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Summary: Inspiration to crystalize beliefs & values for loved ones
Review: A motivational book providing the tools and inspiration to crystallize one's beliefs and values into words that can be understood by those they love, especially future generations. As a sculptor and former psychotherapist I have long been attracted to the benefits of self examination. Yet this rich, full bodied book warmly encouraged me, a woman of 66 years, to go much deeper, though I thought I already had done so. All aspects of this compelling book interested me, however, particularly notable was the prompt (and poem) inquiring What I Loved Most In My Life. After reflecting on this in great detail, allowing all of my senses to participate, I was urged to write What I'll Miss When I Die. Rachael Freed's gentle wisdom walked me through this exercise urging me to focus clearly and take my time. Not only did the act of writing stir me to spend more precious time than I had before, directed to thoughts of what is important to me after the cobwebs have cleared, but to rejoice in the accomplishment of being ready to share these insights with my family so they will know me in a more direct way, free of unnecessary speculation. I will enjoy gifting this volume to many friends, especially for their Birthdays. It's a gift that keeps on giving.
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Summary: It's an Emotional & Spiritual Reward
Review: As my children have become parents themselves, they have become increasingly interested in the details of their heritage to pass on to their own children. Women's Lives, Women's Legacies provides an approach to help recapture more than just facts, but the meaning and motivations of the lives of those women who came before us, yet are a real part of who we are today. Looking forward, my goal is to ensure that I leave more than a bit of money for my children, grand- and great-grandchildren. I intend to leave them a an emotional, spiritual legacy in which they can take pride. It's a beautifully laid out book, an easy read and there is a reward in doing so: It provokes you to think about things you might not otherwise and provokes you to action - to explore, write, get your house in order, etc. I intend to buy many copies of this book to share with all my dearest women friends.
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Summary: Brings forth women's wisdom
Review: I am a writer, counselor, and teacher in my 60's, married for over 40 years, with grown children and one grandchild. So I can recommend this book especially to midlife and older women. This book can help us harvest the fruits of our abundant life experience and share them with a wisdom-starved world. Through stories, commentary, and especially "reflection and writing" suggestions, this book guides us to contemplate aspects and details of our lives we may tend to take for granted, plumbing the rich depths of their meaning to us, our families, and the world. To name just a few examples: pregnancy, miscarriage, and birth; hanging clothes on a clothesline, specific childhood memories, family relationships, friendships, personal rituals, illness and healing experiences, personal response to world events.
Rating:
Summary: Brings forth women's wisdom
Review: I am a writer, counselor, and teacher in my 60's, married for over 40 years, with grown children and one grandchild. So I can recommend this book especially to midlife and older women. This book can help us harvest the fruits of our abundant life experience and share them with a wisdom-starved world. Through stories, commentary, and especially "reflection and writing" suggestions, this book guides us to contemplate aspects and details of our lives we may tend to take for granted, plumbing the rich depths of their meaning to us, our families, and the world. To name just a few examples: pregnancy, miscarriage, and birth; hanging clothes on a clothesline, specific childhood memories, family relationships, friendships, personal rituals, illness and healing experiences, personal response to world events.
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Summary: Review
Review: I have read Rachel Freed's new book, Women's Lives,
Women's Legacies and would like to highly recommend it to your readers. I am a Marriage and Family Therapist , a wife of 43 years, a mother of 2 grown sons and a good friend. I live in the Bay Area of Northern CA and work with women who would benefit from this book and this particular kind of thoughtful and feeling consideration.The author invites and gently guides us to examine our family history, our work, our travel, our values and views of life.It is a splendid opportunity for self -examination that will lead to clarity about who we truly are as women and who we are not.. I recommend this to all therapists who are working with women and to all women themselves as a way to articulate and document the spiritual and ethical legacy you will leave your family and future generations.
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Summary: Motivating and inspiring!
Review: I must admit, I've read the personal stories, poems and quotes found throughout the book, but haven't finished the writing exercises; my spiritual ethical will is a work-in-progress! This book has inspired me to learn more about my roots, particularly my Jewish heritage. Since beginning the book I have contacted my great-aunt and have arranged to spend time with her next month, to better understand my genealogical and spiritual roots before moving ahead with the writing process. As a social worker in long-term care and senior housing, I am acutely aware of how many women's stories go untold. I would love to use this book as a guide for a writing group; just think of all the stories and pearls of wisdom that could be saved!
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Summary: Women's Lives, Women's Legacies - a radiant guidebook
Review: I'm a woman who's been blessed with a long and varied life. I've always wanted to share my experiences with my nieces, and to offer them my hard-earned wisdom so that they might move into womanhood a little better informed than I was. I've also had an inner desire to be seen and valued by them.
The beautifully written and accessible WOMEN'S LIVES, WOMEN'S LEGACIES offers encouragement and serves as a guide so that I may begin to write my life and in the process, come to love and appreciate myself more fully. I love the personal stories and poetry in the book. As I read, I find myself moving to that spiritual place inside myself of loving my own being as well as all the women who've lived before me and those who will come after. This book is a celebration of and addition to the heritage of women.
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Summary: Ideas for College Teachers using Writing in a host of classe
Review: The thing I love MOST about Rachael Freed's Women's Lives, Women's Legacies is that I can draw on it when I'm being a classroom teacher. Right now I'm teaching first year writing courses and a graduate level courses for future teachers across a number of disciplines. And each of these courses builds on multicultural teaching and learning. For the first year students, I build on Freed's exercises to help students articulate ways in which their cultural backgrounds provide legacies, to consider the ways in which their new cross-cultural interactions provide blessings and build future legacies. Thinking in this way, the students are able to really engage the civil rights era writings (1940 to 1970 especially) of the many spiritually motivated activists whose ideas can inspire next steps toward rich cultural interactions and social justice policies in the new century. For graduate students about to become teachers, a number of the exercises have helped me to frame discussions about how and why we enter classrooms ready to engage learning rather than dispense knowledge -- what are the legacies of our own teachers who combined education and community awareness and their own authentic selves to create classrooms in which we could thrive? what are the legacies we hope to enact as teachers -- and what will we mindfully pursue in order to make our wishes become our actions. I've just begun playing with the exercises from this book in light of my own teaching and the rewards have been many. Take up the book for yourself, but also consider the ways in which the engagement of your students with exercises from Freed's book might enrich your classroom conversations as well.
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Summary: A must have for the thoughtful woman!
Review: This book is a powerful tool for women who are searching for their foundations in life and who wish to transmit the values/history that are uncovered by the exercises in the book to others. From an historical encounter with Sarah to reflections on the women in our lives to blessings of future generations, Women's Lives, Women's Legacies touches aspects of our lives of which we are unaware in everyday life. As a facilitator of workshops on Ethical Wills (with a passion for provoking EVERYONE to write an Ethical Will), I will be certain to include this book as a resource and incorporate what I have learned into my presentations.Everything else aside, this is a BEAUTIFUL book with sensitive readings as examples and LOTS of thought provoking ideas - a must read for the thoughtful woman and the women she cares about. It would make a great gift!
Rating:
Summary: A must have for the thoughtful woman!
Review: This book is a powerful tool for women who are searching for their foundations in life and who wish to transmit the values/history that are uncovered by the exercises in the book to others. From an historical encounter with Sarah to reflections on the women in our lives to blessings of future generations, Women's Lives, Women's Legacies touches aspects of our lives of which we are unaware in everyday life. As a facilitator of workshops on Ethical Wills (with a passion for provoking EVERYONE to write an Ethical Will), I will be certain to include this book as a resource and incorporate what I have learned into my presentations.Everything else aside, this is a BEAUTIFUL book with sensitive readings as examples and LOTS of thought provoking ideas - a must read for the thoughtful woman and the women she cares about. It would make a great gift!
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