Lean Forward Into Your Life: Listen Hard, Live with Intention, and Play with Abandon (Encouragement Gifts for Women and Readers of My Day Begins and Ends with Gratitude)

by Mary Anne Radmacher

Overview

What is your purpose in life? This is the question we ask ourselves far too often. In Lean Forward Into Your Life, author Mary Anne Radmacher invites you to find a new way to live: by leaning forward. When you’re trying to see something better, you lean toward it. When you are listening to someone and can barely hear, you lean in. When the really exciting part of a basketball game comes, you lean forward in your seat. When you’re trying to catch, to see, to listen to the best bits—you lean forward.

Be intentional, always. This book does not fit in with typical self-help books. There are no quick and easy solutions, fool-proof steps to success, or thirty ways to hop, skip, and jump to a more successful, thinner, efficient, purposeful, happier life. Rather, this book is an invitation. A reflection. A mirror. A set of writing prompts to help you remember the questions you want to ask yourself for personal growth. An intimate portrait of some of the processes that have allowed Mary Anne Radmacher to live life how she chooses. And that can help you to live life how you choose too.

Live a meaningful life of creative confidence and radical acceptance. This motivational book goes beyond finding your life goals. With the help of the incredible stories and thoughtful writing prompts in Lean Forward Into Your Life, you will learn how to:

• Begin each day as if it were on purpose
• Listen hard, risk love, and play with abandon
• Live an uncommon life each and every day

Readers of personal development books and self-help books for women like Carry On, Warrior; Big Magic; or titles by Brené Brown, such as Daring Greatly and Rising Strong, will love Lean Forward Into Your Life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781573246460
Publisher:	Mango Media
Publication date:	01/01/2015
Edition description:	2nd ed.
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	560,363
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 6.80(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Mary Anne Radmacher is a writer and an artist. She conducts workshops on living a full, creative, balanced life; teaches Internet writing seminars; and works with individual clients. She has been writing since she was a child, and she uses her writing to explore symbols and find meaning.

Among her special honors, she counts the respect of her peers and the friendship of children. She is the author of Lean Forward into Your Life and Live Boldly. She lives in the thriving university town of Gainesville, FL, in close proximity to amazing humans and fine dogs. Visit her online at www.maryanneradmacher.net.

Table of Contents

Foreword Paid Leopoulos xi

Lean Forward into Your Life

Begin Each Day As If It Were on Purpose 3

Uncovering Your Purposeful Beginnings 5

Live with Intention 13

Walk to the Edge 21

Listen Hard 27

Play with Abandon 37

Practice Wellness 47

Laugh 51

Risk Love 53

Fail with Enthusiasm 61

Continue to Learn 65

Appreciate Your Friends 69

Choose with No Regret 75

Stand By Your Family 79

Celebrate the Holidays That Make Sense 83

Lead or Follow a Leader 85

Do What You Love 95

Live as if This Is All There Is 99

Learn Forward into Your Life: or, Reminders

Most of the Things Which Seem So Significant Aren't 111

Don't Take It Personally-It's Not Usually About You 119

Pay Attention 125

Know When to Leave 131

Curiosity Takes Courage 139

The Most Important Promises Are the Ones You Make to Yourself 143

Appreciation Lasts Longer Than Complaint 149

Being Nice Isn't Always Best 151

Surprise Is as Powerful as Consistency 153

Listen to Your Inclination 157

The Difference Between Protecting Yourself and Defending Yourself 163

Your Eyes Must Not Determine What You See 177

Play More 181

Stand Tall 195

Imagine 199

Afterword to the First Edition 207

New Afterword to the Second Edition 211

Gratitudes (Acknowledgments) 213

About the Author 217

Editorial Reviews

"I found Lean Forward into Your Life easy to put down. In fact I would put it down at least 20 times an hour. On every page, Mary Anne Radmacher holds up a mirror with angles on each side challenging the reader to examine their thinking and to ask, 'Are my thought processes presently working for me?' The reader is asked to lean forward as if to see his or her own life better, and ponder the risk of introspection. Lean Forward into Your Life is a must read, if you are willing to scrutinize how you have life figured out."—Von Hansen, National Sales Trainer

Reviews

"I found Lean Forward into Your Life easy to put down. In fact I would put it down at least 20 times an hour. On every page, Mary Anne Radmacher holds up a mirror with angles on each side challenging the reader to examine their thinking and to ask, 'Are my thought processes presently working for me?' The reader is asked to lean forward as if to see his or her own life better, and ponder the risk of introspection. Lean Forward into Your Life is a must read, if you are willing to scrutinize how you have life figured out."—Von Hansen, National Sales Trainer

"I have worked with Mary Anne for three years and after having read her book can attest that she does indeed 'lean forward into life' in the presence of the inmates she worked with. Mary Ann is a testimony to the concepts she writes about here. I am fortunate to be associated with her generous heart, spirit, and brilliant mind. When I read her book, I laughed, I cried, and pondered often. This book has to be taken in bites. It is too substantial to just breeze through."—Fay A. Gentle, Transition Coordinator, Oregon State Correctional Institution

"Lean Forward. Or Fall Forward. Or Stumble Forward. It doesn't matter. Here's the best part: in this gem of a book, life is not about correct answers. It's all about showing up. Mary Anne's writing is a great invitation to be present. And to embrace and celebrate the extraordinary in the ordinary."—Terry Hershey, author of Sacred Necessities, Soul Gardening, and Go Away, Come Closer

"As an artist, my work depends on an inspired and creative state of mind, not always easy to find in this hectic world. While my artistic inspiration comes from nature, I have found in these pages solace for sad times, strength for times of confusion and doubt, and laughter to lighten my days."—Susan Bourdet, artist and writer

"Some years ago in Southern California I entered a shop and was drawn to a display of unique cards. The words were insightful and poetic, the lettering distinctive and artistic. 'Poetic art,' I thought and bought the card for myself. I still have it. It was the first of many Mary Anne cards I have gifted myself with, as well as those I love. How delightful to discover Mary Anne years later and to become engaged in her uncommon work and wisdom. Lean Forward into Your Life is not only poetic art, it is memoir at its most unveiling, wrapped in Mary Anne's gentle guidance for living a fuller, generous life. This is a book of healing and grace meant to give to one's friends and, yes, to give as a gift to oneself. Bravo!"—Jane Kirkpatrick, author of A Clearing in the Wild and A Land of Sheltered Promise

From the Publisher