How to Be Well – Buy it & Keep it!

How to Be Well by Frank Lipman, MD was a Christmas gift from my mother… and we all know by now that my mom is my own personal wise woman. You know, it’s pretty neat that at (ahem!) her age (ahem!) she is still searching, reaching, learning and sharing! Lucky, blessed ME, who is (so often!) the recipient!

This book is a beauty. That’s first. It is simply pretty to look at, with a colorful, vibrant setup. Easy to navigate, too! You can open it anywhere – and in fact, Lipman says so in the “How to use this book” section of the Introduction.

But…

What’s inside, while simple to use is not simple to DO. If it were, we’d have all done it by now… and make no mistake… we ALL know this stuff… we REALLY DO!

Let’s begin with the only part of the book that I’ll share specifically… the 6 Keys, along with my own quick description of that section:

1. EAT: Compose the perfect plate
2. SLEEP: Better sleep matters
3. MOVE: Movement that moves you
4. PROTECT: Your gut, your water, your meds
5. UNWIND: Clear your spaces and your headspace
6. CONNECT: Belonging and meaning

Tell me you haven’t worked on each and every one of these six keys at some point in your life?

Right?

Right.

We KNOW. We just don’t DO IT.

There are quizzes and recipes, health check-ins, yoga poses, new habits and playtimes with coloring books and playdoh.

And so much more…

… like how GMOs are gawd-awful for us and the environment. Not that that couldn’t be a whole book on its own!

AND… “What to do when…” you have/ feel/ have been diagnosed with…

Along with a whole toolbox full of healing!

This book is set up in high quality, larger-than-normal paperback that will not fall apart easily, even if you fold corners of pages and highlight stuff, which you’ll want to, even if you hate doing it (like I do!) Sometimes, you just gotta! This will be one of those times. So, I’m gonna say… this is not a library book to borrow… this is a book you must buy and keep!

Okay… so… it’s not a quick read, even if you start on page 1 and read through to the end, which would almost be impossible.

Nope, this is a book you’ll go back to again and again… and again!

It has quickly risen to the top of my “TOP 10 self-help books I’d take to a desert island” … I’d even say… probably number 1!

Obviously, it’s a keeper!

Before I log off, allow me to share something important with you. I mention my mother quite often in this space. Yes, she’s a smarty-pants Ph.D. (Dr. Mom) and yes, she’s been through a lot in her own life and can teach me and yes, she’s an avid reader and lifelong learner (wonder where I got those traits?)… but most of all, she is my mother and my friend.

I cannot stress enough how important (and sacred) this relationship is to me.

What you may not know, unless you’ve been reading closely all along, is that it almost didn’t happen.

My mom and I struggled in our relationship with each other – a lot! Especially when I was a teenager and into early adulthood.

Had you met me when I was 15-20, you might have guessed (correctly) that I thought I knew it all!

I ventured out into a dangerous lifestyle in that disco-dancing end to the sexual revolution – known as the late 1970s. By the time 1980 came around, I was a freaking mess.

I think Johnny Lee said (sang) it best in the hit Lookin’ for Love, which became my anthem in 1980:

I was lookin’ for love in all the wrong places
Lookin’ for love in too many faces
Searchin’ her eyes, lookin’ for traces of what I’m dreamin’ of
Hopin’ to find a friend and a lover
I’ll bless the day I discover another heart
Lookin’ for love 

I was lucky. I found another heart lookin’ for love, and married him. It could have SO gone another way. You don’t have to think further than the early 1980s and the introduction of AIDS.

But I digress.

My mother and I healed our relationship many years ago. It is among the most precious and fiercely protected relationships I have in my life.

How is your relationship with your mom… whether she’s still here or in heaven?

I never write anything without guidance…  from my gut or my God. It’s coming from somewhere. Is it YOU who needs to read this today?