Book Review = Self-Guided Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy for OCD by Natalia Aíza

 #partner @penguinrandomhouse Thanks for the free book  

OCD can be very debilitating. I have mild tendencies towards OCD, but have seen in my own family how impactful OCD can be in preventing family members from leading happy and independent lives. 

 This book provides one avenue to prevent OCD from becoming an all-consuming aspect of life by introducing the reader to ERP therapy, which stands for Exposure and response prevention therapy. This is not a new approach, but has been studied for decades. This therapy centers on the use of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which helps the OCD sufferer to face the fears through mindful challenges. The approach is intended to turn moments of anxiety into opportunities to exhibit calm and confident behavior. What was cause for failure before, can now be seen as a success to be celebrated.  

Long-term the hope to enable OCD sufferers to lead healthy and happy lives by introducing ERP therapy into an approach that reduces moments of anxiety and turns them into episodes that show the person how far they have come and that this challenge can be handled. 

The author introduces as an introduction the reader to the ability to map their OCD cycle, design exposure plans, and guide the rader through every stage of recovery.  One important aspect of the healing process is self-compassion to boost recovery. The reader will learn to replace self-criticism with patience and empathy; increasing the ability to overcome setbacks with kindness.

I really liked this book and support any therapy that is enabling the sufferer by introducing positive feelings instead of punishing the patient or stigmatizing the patient further. The positive reinforcement makes it easier to continue to the therapy and empowers the reader to not give up, but count the little wins as important steps to focus on and be encouraged to continue on the healing journey. 

 

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This book was provided free of charge to me in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed in this post are my own and have not influenced by any third party.  

 

 

Book Review = Strength Training for Longevity: Simple Workouts for a Lifetime of Health and Mobility by Matt Schifferle

 #partner @penguinrandomhouse Thanks for the free book  

As our bodies age, we still need to ensure a certain level of strength. This type of strength training is known to help prevent issues such as muscle loss in seniors and also improve our general well being. This book contains exercises that help with issues specific to ageing such as bone health, balance and overall well being. As with most exercise regimens, we start off at different levels, so this book can easily be customized to your level of ability, fitness and what your priorities are. The variety of exercises and the limited set of equipment needed, allow you to do the exercises at home or in most any basic gym, such as when traveling and staying in a hotel. This ensure a consistent exercise regime that is so important for results. 

The exercises included in this book are not geared to give you a bikini body, but to allow you to function and live independently into old age. There are clear functional benefits with these exercises and as you go about your daily routine, you will notice that certain chores are now becoming easier. I really appreciated the focus on balance because so many seniors suffer from the long term effects of falls around the house. So improving balance and hopefully preventing falls is one key aspect this book focuses on and this to me is so important in ensuring independent living by seniors. 

I liked this book because I felt it empowered me to work on my priorities and slowly build up strength that showed me I was improving. This really helped to keep my going and made me excited to exercise consistently. 

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This book was provided free of charge to me in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed in this post are my own and have not influenced by any third party.  

Book Review = Follow the Money: A Fun Financial Literacy Game for Kids by Alaina Trivax

 #partner @penguinrandomhouse Thanks for the free book  

This game is intended for kids aged 8 to 12, which in my opinion is a good age to introduce the concept of money and savings to kids. This was the age I received an allowance for the first time and my mom was really good at showing me how much fin it was to save some of the allowance in my piggy bank and then deposit it in my own savings account at a local bank. She managed to making savings fun and doing banking "business" just being part of regular life. 

This game is intending to make kids interested in money and savings nad teaching healthy financial habits in the process. it is so important that kids develop financial skills before leaving the home to ensure that they make informed choices even without a parent around. This game will help parents who don’t feel comfortable teaching finances to their child with guidance and to make talk about money fun for kids.

Lessons are in an easy to understand format with real examples that show life for everyday people. From budgeting to setting priorities when making purchases and teaching concepts like debt and savings, this book covers the basics of financial literacy. 

In this game, kids can be in charge and since it is play money, they learn consequences of their actions without actually putting money at risk, Important lessons are learned by the kids early on and the parents can also determine, which areas the kids need the most help with. Even though the most relevant financial terms are covered, the parents do not need to worry about confusing kids because the authors have included a glossary that explains the terms and concepts in age-appropriate terms. 

I very much support teaching kids about finances and money early on and this game does so in an entertaining manner that allows the parents to see their kids grow up and ready to leave the home without worrying about kids getting into debt. 

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 This book was provided free of charge to me in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed in this post are my own and have not influenced by any third party.  

 

 

Book Review = Wall Pilates Exercise Cards: Step-by-Step Workouts for Strength and Stability by Alli Cavanagh and Kate Francis

 #partner @penguinrandomhouse Thanks for the free book  

I started doing Pilates when I was sick with a serious respiratory infections years ago and despite recovering, I was left weak and unable to walk eve3n short distances. Pilates allowed me to quickly build up strength, even though the first few weeks were leaving me sitting down multiple times during each trainer-led session.  

These cards have the benefit that you can do them on your own, at your schedule and without any equipment needed other than a wall to work with. The deck contains 75 exercises that range from simple to more difficult and focus on strength, stability or flexibility. Therefore the use of the deck can lead to a very customized workout to fit your specific needs, priorities and abilities. 

Pilates is low impact, but highly effective. So I recommend to start off slow and focus on your priorities. It is okay, like I did when I started my recovery journey, to sit down more often and scale back the difficulty level. The important thing is to stick with the exercises and soon you will feel better and see the impact of the consistent exercises.  

If you can, I would try to do short daily sessions, focused on the different body parts like core or shoulders and then as you feel comfortable extend time or difficulty to take your exercise to a more challenging level. 

I really enjoy pilates and these cards are awesome because I can now fit in exercises into my schedule and focus on areas that are important to me. Currently, since I am sitting a lot at work, I focus on core to make sure I prevent future issues with lower back pain.  

 This book was provided free of charge to me in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed in this post are my own and have not influenced by any third party.  

 

 

Book Review = Everyday Nervous System Regulation: Simple Exercises to Reset & Recenter by Melissa Romano

 #partner @penguinrandomhouse Thanks for the free book  

 I got into mindful exercises through my workplace because my employer offers free mindful exercises online. So this book peaked my interest because it promises exercises to calm you down and in the long run improve your wellbeing. Especially if you have a busy schedule and seem to be torn in multiple directions, these exercises can help you achieve a calmer state and improve your overall state of mind. 

The book describes a number of exercises and the best part is, the exercises can be completed at any fitness level and no special equipment is needed. Although since some of the exercises have a voice component it helps to be find a room to yourself to complete them. You do not want to start growling in the presence of your colleagues. But this is really the only limitation I can think of. 

The exercises are brief, can be completed during a quick break in the schedule and the author has done an outstanding job of pointing out which exercises fit which current state of mind.  There is even an Emergency Toolkit that includes 10 quick resets, in case stress seems overwhelming and relief is needed quickly. 

To bring relief over time and achieve a consistent improvement in your state of mind, the author has conceived 7 and 30 day plans. 

I found this book to be a nice addition to the mindful exercises at work and we all have weeks where stress is just overwhelming us. This book is for those weeks and if that state seems constant, I encourage the reader to stick to one of the plans outlined in the book. I participate in the regular mindful exercises and that helps me to keep stress at bay. So I only use these exercises when stress seems high, which is rare these days due to the mindful exercise schedule. But I found the exercises listed here to be perfect to regain a calm state of mind and de-stress quickly. 

 

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 This review reflects my honest opinion. I was provided a free book in exchange for a review. 

Review = Fun with 50 States Card Game: Learn Capitals, Nicknames, and More about the United States! by Zeitgeist

#partner @penguinrandomhouse Thanks for the free book  

 Geography knowledge of the US should be common knowledge, but often is not taught sufficiently or effectively in school. So I enjoy playing with my grandkids and instill in them knowledge about the US, both history and geography. This card game in a playful fashion teaches kids about the 50 states and basic facts about US geography. 

 This card game has basic facts about the states such capitals, abbreviation and nicknames. Facts that will be helepful later in life, if for nothing else than playing along with Jeopardy. The card game is a go-fish style game and depending on the number of decks involved, the game will become more challenging and so you can adjust as your kids gets older the level of difficulty. 

Most importantly, this is the perfect game for a rainy day and to keep the kids off the screen and make learning fun. I like to have a geography book on the side so that if there are questions I cannot answer or we want more information about, we can look things up in a book - we are trying to minimize screen time and suggest to the kids that books are still useful and also enjoyable. 

I really enjoyed playing this game with the grandkids and also feel that this approach is great to supplement what is taught in school.  I was surprised to learn that one of my grandkids thought geography was boring and so I have been focusing on making geography learning fun for them because I always enjoyed learning about other countries or other US states and reading maps. 

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This review is reflecting my honest opinion. I was provided a free book / game in exchange for this review.