This book was so short but it took me a long time to finish because it is DENSE. Lots of amazing wisdom though. Would definitely recommend!

I will undoubtedly revisit this book again. So beautifully written. It instilled a sense of calm as I read it.

Beautifully poetic and insightful! O'Donohue shares a feast of wisdom that I savored over the course of a year; though the book isn't lengthy, it's the sort of writing worth meditating on. I can see myself revisiting this book again and again. It often cleared the lens through which the light of life is shining and I'm very glad I picked it up randomly off a shelf in a used bookstore!

This writing spoke to me on a deep level I hadn't dared to tread, exposing my humanity to myself. It's much more spiritual than religious.

A friend lent this book to me. Like a lazy walk along a beach, I enjoyed making my way through the sweet observations of John O’Donohue. The ending was especially symbolic, since I read the chapters on old age and death while travelling back to Ireland for my dear Granny’s funeral. My sadness was transformed in reading about fear of death and I was able to realise how my pain came from loss. My healing emanates from knowing that I have memory. Losing someone is never easy, but reading these pages made it easier. I was travelling alone for 10 hours, afraid of being left with my own misery and sadness. Yet, with the books company I felt something grow in me. An acceptance of the difficult, a change in how I relate to death and dying.

Something that annoyed me about this book was the unlimited reference to male voices. John O’Donohue celebrates male voices throughout this book and comedy arose with the extent of his unconscious bias. There was one reference to Edith Piaf at the end, however, it took over 230 pages to suggest wisdom might be an ungendered thing.

Despite this, it’s a beautiful text. With excellent wisdom from the Celtic World.

“The heart is the inner face of your life. The human journey strives to make this inner face beautiful. It is here that love gathers within you. Love is absolutely vital for a human life. For love alone can awaken what is divine within you.”

Catching up…

This is one of those books that is with you, that you pick up and read as you need it when you need it. And so, even as I review it, I share with you, that this book has been with me for years. It is ageless to me. I started reading it slowly years ago. Then I read it cover to cover years ago. I still read it. It is an old book to me. It is a new book to me. I always see it with fresh eyes every time I open its pages.

And so, if you find this book, it may be one that once you get it, you may be like me. You may choose not to let it go.

Listen closely to his opening words…

“It is strange to be here. The mystery never leaves you alone. Behind your image, below your words, above your thought, the silence of another world exists. A world lives within you. No one else can bring you news of this inner world.”

If I were to even begin to attempt to interpret his thoughts, I would consider that he is asking us to go within. To recognize what is in each of us. To see the true artist within each of us. How can we not be mesmerized by what he sees within each of us? Or what he is asking each of us to see that exists within us?

This book taps into the richness of Celtic spirituality, poetry and stories. He explores friendship, awareness, and intimacy. Our senses. Our soul.

He asks us to recognize the aging process as living in rhythm with our soul and our life. Even looking at life all the way through to his last chapter as we affirm death and see it as an invitation to freedom.

There is so much to appreciate about his words. He is truly stirring our soul and stoking the fires of our imagination. He reminds us of the precious gift of present moment living.

Most the time my books are read and reviewed and released to my Little Free Library Shed. But this one evokes a different and deeper meaning for me. And so, it stays with me. Where I can read it again and again. As I need it, when I want it.

The words continue to resonate with me and remind me of the preciousness of life. The gift of what we have been given. And what comes back each time for me is a feeling of immense gratitude. I am grateful for this life.

“The passionate heart never ages.”

Just truly stunning. I read a little bit every morning over the course of a year and I know I will come back to this book for the rest of my life

I read this several years ago, but there were a lot of yummy tidbits and insight into relationships and love.