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Self and Soul: A Woman's Guide to Enhancing Self-Esteem Through Spirituality
An ordained Methodist minister takes women through her specific steps for finding a personal form of spirituality, as well as gaining self-respect for themselves, covering such topics as forgiveness, self-control, self-acceptance, patience, and faith. 25,000 first printing.
192 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 13, 2020
A wonderful read for Women!
September 15, 2022
I started reading this book as a way to cope with the mistakes I made at one point in my life. Mistakes that were caused by rooted issues every young girl has felt or will feel eventually as the narrowed path of childhood and adolescence starts to broaden into... adulthood. I wanted to read this book because I lacked the common sense of how to be a sane, responsible adult woman, which I believe it is nearly impossible if you don't have self love, accountability, healthy relationships... so I thought this book could be a good start for me to reconsider what kind of woman do I want to be, starting from my early 20's.
Furthermore, I resolved to read this book because I wanted to dig deeper into spirituality. I'm an atheist and I wouldn't consider myself to be a spiritual person, in the traditional sense of the word so to speak. However, I like to appreciate the calmness and restfullness that abounds in churches and mosques. Though this is not the point, speaking for myself, I'm not referring to religious spirituality. The spirituality I'm alluding to has more to do with inner sight and reflection, as well as with art and self improvement due to that when I involve myself in artistic projects, or when I take care of myself by exercising, I feel peace within my whole self and I somehow feel unity with my own creation. It's something so abstract, I don't know how to put into words. Nevertheless, I started to lose motivation and pleasure. That spirituality and excitement left and subsequently made me unhinged and unhappy (more so then I already was). I felt like I had no purpose in life, at least not achievable with my art. I felt a void and I had nothing left to believe in.
I would describe this book as a feminist theology (not purely) book that I wholeheartedly recommend every woman to read, even if you are not spiritual at all, because the book focuses more on getting you outside your comfort shelf; on licking your wounds and be proud of your scars; on reminiscing what you love; on being humble and answerable without self-deprecation and self-reproachfulness; on taking care of your body and your mind and, of course, your soul.
There were some statements I didn't agree with because I'm naturally not a very optimistic person and I don't think that putting on heart-shaped fucsia tinted glasses can change a bad situation. But overall, I could relate to a lot of what Adele Wilcox portrays in her work. I also found incredibly helpful the exercises at the end of each chapter, they helped me with self-introspection and journaling. I 100% recommend implementing this when reading the book.
I suggest reading this book (and similar ones too) slowly so you can fully be in the moment. These kind of books take time to read. It goes without saying that this book will not solve all your self-esteem problems. If anything, reading this book or any other self-help book is the bare minimum, so keep that in mind. If you turn out to not enjoy the book, don't give up on yourself. This book helped me in a way, but I can't say it healed me. But I'm here.
To finish this long essay that nobody will probably ever read (I'm writing this for myself and my future children if they get to see my post haha), I'd like to finish with this quote from the book:
"Transition occurs when there is acknowledgement that life is not all happily ever after but, instead, full of difficult choices. Transition occurs when there is recognition that one needs to take responsibility, even if it means change- change of the street that one walks down, change in whom one walks with, change in how one looks at the street.
This change begins as an internal process. It is a spiritual process. It leads to self-responsibility. It leads to self-respect. It leads to self-esteem"
Furthermore, I resolved to read this book because I wanted to dig deeper into spirituality. I'm an atheist and I wouldn't consider myself to be a spiritual person, in the traditional sense of the word so to speak. However, I like to appreciate the calmness and restfullness that abounds in churches and mosques. Though this is not the point, speaking for myself, I'm not referring to religious spirituality. The spirituality I'm alluding to has more to do with inner sight and reflection, as well as with art and self improvement due to that when I involve myself in artistic projects, or when I take care of myself by exercising, I feel peace within my whole self and I somehow feel unity with my own creation. It's something so abstract, I don't know how to put into words. Nevertheless, I started to lose motivation and pleasure. That spirituality and excitement left and subsequently made me unhinged and unhappy (more so then I already was). I felt like I had no purpose in life, at least not achievable with my art. I felt a void and I had nothing left to believe in.
I would describe this book as a feminist theology (not purely) book that I wholeheartedly recommend every woman to read, even if you are not spiritual at all, because the book focuses more on getting you outside your comfort shelf; on licking your wounds and be proud of your scars; on reminiscing what you love; on being humble and answerable without self-deprecation and self-reproachfulness; on taking care of your body and your mind and, of course, your soul.
There were some statements I didn't agree with because I'm naturally not a very optimistic person and I don't think that putting on heart-shaped fucsia tinted glasses can change a bad situation. But overall, I could relate to a lot of what Adele Wilcox portrays in her work. I also found incredibly helpful the exercises at the end of each chapter, they helped me with self-introspection and journaling. I 100% recommend implementing this when reading the book.
I suggest reading this book (and similar ones too) slowly so you can fully be in the moment. These kind of books take time to read. It goes without saying that this book will not solve all your self-esteem problems. If anything, reading this book or any other self-help book is the bare minimum, so keep that in mind. If you turn out to not enjoy the book, don't give up on yourself. This book helped me in a way, but I can't say it healed me. But I'm here.
To finish this long essay that nobody will probably ever read (I'm writing this for myself and my future children if they get to see my post haha), I'd like to finish with this quote from the book:
"Transition occurs when there is acknowledgement that life is not all happily ever after but, instead, full of difficult choices. Transition occurs when there is recognition that one needs to take responsibility, even if it means change- change of the street that one walks down, change in whom one walks with, change in how one looks at the street.
This change begins as an internal process. It is a spiritual process. It leads to self-responsibility. It leads to self-respect. It leads to self-esteem"
February 12, 2009
A very good book with exercises to help women shed their body loathing ingrained in them from their families and churches. It is a book of spiritual feminism. However, it is not very helpful in building your self esteem if you did not grow up in a guilt-based or organized religion.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews