I love to read! I mean what author doesn't right? Lately though I've been reading a lot of spiritual non-fiction. As an intuitive I'm always looking for ways to upgrade my skills, ie learn more about my gifts. But that's not all that's here!  Anyway, I thought I'd share my top five non-fiction gems. So without further ado, here they are and why I love them so much.

1. Thank and Grow Rich by Pam Grout. As those who know me know, I am a huge Pam Grout fan, I absolutely love her books! She writes in the self-improvement niche, but she has a very easy going, simple strategy for applying the law of attraction. Where many authors in this genre get bogged down by all the different ways to understand law of attraction, Pam distills it down to a manageable amount of information that anyone can apply to their lives. This particular book focuses on gratitude, and I loved it! If you want a simple way to begin applying the law of attraction to your life, then this is a great book to start. 

2. Ask Your Guides by Sonia Choquette. This is one of my absolute favorite books chock full of personal stories and stories from her clients about connecting with their guides and angels and how you can too! I've always loved the idea of angels even though I'm Native American and follow much of my people's traditions. Funny thing was I was never really able to figure out where or how angels fit in. While as an intuitive I know I have angels, for some years I was conflicted about how to fit them into my belief system. Reading this book helped me with that. If you're at all interested in receiving guidance from the divine this is a fabulous book to read.

3. The Five Lessons of Life: A True Life Story about an Ordinary Woman who Survived Two Extraordinary Near Death Experiences. Her Remarkable Secrets of Both Heaven and Hell are Finally Being Revealed! by Carrie Kohan. I really enjoyed this book. I've always been interested in the near death experience and I'm fascinated by how each experience is unique to the person, but yet there are also similar themes. If you also enjoy reading about NDE's or hearing others describe their NDE's then you will enjoy this book as well.

4. Manifesting Your Magical Life: A Practical Guide to Everyday Magic with the Angels by Radleigh Valentine. Yup, another book on how to connect and work with your angels. This book was fun to read, and the exercises were fun to practice though I didn't do all of them. If you enjoy reading about an author's own life experiences with working with his angels, then you'll enjoy this book as much as I did. 

5. Slow Living: The Secrets to Slowing Down and Noticing the Simple Joys Anywhere (Decorating Book for Homebodies, Happiness Book) by Helena Woods. Oh, man, for a woman that has barely reached her thirties, Helena is a very wise woman. If you're interested in slowing down, enjoying life, and figuring out what your true values and priorities are then you don't want to miss this book. It is probably has the most extensive explanation of slow living and the best tips for how to get started in my opinion of all the books out there. I loved it so much I reviewed it on Amazon! 

So, there you have my top five non-fiction reads! I hope you find something here that you might like to read too! 

PS There are no affiliate links in this post, just great books! :-)

Val from Ryan's Guardian by Regina Paul.

Val’s blue eyes twinkled at him before he answered for John. “That’s easy, Ryan. We’re going to tell them I’m your new manny.”

“My new what?”

“Your new manny. That way I can stay close to you and Megan, and your ex if he sees me shouldn’t be suspicious.”

“He’s a psychopath, Val. Trust me he’s going to be suspicious. I haven’t dated anyone in the years since the divorce and I know even from prison he was tracking me.”

“What do you mean, Son?” John asked, his voice sounding as if he’d swallowed gravel.

Ryan sighed. “I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to worry, but there has been the occasional out-of-place looking guy watching me from time to time. They never approached me, but they weren’t hard to spot. Michael clearly still has connections on the outside and he has been using them to keep tabs on me.”

“Oh, Son, you should have told me. We would have gotten a bodyguard sooner.”

The disappointment in his dad’s voice nearly killed him, but Ryan knew that making too much of the weirdos watching him from time to time would have just alerted Michael to the fact he’d noticed them, and he didn’t want to give his ex the satisfaction. As long as it was just the occasional watcher, and nothing else happened he was willing at least for the time being to let things be. Now though? He didn’t have a choice. It wasn’t just the occasional unsavory watcher watching him, now Michael was out and he had to protect Megan.

“I’m sorry, Dad, but I didn’t want to alert him that I knew and suddenly having a bodyguard or bodyguards would have alerted him. They never did anything, just watched me and I’m sure reported back to Michael.”

“Actually I think it’s a good thing you waited.” Val spoke to ease some of the tension.

“What do you mean?” John asked.

“Ryan has a good point. Since he didn’t do anything, his ex will assume he didn’t see them. He’ll think Ryan’s guard is down. I’d rather have him think that than we’re on to him. He might try something crazy if he thinks you know he’s planning something. I’d rather have him think you’re ignorant. It gives us the upper hand.”

“Alright, but I don’t have to like it.”

Ryan watched a slow easy smile form on Val’s face. When he turned it on him, Ryan could feel his cheeks heat.

“No John. You don’t have to like it. But as I said it gives us the upper hand.”

That smile should be declared illegal.

Ryan cleared his throat. “So, let’s sign a contract.”

“Yes, lets.” 

(c) Copyright 2023 by Regina Paul. All Rights Reserved.

Here's the thing though, when you allow fear to be your default, then all you draw to yourself are things to be afraid of. That's right, you will then only draw things to be afraid of. Some call this the "law of attraction" and I suppose that's as good a name for it as any. I prefer what my husband calls "the mirror image," a term he uses for a teaching he learned from his relatives who are both Nez Perce and Lakota. What this means is that what you show to the world ie what you send out, the world shows or mirrors back to you. Angry about something? Then expect that you're going to have something show up in your life that makes you angry. In fact, as long as you show or mirror anger to the world then the world is going to mirror back that emotion to you. On the flip side if what you are sending out is love, or peace, or healing then you in turn will receive those things back from the people, situations and so on that you come into contact with. 

I can give you a great example of this. So last week on Wednesday something happened at work that made me feel very betrayed and as if I was not being listened to, that made me feel powerless. Guess what happened over the next few days? The universe mirrored back to me something that made me feel powerless and betrayed. You are going to laugh when you hear what it was! 

So what happened? One of my neighbors dogs shit and peed all over around my front door, not just one day but three days in a row. The first day it happened I was still really made when I went to the bus stop to go to work. Guess what happened? Another thing to make me feel angry and betrayed. My bus never came. I waited for a solid thirty minutes for my bus to come, my app kept saying it was coming and the really funny thing was, it actually at one point said it had arrived. All while I was standing there waiting for it. Every other bus imaginable eventually came, but the one I needed to get to work on time. 

I had to laugh on the bus ride to the light rail because I knew I had simply manifested what I had been feeling the day before. So, instead of getting mad I just tried to relax on way my to the light rail. I knew I was going to be very late to work, so I called and everyone at work know that needed to know and continued to try and relax. I honestly hate riding the light rail in Seattle. There are always homeless people sleeping in the cars, and we've even had people smoking Fentanyl which is scary. But even worse is it doubles and sometimes triples the amount of time it takes me to get to work. Nevertheless, I finally made it to work.

All day my intuition was pinging saying that this was not going to be the only incident with the dog leaving "presents" all around my front door. Of course when I woke up Friday and looked just as I "feared" the dog had left me several "presents." 

My worst fear though was that I was going to have to clean up after the animal myself on Saturday because on that day there is no maintenance crew on manager on site. Sure enough upon awakening on Saturday morning, the dog had again left his or her calling card. So, I put on my gloves and grabbed a roll of paper towels and a plastic bag so I could go and clean up the mess the dog had made for the third time. Needless to say I was not a happy camper! Feelings of anger, fear and powerlessness were running through me. 

But then my intuition pinged again. What if there was some substance that would be harmless to the dog but that I could spray around my front door to keep the dog from doing his business there. A few typed words on Google gave me the answer, or rather several choices, rubbing alcohol, vinegar or ammonia. I already have rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle (don't ask why! LOL) in my apartment. So instead of feeling angry, powerless and upset, I listened to my intuition and found something that will hopefully keep the dog away from my front door tonight. Once I had a possible solution that I could easily apply, my anger, and feelings of helplessness dialed down several knotches. 

How has the "mirror image" played out in your life? I'd love to hear your stories! 

It seems like forever since I posted here, probably because it was! LOL I have a brand new cover for The Last Jumper that I wanted to share and I love it! I think the new cover personifies Rain my main character so much more than the previous cover did. Don't get me wrong I loved the previous cover too, but this time I actually was able to put together a cover that actually looks like my main character but still gives off the scif/fantasy vibes I wanted as well. What do you think? Do you like it as much as I do? Feel free to comment!

I thought it would be cool to share with you some of what I read during this last week. There is so much lovely content out there and not all of it is fiction, although a good portion of my reading time is spent reading fiction. Feel free to share what you've been reading in the comments! 

I've been reading more content on Medium, because I want to support my fellow non-fiction writers there and also I write for Medium as well. 

Here are a few of the Medium articles I really enjoyed this week:

How My Friend Made $400 K from Selling an Insanely Simple E-book

Writers: You've Got to Get Good Sleep

My $2,250 Writing Day Routine

And now on to what fiction I've been reading this week. Stay tuned for a review on at least one of these soon!

My Highland Laird by J.L. Langley (Sci-Regency Series) Sooooo good!! I just finished this one day before yesterday and this series is just like cotton candy, I can't read them fast enough as they come out! Look for a review on this one for sure soon. 

Dim Sum Asylum by Rhys Ford This was my third Rhys Ford book and it was really good!

Review:

Evan Luck lives in an post apocalyptic world where monsters are real. The only thing standing between humanity and the monsters are the dragon riders. Five years ago Evan lost his dragon during a battle in which his father, and their entire city were destroyed. Evan was the only survivor. Now he makes a living as a smithy making arrows for the other dragon riders in the city of Forge. Lonely and called Luckless by many who know him, and who dislike him because he lost his dragon, he is just doing his best to survive.