I picked this up from the library, because I figured why not?

Overall, this was a good book. It’s filled with a lot of advise about spirituality and changing your outlook on life. I didn’t really see anything ground breaking in it though. It’s a lot of stuff that has been said over and over again, but it’s always good to have a reminder. The basic theme of the book is to treat yourself and others right.

The book is broken up by theme: joy, resilience, connection, gratitude, possibility, awe, clarity, and power. Each theme has multiple entries of things that Winfrey knows for sure. I was a little confused initially on the set up, because I listened to the audiobook. In that format, it was a little difficult to know when you switch from one story to the next, but overall it works. I got the main gist of it.

The main thing I didn’t like about the book was that I don’t think all of the advice was generalizable to the actual population. Winfrey shells out advice like keep your Sundays for yourself, without really putting much thought into say what a single mother with two kids would have to do on a Sunday or someone who has to work seven days a week. Not all of us are lucky enough to take one day a week to do nothing. I understand her intention, but it was hard to relate to lessons learned on her private plane on her way to her vacation home in Hawaii. At some times I wanted her to simplify her advice to things normal people could actually do.

Another gem was to not be afraid to say no when you don’t want to do something. While I agree with this statement on the whole, it doesn’t always apply to us little people, especially in terms of our jobs. I can’t just say no when I don’t want to do something, even if I don’t like it or agree with it. It’s still my job and I have to do it. She also makes the point of not getting stuck in a job you don’t enjoy. That’s a great lesson for your teen self, but I’ve got bills to pay. I can’t just quit without having something else lined up first. On the whole, the ideas are good, but sometimes it seems that Winfrey forgets that most of her readers are not going to be as well off as she is right now.

Overall, good reminder of how to live life to the fullest and stay true to yourself. Not always relatable, but the base advice was helpful. Winfrey did a really good job reading it for the audiobook. It feels very natural and conversational. 

Goodreads