Curse of Blessings: Sometimes, the Right Story Can Change Your Life

this is a wonderful collection of stories for any occasion. i'm particularly enamored with "just a miracle," but each story has its own beauty and unique rhythm.

"Precious" is not a word I use often, but that's what I find this collection of stories to be. I keep it with me, open it from time to time, and always find something to inspire me. At the moment, it's the story "Gabriel's Horn." Chefitz has woven stories from the fabric of soul. They wear well.

"The Curse of Blessings" by Mitchell Chefitz is a compact book that invites its readers to partake of a short journey in which current tensions are abandoned: Be they such things as wars, health, finance ? or lack of same; flunking the 13th step of a 12 step plan where an expensive enrollment costs refund isn't an option; or a thousand point drop of Dow. It is a book so well written it proves the premise that sometime the right story can change your life. Some of the stories can be called fables. Others can fit the mold of parables sung in the same key many of us first became familiar with in the Bible where one had to speak truth in subtle modality to avoid residency in the San Quentin death row of those times. The first of the ten stories , "The Curse of Blessing" grips your mind. and provokes searches for its applications in ones own life -- again and again. As such, reading and understanding this story is as dangerous as using a cell phone while driving in rush hour traffic madness on a Friday afternoon beginning a four-day holiday. The story entitled "Measure of Success," in addition to teaching you both the meaning and pronunciation of one of the most important phrases in world religions, heralds the approach to your life you would expect to understand after an intense session with a Shaman, Griot of West Africa or " Ju-Ju" in a cavern in the New Orleans 9th Ward unscathed by "Katrina." The reading of this book, which appears as harmless as a Farmer?s Almanac, re-enacts a scenario of a friendly on the cheek greeting kiss of an old acquaintance not seen for a long time that, unwittingly, becomes a full seduction.

Though one or two of the stories spoke to me most directly, from each I gleaned something of use, a specific validation, or a challenging surprise--the perfect expression of a truth, the sense that in one area or another of my life I was on track, the clear understanding that in other areas I had missed a turn. No judgmentalness in the stories, "just" stories that open the mind, stir the senses and move the heart. The often lyrical and precise prose, of course, contributes to this. I have bought several copies of this priceless collections as gifts and will, no doubt, buy more and re-read my own copy many times over.

I found this book delightfully thought provoking and engaging. Every time I read a story it becomes my favorite. The stories are especially wonderful read aloud and my whole family enjoyed sharing it. The inspiration from this book lingers and truly enlivens the heart and soul!