A Weekend to Change Your Life: Find Your Authentic Self After a Lifetime of Being All Things to All People

I'm not a big fan of self-help books and am pretty cautious in my response to readings like this. A Weekend to Change Your Life, however is one of the true exceptions I've had the pleasure to read. The author is not preaching or in any way a know-it-all but she challenges very basic feelings and emotions in each and every person, whether we admit to them or not. And in going thru her exercises we are drawn into trying her suggestions and digging deep into our souls to see why we do so many of the things we do. The author has deep, deep respect for the uniqueness and value of every emotion and individual. She doesn't judge or ever try to criticize or downgrade. She teaches us acceptance and deeper understanding of whatever is causing our innermost private thoughts and feelings. It's truly a treasure and one that I highly recommend for every woman, no matter how old. I readily admit that one of the feelings I deal with most often is that "I'm too old; I'm 73 years old; I'd like to do this or that, but I don't have enough time left to start now, etc." Nonsense! Joan Anderson has prompted me to try, even at this ripe old age to at the very least try and to live each day left to maximum fullillment and satisfaction. !

Joan Anderson shares her wealth of experiences to gain a different lifestyle for one's self. The book provides many useful stages to work through that sets your life into a pathway that pleases yourself and breaking away from being a people pleaser & forgetting what one's own dreams are. The book does this in a pleasing gentle way & it is also where many woman are after family have grown & one's life's work seems to be over but we ask what now ... Loved A Year by The Sea by the same author.

It is a sad reality that so many people have their identities molded by the wants and needs of others. And I think that few would dispute that this is more likely to happen to women. There are powerful social and perhaps biological reasons why this might be. But the important point is that there are millions of people who are not fulfilling their potential. And there are many men who are stuck in the same bind. We are all combinations not just of male and female biology but also of a set of identities that together form our sense of self. There is very good evidence that the female sense of self is closely related to her relationships, while the male sense of self is usually more closely linked to achievement. Though there are clearly personal and cultural variations, the implication is that most men and most women will likely find different techniques of healing and integration to be effective for each of them. This is a terrific book in which Joan Anderson shares some of the exercises and activities that she has developed to encourage change and growth. One of her models is based on the work of the German-born psychoanalyst Erik Erikson, who delineated eight stages of life from infancy to old age. Joan suggests listing the gains and losses from each phase in order to help us identify our personal strengths. This is a fine example of drawing strength from the natural reversals that we all experience and using them to develop resilience. She also guides us to other exercises and techniques that make very good sense, and some of which I've found very useful, despite having a Y-chromosome! So while designed to help women, this is also a book for men who want or need to learn more about their feminine nature, and who care about the women in their lives. This is a book that is practical, wise and compassionate. Highly recommended. Richard G. Petty, MD, author of Healing, Meaning and Purpose: The Magical Power of the Emerging Laws of Life

If you are standing at your own edges, sometimes desperate--sometimes numbed, please get this book. And if you can, get A YEAR BY THE SEA first and then A WEEKEND TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE. Joan Anderson is a way-shower -- one who flung herself over her edge and found her breath, her self and her way to her spark, her spirit AND her marriage. No one's story or path will unfold the same but Anderson's certainly spoke to me in a time I dearly needed to know I wasn't alone and her experience expanded my own breath and options. Her follow-up book, "A Weekend...", offers us tools to tweak and use our unique way. It's just great to know that someone HAS gone down the path and she left the light on for those of us stumbling and rolling behind her. I found the second half of the book more charged than the first half but that could have been me. It is a book to be highlighted, notes taken and posted, dog-eared and re-visited. Consider it a fabulous class!

Joan Anderson shares beautifully in this book how to take stock of your feelings, your role with the people in your life, and how you feel concerning your entire life. Her honest sharing and comforting remedies to restore yourself back to who you are underneath it all, while peeling away the masks, tasks and the ways we learned to appease others while sacrificing ourselves, is revealing, healing and truly beneficial. I found great comfort in this beautiful book, and could relate to so many things discussed. Once you learn how to face it all, then you can learn how to turn it all around. If you have "been all things to all people" and would like to finally learn how to be there for you, this book will greatly help you! This is such a profound and important book that will certainly bring great awareness to you. If you enjoyed, or are interested in this book, I'd like to recommend another life changing book -"Know Yourself: A Woman's Guide to Wholeness, Radiance, & Supreme Confidence" by Barbara Rose. I feel these two books are profound, & provide the information to help you learn, grow and flourish the way you deserve to.