The Book That Meant the Most to Me This Year

Last fall, I was in my local bookshop when I ran across a thick volume on an endcap begging me to open its pages, give it a chance, and take it home with me. A year later, that book has been my daily companion, its pages now marked up and dog-eared, its cover opened over 365 times. It’s the book that’s meant the most to me this year, the one by my side each morning as I sipped my coffee, the one at the top of every recommendation list I’ve given to friends.

And although I’ve written about this book before, as we stand here at the end of this year, I couldn’t ignore the pull I’ve been feeling to write about it again, to share a little bit about why it’s meant so much to me. Especially in light of one quote, in particular, that’s been bubbling up in my heart again and again.

A quote that goes like this . . .

“In my twenties, I thought fame would do it.

In my thirties,

I became convinced that a comma in my checking account balance was the answer.

In my forties,

I finally figured out that all my seeking can be summed up in one word: contentment.”

—Sara Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance

I wonder if I found contentment this year. Did you? Is finding contentment even possible? Isn’t that what we’re all chasing?

That one quote isn’t, of course, the only reason Simple Abundance has meant so much to me this year. There’s loads more in the 592-page tome, broken out in 365 beautiful daily readings.

Here are 5 insights that made Simple Abundance the book that’s meant the most to me this year:

(with accompanying quotes from Sara Ban Breathnach herself)

#1— Living a life of devotion doesn’t have to be such a struggle.

“Everyday life has become my prayer.” —Sara Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance

“I had never been alone on the journey of unanswered prayers. Neither are you.” —Sara Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance

“Most of us on any given day will admit that we hardly know whether we’re coming, going, or where we’ve been; we feel constantly distracted—even in the company of those we love. We’re often on the verge of tears ‘for no reason’ and feel that there’s no one we can talk to who will understand. More bewildering is that this continuous sensation of being anxious, overwhelmed, and emotionally overwrought has somehow become our culture’s accepted ‘New Normal.’ Virtually every woman I know admits that she wakes up worn out and weary, on edge, and more likely to imagine difficulties ahead than ever before. But this behavior is not normal or healthy. And someone needs to say so. I’ll go first. This is not normal.” —Sara Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance

“It’s hard to imagine that twenty-five years have passed since Simple Abundance was originally published in 1995. In daily essays, I shared the revelations that came while trying to reconcile my deepest spiritual and creative longings with often overwhelming commitments to family and work. I had long suspected that I wasn’t alone in my frustrations and desires, but nothing could have prepared me for the way women around the world—millions of you—responded.”—Sara Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance

#2— We were all put here to create something. (even you, even me)

“I believe that lurking beneath every woman at her wit’s end, whether she knows why or not, there’s a woman needing to jump-start her courage and let loose her artist of the everyday. Let that artist out of the attic.” —Sara Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance

“Many of us have unconsciously erected seemingly insurmountable barriers to protect ourselves from failing or succeeding. We may think we’re protecting ourselves by ignoring or denying our creative impulses, but really all we’re doing is burying our Authentic Selves alive.” —Sara Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance

“Why do we make ourselves sick competing against strangers? I believe it’s just another sophisticated, seditious form of self-sabotage. . . Today, ask Spirit to call forth your authentic gifts, so that you might know them, acknowledge them, and own them. Do you want to live more abundantly? Have you buried your talents? How can we live richer, deeper, and more passionately if we aren’t willing to invest in ourselves? Many of us have played it safe for far too long and wonder why we are miserable. Because playing it safe is the riskiest choice we’ll ever make.” —Sara Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance

“We do not create in a vacuum. Art is a Divine collaboration, a sacred covenant between the artist and the Great Creator. . . “—Sara Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance

“Failure is a crucial part of the creative process. Authentic success arrives only after we have mastered failing better.” —Sara Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance

#3— Contentment isn’t a myth.

“We think it’s the big moments and achievements we’ll never forget, but truly it’s the small and overlooked blessings that tell the narrative of our lives.” —Sara Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance

“In due time we shall reap an abundant harvest of contentment.” —Sara Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance

“Women have always spun straw into gold threads out of desperate need. But what miracles might come if we give thanks first for the desperate need even before we’re rewarded with the golden threads?” —Sara Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance

“Always remember, it’s simply not an adventure worth telling if there aren’t any dragons.” —Sara Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance

“Passion’s nature is also cloaked in the deep, subtle, quiet, and committed: nursing a baby, planting a rose garden, preparing a special meal, caring for a loved one who is ill, remembering a friend’s birthday, persevering in a dream. Encouraging a child to not give up her dream. Every day offers us another chance to live passionate lives rather than passive ones, if we will bear witness to passion’s immutable presence in the prosaic.” —Sara Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance

#4— We don’t have to settle for a mediocre life.

“We become authentic the same way we become courageous. By doing it. Not by thinking about it.” —Sara Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance

“Many dreams still wait in the wings. Many aspirations are just within our grasp if we keep stretching. . . Many yearnings must be acknowledged so that they can be fulfilled. Many authentic sparks must be fanned before Passion performs her perfect work in you. Throw another log on the fire.” —Sara Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance

“This is not the time you stop believing. . . An authentic life is the most personal form of worship. When you start believing, you’ll discover that all things are really possible.” —Sara Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance

“But you can make a gigantic spiritual leap by simply acknowledging that you don’t want to live any longer crippled by fear.” —Sara Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance

#5— All we have is all we need.

“Most of us have been given a miraculous gift—the ability to see—but we don’t take the time to do more than glance around.” —Sara Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance

“There is a better way to live. It begins when we establish order within, so that order will become a visible reality in our daily round. Start by bookending your day with reflection first thing in the morning and last thing at night. This quietude will remind you that you can make the choice every morning to live in the world but not be caught up in the frenzy of it, especially a frenzy of your own devising.” —Sara Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance

“Being poor in self-confidence and creative energy keeps us in lack much more than a lean purse.” —Sara Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance

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If these insights from Simple Abundance have made you want to pick up a copy for yourself, here’s where you can order a copy and still send dollars to your favorite local independent bookstore on Bookshop.org.

I hope you love it!

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