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Pleasures and Ponderings: From Nun to Nudist to Now
 
 
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Pleasures and Ponderings: From Nun to Nudist to Now [Paperback]

Moreah Vestan (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

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Book Description

1410777596 978-1410777591 January 20, 2004
For four years, Moreah Vestan has recorded her fleeting thoughts, intense questions and love of life in a carefree journal that speaks of the essence of living. In Pleasures and Ponderings: From Nun to Nudist to Now, Vestan offers dozens of essays that tell of the need to savor each moment and relish the pleasure in every second while still setting aside time to ponder life's tough questions.

Vestan delights in lilacs and leftovers, shares insights about lost loves and faces the discomfort of questioning her beliefs. The book is a truly inspiring hodgepodge of wisdom, with topics ranging from relationships to aging. The reader absorbs Vestan's enthusiasm for life and her appetite for variety. Her childlike sense of wonder is perfectly conveyed, as are her profound ideas about life.

She writes about finding Mr. Right, dealing with family issues and personal priorities, among many other important topics. Lessons about every aspect of living are offered to the reader. If one is looking for an honest look at life, they will find it by looking through the eyes of an independent, adventurous woman who knows how to embrace life from its most simple aspects to its most mysterious. She also tells of her musings of life from nun to nudist to now.

"You come away agreeing that assumptions can be questioned and that there may be no higher purpose than enjoying everyday pleasures, while pondering the meaning of even the imponderables with grace and/or fortitude," she writes.

Vestan began her young life believing she had a religious calling. She spent one year in a convent, moving on to pursue a career in teaching. She has worked a variety of other jobs and is currently a life coach and a relationship columnist for Seattle's Active Singles Life. She dated frequently after her divorce in the 1970s and had once-in-a-lifetime experiences, such as traveling for three months in Southeast Asia alone and teaching English as a Second Language in Mexico. Pleasures and Ponderings is her first published book.


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Editorial Reviews

Review

"A connoisseur of experience...an entrepreneur of the spirit...wonder, honesty, zaniness, a book of possibility...inspires, soothes...great depth." -- Allan Honrath from Canoga Park, CA

"Amazingly vivid. She hides nothing. I wandered into her world...what she really did was walk me deeper into mine." -- Sage Dahm, CNHP, BTA Clinician

"She doesn't need permission for who she is...amusing, passionate, insightful, about the exotic and the everyday...wonder and possibilities." -- Walt Briem, publisher of Active Singles Life

"Want to awaken your senses? This smorgasbord of reveries invites us all to the simple joys of life. Absolutely uplifting!" -- Wendy L. Maguire Co-founder, VerveWomen

Moreah's soulful generosity...conveys wisdom as she shares her journey. She connects, shares more deeply than most people I know." -- Elizabeth Crouch, Synergems Integral Coaching

From the Author

Pleasures and Ponderings: From Nun to Nudist to Now offers friendship as you share the universal experiences of hurt and love, frustration and celebration, fear and success. When you're in a reflective space, read "Living with Loss and Longing," "What Am I Here For?" "What if I Don't Figure it Out?" and "When is Enough Enough?"

Maybe you're in a pleasure-oriented frame of mind. You'd enjoy "Eleven Guidelines for Pursuing Pleasure," "April Appetites," "Clothes on the Ground, Sun on my Skin," "I Couldn't Stand Still," and "Morning Glories, Pears and Old Comics."

Wondering about relationships? Enjoy "Relationship Changes-It's Not All or Nothing," "Ready to Commit?" and "The Search is Over-I Found Him."

As you consider family matters, you can relive "A Mother's Pride," "Childhood Hurts through an Adult's Eyes," and "Memories of my Teenagers." You may even identify with "I'm a Grandma-I Get to Play."

Wonder along with me about support, inner peace, choices, living in the moment, juggling to do's, storing memories, living with endings, and my constant curiosity. Ask with me "What About Right Now?" and "Expecting too Much of Myself? Too Little?"

In Digging Deeper, take on "Priorities, Pleasures and Procrastinations." I suggest "Change Your Questions, Change Your Life," and ask "Is Your Nose in the Guidebook or on the View?" I wonder aloud, "Does it Matter?"

Finally, in Communicating with Heart, I write about "Compassionate Communication-a Loving Way to Connect" and "What do You Need? How are you Meeting Your Needs?


Product Details

  • Paperback: 292 pages
  • Publisher: 1st Book Library (January 20, 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1410777596
  • ISBN-13: 978-1410777591
  • Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 15.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,586,831 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

 

Customer Reviews

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Average Customer Review
4.6 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and Inspirational !, March 17, 2004
By 
Tonya Monet (Marysville, Washington) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Pleasures and Ponderings: From Nun to Nudist to Now (Paperback)
I read the book Pleasures and Ponderings by Moreah Vestan a few chapters every night before going to sleep and found I looked forwawrd to it each night. While at first it seemed like the book was fun and interesting but "all about Moreah", it soon became evident that she was just as interested in helping others as herself.I'm going to read it AGAIN and this time make notes on many of the books and websites she recommends Her very interesting, enthusiastic and tenacious hold on life and the self-improvement of body, mind and soul is an inspiration to anyone!
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Experiencing life as an art form, March 17, 2004
By 
"starnet7" (Canoga Park, CA United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Pleasures and Ponderings: From Nun to Nudist to Now (Paperback)
Ms. Vestan is a connoisseur of experience, pure and simple, which she raises to an art form. She never loses her childlike wonder and delight in enjoying the simplest of things. One minute it is found ingredients in the refrigerator for a meal, the next enjoying herself at a nudist camp and coming up with always intriguing observations. An entrepreneur of the spirit and relisher of all experience!

She has broken the book up into 8 sections, from "Tasting and Savoring Life's Pleasures" to "Family Matters: Pigtails to Gray Hair" to "Figuring it Out". You can read 77 delightful vignettes, like daily meditations, that will have you laughing, bring wonder, share raw honesty, and experience pure joy from events like a wheelbarrow ride. These 2-4 page pieces each draw the reader in as if addressing questions, feelings and delights with a friend. Do one a day for your reminder to openness! The words in her Dedication probably say it about as well as anything: "To all who are nurtured in their pursuit of meaning, who delight in everyday pleasures, who grow from open-heartedness, and who love themselves and others with compassion."

Her work on this book deserves praise for her delight, wonder, honesty, zaniness, and love that she relates beautifully through the stories of daily rituals. As her stories seep into you, you find yourself seeing, living experiences never even dreamed of, but suddenly enjoyed. It is a book of possibility. Are you stymied or stuck in your thinking or your life? Read these pages and be ready for openings into new possibilities! It inspires with its imagination, soothes with its tender care, jolts with its fascination of all that's around us. . I got a chance to experience great depth and breadth of living. Let yourself feel it all! Enjoy yourself on the journey!

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Searching, March 17, 2004
By 
jon w jarvis (Seattle WA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Pleasures and Ponderings: From Nun to Nudist to Now (Paperback)
Moreah's reflections touch a chord with me on my life long search for a perfect partner. I have gone through many, many relationships and have learned from each one. I shared in that process with her.

I'm struck by her writing style. Each vignette is an adventure in itself.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
As an ex-Catholic, I've had to practice giving up guilt around the conscious pursuit of pleasure in my life. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
nonviolent communication, compassionate communication, coaching clients
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Active Singles Life, West Seattle, Barbara Sher, Roy Weaver, Systemic Understanding, Bank of America, Bubble Man, National Park Service, Swiss Alps, Voice Dialogue, Walsch's Conversations
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