Wholeness Healing Center

7: How Many Days of the Week Can Be Extraordinary?, a Book Review

I was recently gifted an interactive book, 7: How Many Days of the Week Can Be Extraordinary? By Dan Zadra and Kobi Yamada. This is an interactive book, with opportunity to answer questions, delve into our thinking and feeling, also including some thought-provoking readings. While the book itself is short and simple, the chance to expand exists for each reader.

Similar to the previous Compendium books I reviewed, this one has excerpts and quotations from famous, and not so famous, people. It begins with a reminder of how many mornings we actually have in our lives, how many more times to see a full moon, with the reminder to live consciously, enjoying each moment.

“Stay the course by the stars, not by the lights of each passing ship.” (Omar Bradley) With a survey on personal values, one is then encouraged to identify how often we live how we wish to live.  As we identify the priorities, we are then offered opportunity to see/list  things which take up our time, which things we might wish to eliminate as they get in the road of our living to our full potential. Then as we really pare down the direction we wish to go, we can really look at the steps we need to take to get there, really using each moment of each day of each week optimally.

“Listen, are you breathing just a little and calling it a life?” (Mary Oliver) What does our relationship with work look like? Are we living out our life’s purpose with our work or just going through the motions to collect a paycheck? What about our leisure time? Are we spending time in mindless activities, always dreaming of the places we wish to visit? The words of wisdom imparted in this little book, paired with the excuses we tell ourselves, are then offset by the blank spaces offered the reader to stop and really do some soul searching about how that could look differently.

“If you aren’t making some mistakes, you aren’t taking enough chances.” (John Sculley) Ah, this one really hit home, about chances, mistakes, and risks. All too often we settle into the routine, the mundane, the comfortable. But when we identify those times we feel most alive, that is usually times we are taking chances and really in the discovery mode, discovery about ourselves.  I often tell my clients that mistakes are just growth opportunities, but in the written exercises, I really had to look at what I am living, how that reflects (or doesn’t) my belief. When we truly appreciate each moment, we begin to live that out, being in integrity – our beliefs and actions aligned.

“I don’t believe people are looking for the meaning of life as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive.” (Joyce Carol Oates). One of the first steps is identifying when we really do feel alive, what blocks that, and how we can move forward in a much better way. This little guidebook helps the reader to really ponder, identify, and then set some goals. If you are looking for a simple  blueprint to get started, pick this one up and make this day one of the first extraordinary days of your life!

Works Cited

Zadra, Dan & Yamada, Kobi. (2011). 7: how many day of the week can be extraordinary? Seattle, WA. Compendium, Inc.

 

Tags: live consciously enjoy each moment