This book showed me that I don't need to accept everything that comes to my doorstep as preordained but that I have the power and duty to be true to myself.

Patricia's insights throughout her book are practical and understandable. Patricia's guidance has helped me to understand the power of paradox in my life and the importance of living what she calls the "Magic" and to see more clearly the adverse effects of exclusively believing the "Myth". Here's a great example of one that I've been working on successfully to balance. "Myth: If I try hard enough, I can control what happens in my life. Magic: Endings are a natural part of life's cycles, I honor myself by accepting them and the transformations they bring." Thank you, Patricia!

I was so moved by Patricia Spadaro's book. It's what I always struggle with . . . balance. I had always bought into the myth that if I didn't sacrifice myself for others, I was abandoning them. It came into full bloom while I was caring for my mom after she was diagnosed with lung cancer. It is hard for me to find the words to convey the impact this book had on me during that whole process. The idea of putting myself first seemed selfish and self-centered. "Honor Yourself" not only helped me navigate through the months of caring for her, but also during the period after her transition. I used many ideas as affirmations to help me through the process of learning to honor my own needs. I am a self-help book junkie, but this is the first book that opened my eyes and heart to self-care. There is not a woman I know of who wouldn't benefit from this wonderful book.

The real question about Honor Yourself is not whether it is a good book or a great book (it's the latter) but what kind of great book. To answer that takes some perspective. Beneath the subtle beauty of the writing, Honor Yourself, positioned as a self help book, delivers its "help" by providing a host of practical spiritual and psychological solutions.
But that's not what makes it great.
This book deals with the play of paradox in a way not attempted since the Tao Te Ching which, according to tradition, was written millennia ago by Lao Tzu. The Tao, as it is commonly referred to, is an enigmatic text that deals with the ultimate paradox, the flow of the infinite and ungraspable principle through the polarities of yang and yin. The Tao is an obscure book, one that is intentionally hard to grasp, especially by minds in our time that want to measure, quantify, calibrate, cogitate. Lao Tzu, translated variously as Old Master or Old Fellow, was skilled in cloaking the essence of the Tao from the concrete mind. And so that ancient text has remained a beacon that lures people to a higher place.
It is, however, a beacon that does not provide a practical set of ideas or exercises to apply its insights. And it could not. It was not until our time that we had the requisite accumulation of social, spiritual and psychological knowledge to put the Old Master's insights into action. And that, precisely, is what Patricia Spadaro has undertaken to do, consciously or not, in Honor Yourself.
If the Tao te Ching is theory, Honor Yourself is practice. It isn't a cookbook or a treatise that tells you how to paint by the numbers. It doesn't merit over used terms --like memorable, exceptional, unique--that people repeat when reviewing books. Honor Yourself goes beyond canned solutions and empty praise and gives you the necessary thinking skills to resolve the paradoxes of life so that you can one day resolve the Great Paradox.
I think the Old Fellow himself would be impressed.

In the time-honored manner of the Buddha, Patricia Spadaro uses paradox to discover common sense. For too long, people have believed the myth of "giving until it hurts," with the result of feeding their martyr within.
This is a Golden Book of practical guidance for personal growth and development, without having to attend a seminar. Honor Yourself: The Inner Art of Giving and Receiving is both easy to read quickly and written for the reader to ponder the depths of the meaning of giving and receiving. It is only through giving meaning to a thing and letting it matter, that the thing can take shape and mature in your life. Giving and receiving has amazing practical value. Yet, so few of us do it with grace and mastery.
Honor Yourself: The Inner Art of Giving and Receiving offers something for the enlightened student of self-growth and spirituality. It also offers its gifts to the uninitiated or novice reader. I love the sprinkling of "Myth" and "Magic" throughout the book. They function like affirmations to help you grow.
In my field of Clinical Psychology, Patricia's "Myths" are reminiscent of Albert Ellis' Irrational Beliefs and her "Magic" is the proper reframing of The Truth, as such.
Nice one, Patricia! All Cognitive Therapists need to make this book a must for their library and required reading for their clients.
Susan R Andrews, Ph.D., Clinical Neuropsychologist

This book was just what I needed right now. It has helped me tremendously in dealing with a sticky family issue by learning the importance of accepting endings and letting go of regrets. I think it reaches people who are at many different levels - some who quickly grasp the concept of paradox and others who understanding it through the simple stories the author tells.