Women, Rice and Beans: Nine Wisdoms I Learned From My Mother When I Really Paid Attention

by Ana Barreto, Sarah Evans, Pablo Chaves (Illustrator)

Women too often are overwhelmed with long to-do lists while raising a family, working long hours, and helping everyone. Putting everyone and everything before ourselves is a behavior we’ve learned from our mothers and the women around us. We also teach it to our daughters. The book “Women, Rice and Beans” shows women the path to pay attention to our lives and learn the wisdom waiting to be discovered to live a more balanced, happy and loving life. In this inspirational self-help guide, Brazilian personal development teacher Ana Barreto shows readers how to achieve serenity. She shares her experiences of spending her childhood in Brazil before coming to the United States and then traveling back to her home country to care for her ailing mother. Bonding with her elderly mother made Ana reflect on her life and the lives of many women. She learned nine wisdoms—or affirmations—that she shares in her book. The book provides simple exercises for taking care of yourself, meditating, carving out personal space, and reaching for your dreams. She also guides you on using feng shui, Buddhism, and even principles of quantum physics. The book includes five guided meditation for women downloads. It will help all mother-daughters relationships, lift you up and give you the courage to reach for what you want in life—staying calm while doing it.

149 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 20, 2017

About the author

Short Bio
Ana Barreto is a Brazilian-American teacher, author, meditator, coach, Feng Shui Consultant, and Energy Healer living in upstate New York. At eighteen years of age, she left her parents' traditional patriarchal home in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and broke the established female roles of her upbringing. She moved to New York two years later and began her college education.
While attending Marymount College, at that time a women-only institution, Ana began to learn about women's rights and empowerment. Her passion for women's development and growth led her to study psychology, women in history, business, leadership, meditation, spirituality, and Eastern philosophies. She holds Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Business Administration.

In 2016, Ana published her first book, Women, Rice and Beans – Nine Wisdoms I Learned from My Mother When I Really Paid Attention. She hopes to inspire women who are overwhelmed in their lives to find daily wisdom and break the old patterns of thinking, believing, and being that don't honor their spirit.
In her second book, Self-Trust – A Healing Practice for Women Who Work Too Much, published in 2018, Ana shared sixteen healing practices to help women trust themselves and change old mindset patterns that don't serve humanity.
In There is a Higher Power Within ̶ 28 Meditation Prompts to Find Peace & Happiness Within, Ana shared an easy meditation practice for busy people, including daily reflection and gratitude prompts.

In 2022, Ana released The Nine Powers of Women. Ana guides the readers to awaken their Divine Feminine through the energy of the chakras.

Ana's purpose is to help women improve the quality of their lives. Her mission is to inspire, guide, and coach women through her books, classes, meditations, and inspirational material, helping them find their inner compass and live extraordinary lives.
When Ana isn't working or writing books, she enjoys cooking, traveling, hiking, biking, kayaking, and spending time with her partner, Jim, her daughters Erica and Isabel, her stepdaughters Cindy, Janet, and Christine, and her friends.

Reviews

[Susan Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoughtful and beautiful teachings.

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Feeling inspired to get back into meditation and a more positive outlook!

I think this book was just what I needed.

[Books, Brews & Booze · Rating 4 out of 5]

With nods to shamanic practices, meditations, and affirmations, I really enjoyed this book.

Some of the content I may have read before from other sources, but what is unique to this book is some of the author’s meditations (like the willow tree one) and the stories of her mother. I would have loved to read even more stories about her mom and their relationship and how the author’s mentality changed from thinking her mother hadn’t issued enough life lessons to realizing that she had.

Overall, a solid book with ample meditations and recipes too. The affirmation chapter is my favorite.

I received this book as part of a Goodreads giveaway and this is my unbiased review.

[Elka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not really my cup of tea, but a good example of the genre.