White Hot Truth – “If liberation is a chore, then you’re not really free.”

I want to meet the author of today’s selection, White Hot Truth. Danielle LaPorte seems like a really neat person! I watched her video about this book on her site (linked above with her name) and she said the crazy-true quote that’s shown in my title. Ain’t it the truth? And that, my friends, is what this book is about. Truth. And yes, it will set you free.

The premise of this book is to help you, “question the quest,” and that makes me wish I’d found this book a hundred years ago … or ten. Just “before”… before all the trying so hard to find my path; spiritual and otherwise.

This book won’t dial you back but it will stop you mid-step. It asks you difficult questions about your spiritual quest and your daily life.

The biggest, best-est bullet-point I took away is the notion of importance. And by that, I mean… yours and mine.

Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. – TS Eliot, The Cocktail Party 

LaPorte talks about “spiritual glamour” and how it sets itself above both people and beliefs. Certainly, it’s a trap that any of us may fall into… after all, I am The Self-Help Whisperer™… and that comes with… what? Am I more evolved, enlightened, mystical? Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe you’re far more enlightened than me! Maybe you’re just quieter about it than I am.

The theme, however, stretches across the pages of this book and it comes full circle… back to you… as the back of the book says:

Danielle brings it home with the hottest truth of all: You are your own guru.

Ah yes, this sounds familiar. After all, here is what I wrote on my blog description while I was designed this space:

In the world of self-help, I have become my own best (worst?) guru.

Yes, yes, yes. We are ALL our own best guru. I just happen to worry I might be the worst. I should probably change that. 😉 *wink*

One of the things I absolutely love about this book is the concept of “Truth”… which used to be very black-and-white to me. (I’ve written about that before and linked it for you!) I’ve worked hard over the years to appreciate the gray/ between place… to go there… stand in its uncomfortable messiness.

See, I used to be very, very attached to what I thought was right and wrong. I was… righteous, which put me on a higher plane than someone who was not as righteous as I was (and I was the judge and jury in that court!). Under those circumstances, it is very easy to be hypocritical, as LaPorte points out. And, to my shame, I was.

Do you know what changed my thinking? It was Katharine Hepburn. And Jane Fonda. (Just to name a couple.) These women did some things that I found… distasteful. It was so easy to push them aside and find other women who were better role models. So, that’s what I did. Then, by accident, I read something about Hepburn that … made me stop and think. I saw her as a woman who did what she thought was right and respected that. I wondered what I would do under the same circumstances… and I felt compassion for her. Fonda was much the same.

To go back to the book, I had put myself on a higher level… as if I was… better than they were! Pssst: I did it with other people, too. People I actually knew!

Oh man… this book … that one concept alone… changed me. I am no better than anyone else. Different but not better.

It’s a super easy read, with larger-than-average print, lots of white space, quotes and tons of stuff you’ll want to highlight — and highlight, I did! Sometimes, I can’t help myself!

In the back, there’s a guide for book clubs with questions you might find handy to ask yourself.

This book helps to liberate you… and it’s certainly NOT a chore. It is a delight! As you can tell, I really love this book. It’s one I go back to again and again.