Lorie Givens

Since the debut of her two-time national award-winning book, "The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Conscious Living", Lorie Givens has been inspiring her community of readers to do just that. With a friendly, down-to-earth style and a commitment to making a difference, she's now focused on authoring a series of children's books to help kids live more consciously, too. The first in the series is, "Pogo the Porpoise with a Purpose" and will inspire kids across the globe to get involved in saving the planet and the many endangered species whose survival depends on us. Please join Lorie and Pogo on this awesome journey.

You can also find her on Facebook @AuthorLorieGivens.

Here's what Lorie has to say about her first book, "The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Conscious Living":

If someone had told me a few years ago that I’d write a book on such a provocative topic, I’d probably have thought they were wasting not only their time but mine, too. I mean… why would I write a book that would expect people to take an honest, at times even, uncomfortable look at some of our more common attitudes and states of mind?

Because I had to do it myself.

It was the only way to climb out of a hole I had dug for myself. See, I had walked away from a successful career in sales, partly because the industry imploded, and partly because I thought I was taking a much-needed break, but somehow I lost myself in the process because I’d never stopped to consider that “who I was” was almost entirely defined by my work, and when that was taken from me (according to how I saw it), it felt like part of me had been stripped away, too. I guess without the so-called “facts” of who I thought I was, I had to face the feelings of who I really was. Despite the many obstacles I’d overcome in the past and even how adaptable and resilient I may have imagined myself to be, I was not prepared, especially since I no longer had a “tribe” or an external source to legitimize all the qualities that had not only made me good at what I did but also feel good about it, too. At the time, it never occurred to me that it might be more productive to focus on why my legitimacy and self-worth were so dependent on things outside of me. That’s because all I could focus on were the things I had lost and who might be at fault. And so I did.

Thus began my slow, private descent into the rabbit hole that led to me writing this book. As many of you can relate, our darker periods often lead to some of our more insightful realizations. That was certainly the case for me. Although the book I’ve written is not about me, it did give rise to the very personal and humbling discovery that I’d spent most of my life trying to manage the busy world around me when what really needed my attention was the even busier one inside me. And let me be clear. Had I not discovered what I did while writing this book, I might still be in that hole. I might still be trying to make sense of all kinds of things in my life that had already taken place, instead of making sense of the states of mind which kept me thinking about them. The good news, though, is that through writing this book, I found my way out of that hole by focusing less on the things I had done and more on the person I’d become. I also stopped looking at myself through the myopic lens of what I thought was my work and began looking at the real work that was needed to really see myself. Although this new work was painfully isolating and took me four years, it enabled me to emerge feeling liberated and far more connected to others than I ever have.

The name of my book is The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Conscious Living. It’s a book about mindsets. It’s also about responsibility and how great it can feel when you take it, especially in your relationships. This book will really get you thinking about your relationships with others by rethinking the one with yourself. But it never uses guilt or blame to get its message across. Instead, it simply strips away the habits, excuses, and explanations we use to get through things by exposing how they are what prevents us from doing just that. It also highlights attitudes that, because they are so ingrained in us, we’ve never thought of them as things we might want to change. This book is not about change, though. It’s about choice and how many of them we have once we become aware of them.

One of my good friends, who recently read the book, said to me, “Lorie, you’ve always been good at motivating, but I never knew you were this deep.” Of course, I laughed at first, but the only thing I could say back to her was, “You know what? I didn’t either, but once I started looking at myself without all my excuses and explanations, especially the ones I’d never thought of that way, some really deep spaces opened up inside me that I didn’t know were there.”

These deep spaces are inside all of us. We just have to be really honest in order to find them. This book will get you to those spaces inside you, and what you’ll end up with are some pretty powerful ah-ha moments of your own. That’s why it’s called a do-it-yourself guide. All I do is help you get there. But it won’t take you the four years it took me. That’s because I condensed it into a 21-day format that anyone can use. Each day is a different mindset and, because you’ll likely confront some uncomfortable feelings but equally comforting insights, it’s best to take them one day at a time.

You see, once you get in the habit of looking at yourself with truth, objectivity, and compassion, you’ll start seeing others that way, too. You’ll stop playing the game of “I’m better than you” or “You’re better than me”, and you’ll start appreciating how alike we all are. That’s how this book will leave you feeling calmer and so much more connected when you’re done.

That’s exactly what it’s done for me but, please, experience it for yourself.

The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Conscious Living is available on Amazon in paperback and e-book. I’m excited to share it with you and look forward to your comments and reviews.

By the way, here is a recent professional critic's review of, "The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Conscious Living". (This particular review evaluates books on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 meaning “needs improvement” and 5 meaning “outstanding”.)

Here is the critic's rating:

Character Appeal and Development: 5

Voice and Writing Style: 5

Structure, Organization, and Pacing: 4

Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar: 5

Plot and Story Appeal: 4

Production Quality and Cover Design: 5

Here is the critic's commentary:

"Excellent opener welcoming the reader into the book, and setting the concept right at our feet: deprogramming a lack of self-awareness and replacing outgrown mindsets with healthier insights. The author uses just the right amount of repetition throughout, which enables the reader to look at important issues from several angles. The author makes it easy for the reader to connect with her, and thus we’re open-minded for her guided tour through some of the most frustrating challenges. I loved the organization of bulleted points; when you line out insights, the reader often has an easier time processing them. The pace flows well, and structure impresses. Organization pleases, with strong sections at Chapters 1 and 2, and very strong insights in the middle of the book. I loved the part about ‘let others do more,’ placed perfectly in mid-book, when the reader’s absorption levels are stronger and previous lessons set the table for this nuanced insight. Lots to think about with that one, stellar bit of advice. The author offers much to think about here; I found several of the tenets to stick with me long after the book is done. Nice job."

I hope you'll give this book as well as, "Pogo the Porpoise with a Purpose" serious consideration.

Lorie Givens, Author

Facebook: @AuthorLorieGivens

http://loriegivens.com