Reading from the last week or two of February

Jon and I are lucky enough to get a few hours together on every other Friday morning. Sometimes we go out for breakfast, sometimes we go for a run, sometimes we go get groceries. We feel SO SO grateful that our life allows for this time together. Anyway, the other week we used our couple hours to go to both a bookstore and the other bigger library we don't always go to. I had to put a limit on myself, otherwise I would have come home with thirty books. 

We are never meeting in real life by Samantha Irby. 5/5. Oh my gosh. I loved this book so much more than I thought I would. I loved reading about her experiences as a receptionist at a veterinary clinic. I loved when she wrote about her body with so much honesty and self love. It made me want to love my body more. Can't wait to read her other book of essays. 

Super Attractor by Gabrielle Bernstein. 4/5. I mean, I liked this book. It reminded me of the Secret, and also a lot of other books about manifesting. She writes about meditating and talking to your spirit guides and always trying to feel good. And I'm pretty down for all those things. 

When the body says no by Gabor Mate. 5/5. This one is a life-changer. I would recommend this book to every single person who has any autoimmune issues at all. Plus, anyone who has stomach issues or cancer. Basically everyone. Which is so many people in my life. Jon is reading this book now because he is super interested in the connection between stress and illness. A couple surprising things I learned from this book: 

- Stress is often not obvious. It is low level and chronic and you probably are not aware of it. It's usually from childhood stuff. 

- positive thinking is not the same as positive being. Like, just saying things are good and trying to have a good attitude is really not great for you. You need to be positive from the inside, deep down. Which involves tons of work and facing things from your childhood. 

- Being "nice" is so bad for your health!!! No one is just super nice all the time on the inside. If you are being nice all the time, you are not being real. If everyone says how nice you are all the time, you need to make some changes and really look at if you are doing what you want to do in life. 

- Feeling guilty that you did something wrong often means you are on the right track. If you avoided feeling guilty all the time, you would only be living for other people. 

The best of me by David Sedaris. 5/5. I devour everyone he writes. Loved all these stories. I had already read many of them, but his writing is the kind you can read over and over. My favourite stories usually involve his sister Amy, but I also enjoyed reading about his father. I laughed out loud so much.