Stop Praying, a book review and giveaway

This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to Linda Sweeney!

I have a penchant for reading self-help books. There’s something about self-examination that lifts my spirits. One such book is Stop Praying, by Mark Quam.

This book was written to “help individuals who are fed up with a normal, go nowhere life,” and consists of a 21 day challenge meant to get the reader moving in a new direction, and quickly.  It poses the question, “Do you think an almighty god would be happy if you spent all of your time sitting around, praying or kneeling?  No, he would say that he gave you life and would ask what you did with it.”

Stop Praying doesn’t challenge your faith or discourage the act of praying whatsoever. Instead, this book invites you to step up and stop with the pity party, if you will. It gives you an action plan – a 21-day challenge that will have you asking yourself: What is your purpose? Who can you become? And why 21 days? It’s been shown that it takes this long to break a bad habit or create a new one.

It took me maybe 30 minutes to read Stop Praying in its entirety. It’s an easy ready; concise and to the point. There are 5 simple disciplines to follow for the 21 days – keep a journal, read 30 minutes a day, develop a fitness routine, watch what you eat, and pay attention to the choices that you make. That last discipline – choice awareness – is what has made the biggest impact on me. Just think about all the little choices you come across every day! For example, when I wake up in the morning, I used to check email first-thing. Now, I go cuddle with my girls before anything else. That’s just one thing that’s changed. Now I think twice before having that second cookie. Or putting off calling my mom. Taking the high road makes the ride that much smoother!

Within the book, there are spaces to jot down notes, answer questions, and even a 21-page journal to fill out. This would be a wonderful gift to pass out to friends at the office or put in your family’s holiday stockings. Stop Praying is available on Amazon.com and you can learn more at www.stopprayingstartliving.com or IndieReader, a resource for self-published (aka “Indie”) books.

WIN IT!

IndieReader would like to give away four copies of Stop Praying, as well as an IndieReader.com tote bag to readers of An Island Life! To enter, please visit this page: www.indiereader.com/spgiveaway.htm, put in your information and the code: islandlife where it asks for a promotional code. Contest ends October 22nd. US entries only.

Thank you IndieReader for providing me with this book for review.