I received a free kindle copy of 31 Prayers Of Praise: Building A Life Time Habit Of Praise Through Daily Devotion in an Amazon promotion. I gave it five stars.

 

Day One: Praise for Salvation "Thank You for everything you endured for me. You are worthy of my adoration and praise."

 

Day Two: Deliverance "Your hand is so kind, and you always lead me gently in the way. I'm not deserving of Your goodness, Lord. Thank You for everything You have done to save me out of every trial, tribulation, and persecution."

 

Day Three: Blessings "Thank You, Jesus, for every blessing You have given me. Thank You for every good thing in my life."

 

Day Four: Faithfulness "Your faithfulness has always been my delight, and my heart rejoices in Your loving-kindness!"

 

Day Five: Trials "I don't know why You let harmful things happen, but I still believe that You are good. Thank You for trials!...I will praise You in the midst of my burdens."

 

Day Six: Promises "Thank You for Your precious promises!"

 

Day Seven: Hope "Thank You, God, for hope--for the hope of Your salvation, a new life, and a new body."

 

Day Eight: Mercy "Thank You for Your mercy and all the ways You forgive me daily. God, heal me and make me upright before You."

 

Day Nine: Strength "When I sin, You forgive, and when I'm weak You are strong. When I stumble, You are there to uphold, and when I fall, You are there to pick me up again."

 

Day Ten: Works "Lord, how might and amazing are all Your works!"

 

The book continues in this vein throughout the thirty days. It is a helpful guide to a prayerful life.

 

Link to purchase: https://www.amazon.com/31-Prayers-Praise-Building-Devotion-ebook/dp/B019TU0CRM

 

 

If you have a choice between listening to the audio version of this or reading the text version?  Go for the text.  This is definitely an instance where the author should not have read his own work.  Think equal parts William Shatner, B-movie hypnotist, and narrator of a 1950s filmstrip designed to be watched by eighth graders when they have a substitute for science class.  I was tempted to quit this book as soon as it started because of the narration--but the topic inspired me to stick with it.  I did check my library's catalog for a text version.  No ebook, and the one print copy they have was due back in April.  So apparently, the patron who checked out this book on overcoming procrastination had been procrastinating on returning it for almost four months.

 

I think the techniques Fiore describes for transforming from a procrastinator to a "producer" are solid.  Since I've only just completed the book, I haven't been able to implement them extensively, but I've already begun to apply some approaches, such as doing 30-minute chunks of focused work.  I really wish I had this book before I undertook my doctoral dissertation.  I would have used his "unschedule" to build in recreational and restorative activities and realistic blocks of work time, instead of living under the thrall of "I should be working on my dissertation" at all times.

 

Although there are useful approaches to be gleaned from the book, at times I felt the author was being overly repetitious.  And as an example of the disadvantage of listening to this in audio format, there was a section where he went through a few different guided relaxations, one right after another.  They were all very similar (read REPETITION) to one another--and one feature a SOLID TWO MINUTES OF SILENCE.  I even checked my player to make sure the battery hadn't died.  At the conclusion of the two minutes, he came back with, "Did that feel like two minutes?"  Nope, it felt like an eternity.  I really think for the purposes of the audiobook, that part should have been moved to the end as an appendix.  

I recently went to Barnes & Noble to buy some books for my birthday.  I found a table that had a buy 2 get 1 free deal, but you had to pick books on the table.  Immediately I knew two books I wanted.  I had no idea what I wanted for the third book.  So I meandered around, picked up a few different books, read a few different pages, and stumbled across this book.  I had never heard of it before, never heard of the author, and had no idea what it was about.  But I've always been interested in cognitive science (science of the brain) and a "why we do the things we do" study of psychology.  It peaked my interest enough where I picked it up and brought it home.  As soon as I started reading it, I realized I would need a highlighter for all of the morsels of knowledge Duhigg provides along the way.

The book covers three different sections.  The first section explains how habits form as part of every day life.  It breaks down the science behind the formation of habits and how we can change them.  The second part of the book shows how to focus on successful habits to grow an organization or company.  The third part looks at large society groups, like churches or the civil rights movement, and how they respond to habits.  Throughout each section, it continually reminds you how the habits are formed.

As I'm finishing the book, my group of friends has decided to go on a diet starting August 1st.  Here I am reading a book about understanding your habits (both good and bad), learning how to change bad habits and create new habits, and finding the insight to recognize why I may have failed before.  What wonderful insight it has provided for me!  I still have to put in the hard work, but at least I feel like I know what to look for now.  I can follow some of the advice and plans in the book to set myself up for a better chance at success.  I really am intrigued to know if my diet will be more successful now that I've read this book.

Not only did the book make me think about my upcoming diet plans with my friends, but it opened up the thought process for a number of different habits I've formed.  To quote from the first chapter, "more than 40 percent of the actions people performed each day" aren't actual decisions, but habits.  If we can become more observant and retrospective as to why we have created habits for ourselves, it is remarkable to think of the outcome we may be able to have.  Of course, there are positive habits.  Not all of them are negative.  I guess the point is to sit and understand why the habit exists, if it is a positive or negative habit, and if there is a way to change it for the better.  I may not want to change every habit I have ever formed, but I'm hoping that this book has at least given me the option to change some of my habits for the better.

Aaawww....

 

 

I was always happier with Buffy/Spike than Buffy/Angel. I liked Angel with Cordie so much more. So glad Joss didn't kill Spike off in season 1 like originally intended.

 

The Mad Habit - M. Sarki https://msarki.tumblr.com/post/162119548768/the-mad-habit-2017-by-m-sarki

The accounting that follows places itself within a specific time frame spanning the years 1995 through 2017. And I believe in my heart that one of these main characters, my teacher, editor, and friend [a:Gordon Lish|232097|Gordon Lish|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1267719924p2/232097.jpg] will be remembered for what he gave the literary world through his tyrannical teaching, editing, and authoring of his own work. I am impelled to give an accounting of our relationship in order to counteract anything that might be reported by another critic not so flattering nor tolerant of our relationship. In his teaching, Gordon insisted that a writer maintain a required gaze upon the object. When writing short poems I learned it was paramount to do so, and by default, I found it much easier to compose verse in this manner. But when faced with crafting a longer work, and one that encourages digression in many forms, the task itself becomes at times overwhelming and insurmountable. Life does not behave in a non-digressive manner so why does writing have to? Untold events alter everything.