This Time I Dance!: Creating the Work You Love

I loved Kieves' book, even reviewed it in my CBS MarketWatch column on May 27, 2004 ("Sometimes today's dream is the key.") Kieves was a Harvard attorney who left to pursue her dream. I was a U.Va. attorney who left Wall Street and Morgan Stanley for Hollywood. A universal journey we all can make. I got the nudge from Joseph Campbell: "If you follow your bliss, you will always have your bliss, money or not. If you follow the money, you may lose it, and you will have nothing." Don't miss your journey, start by reading this book ... then go dancing!!

No other book has done for me what this book has! It changed my attitude about how to live my life! It was a joy to read.I'm 42 years old and when I bought this book, I was still searching for what I wanted to be when I grew up. Not only did this book assist me with that amazing discovery, it's also a wonderful guide in helping you through all of the fears that come up when you are going after something that you really want. While exploring this unfamiliar territory, I found that by following the author's lead, I was able to shift my perspective and transform fear into antisipation, excitement and joy. I can't say enough about this book and have actually bought it for my friends and family. I would love to see this author, Tama J. Kieves on Oprah! This book can help so many of us who are trying to find ourselves. Not only did this book give me clarity about my life's work, it is a wonderful guide in helping you find your own unique path. This book reminds you to dance while on your journey to make the work you love become a reality!

As I read this book I felt like I was along on Tama Kieve's journey. Her book is like a "permission slip" which allows the ability to get off the crowded, usual path and onto the extraordinary path... the different, less traveled way AND the way back to our true selves.Especially heart warming is the truthfulness of the writing.Just because Kieves is a "Harvard Lawyer" doesn't mean this whole process was a piece of cake... not at all! Her doubts, her fears, her wonderings, musings and continuings are similar to the ones I have felt as I have traveled my "unconventional path."As you seek your perfectly unique, beautiful -- and perhaps unconventional path -- you will, like me, laugh in recognition and delight to hear of the first Creative Writing class where Tama writes in amazement, "She had plumbing and plumbing problems! Then she yawned, revealing silver fillings. As if all that weren't enough, I happened to notice that a part of her hem hung longer than the rest of her denim, made-in- America, made-on-my-planet, skirt." followed by her HUGE a-ha "This writing guru was an ordinary woman!"This book is wise, hilarious, inspiring, thought evoking and much much more than can be put into words.Kieves chooses her words with artful thought. She literally seems to have lodged herself in my thoughts regularly. I know it is a book I will return to repeatedly.Read this one now. You won't be disappointed.

Tama's book is a "must read" for anyone in career transition because it comes from her heart and is so indicative of what so many women go through in career transition. I am a career coach and educator and use her book with clients and students. In the classroom, I am using some of the exercises she used in the book, and having students answer poignant questions arising from their reading.This book is different than most books written about career transition because it speaks to the heart of the issues -- the fears, the ups and downs, the negative and positive emotions, and the courage to do exactly what you always wanted to do. It challenges people to find their way, with the help of someone who has done it.I work with women over 40 in my coaching practice, and they find that the book "gives them permission" to pursue goals they have kept hidden while they were raising families. Now, they are able to strike out on their true dreams because they've found a kindred spirit.I recommend this book highly to anyone, but particularly to those in transition.

I am a voracious reader and Executive Coach/Life Coach. One of my clients suggested I take a look at Tama Kieves' This Time I Dance. Rarely have I come across such a fresh and real book. It is wonderfully inspirational and funny - but then so are a lot of these types of books. What made it really special for me was the writing style. The author is a poet at heart and her prose is vibrant, rich and delicious. This is an author who talks about catching waterfalls in china bowls.Below are a few other special quotes:"It all comes down to this: We can deny our hearts or we can deny our limits.""Suddenly our desires aren't in the way or our productivity. They are the way. And just in case you're wondering, this current doesn't only favor people who do Hath yoga or chant with quartz crystals or donate money to environmental agencies...You don't have to be Wayne Dyer, Mary Poppins, Yoda or Shirley Maclaine. Just you, you with a mind full of shadows and a lantern of a heart.""Draw a line. Take back your time. You can't wait for your heart to bloom with a vision in the middle of days teeming with madness and maintenance. Nothing flutters into a cluttered life. The frantic and exhausted mind does not possess the energy to inspire a love-filled path. But you can find a way to curb or flee the madness. And when you do your dream can find its way to you.""The hero's journey creates the hero. Heroes don't skip steps, bribe the bouncer or jet off to lush destinations. That's tourism. Heroism doesn't mark a change in position - but a change in self."