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Time for Books | Design the Life You Love

Time for Books | Design the Life You Love March 9, 2018

Time for Books March 2018 Ayse Birsel

Using Design the Life you Love step by step guide, you, too, can design the life you love.

This is Time for Books with Yvonne DiVita, a weekly book review series. This month, in March, we are studying Design the Life You Love by Ayse Birsel, a simple, but profound, look at using design principles to become the person you want to be. And you don't have to know anything about being a 'designer'. I promise!

I'm so thrilled with the way this book helps me understand myself, I had to share it with all of you. It's not a self-help book spouting quotes from ancient (or even recent) spiritual guides, with keen insight about life and love. 

It's a workbook. You have to put in the time, if you want to get the results. As my favorite guy, Casey, on Texas Flip and Move likes to say, "You have to risk it to get the biscuit." 

In this case, you're spending approximately 20 minutes at a time, to both learn more about yourself and what you want out of life, as much as how to redesign your future to fit what you discover in the process of your 'deconstruction'. As you will learn, it's necessary to deconstruct before you can reconstruct. It's when you truly give yourself the time to peer inside, into your lost dreams and desires, that you discover who you are and how to move forward, on your path, not someone else's. (I love how Ayse compares it to making soup!)

To follow along with this book, to keep up with me, you'll need these things (as outlined by the author of the book, on page 36)

  • Your book (go ahead and buy it, I don't get anything from clicking the links - I didn't even get the book for free, which I often do; this time Tom bought it and gave it to me - I have yet to give it back!)
  • A favorite pen or pencil
  • Optimism and playfulness
  • A cup of coffee or tea
  • A comfortable place at home or in a cafe
  • Some music, if you'd like
  • 20 minutes at a time

You will discover, once you have your own copy of the book, that you are invited to write in the book. The author invites you to do your work in the book itself. She leaves blank pages just for that! I admit, as noted in the video, that I resist writing in books at all. Maybe you do, too. In that case, have a notebook handy.

Time for books design your life

As we move on to the actual job of designing our lives, the lives we love, here are the four steps involved:

Step 1  Deconstruct your life

Step 2  Form a POV of your life 

Step 3  Reconstruct your life

Step 4  Express your life as a new design

And, as you'll see in the video, it really is just like making soup. (or cookies)

Enjoy the video. Let me know what you think. Leave a comment. And don't forget to share with friends. This is a collaborative effort, from start to finish. As we women in our second (or third or fourth) act know, it's easier to do things together, than to try and do them alone.

I'm busy designing the life I love.  I invite you to join me, because I am so interested in the life you're designing, out of the deconstruction and reconstruction of your point of view.  

 

Comments

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Yvonne DiVita

You and I are on the same page, Caren. I too thought redesigning my life would be and could be overwhelming. It does get to be so, sometimes.

But, since I've been reading and using Ayse's book, I'm beginning to see how I can take any issue or problem and deconstruct it to make it more understandable. Then, I can reconstruct it to my liking!

We baby boomer women need to recognize that there is a process we can use to move ourselves forward, one step at a time. That's how soup is made, right?

Glad you like the book. Now, it too, seems a bit overwhelming at first. But stick with me for three more sessions, and you'll continue to love it as much as I do.

Dakotasheltie

Sooo happy I let you know the video hadn't been working because watching now, I felt as if the 9 or so minutes of this video flew by much too fast! Now, to get my hands on this book! (Oh and I almost fell out of my chair when I heard my name lol)..........like you, I am not a fan of writing in books, but I am going to get my hands on this. I love in this video how you discussed that Ayse compares designing your life to making soup! Now THAT'S something I can relate to! I am ALWAYS cooking and since December I am making chicken soup more times than I can count! I never thought about how I think about the ingredients first (deconstruction) and how often I have to vary my ingredients based on what is in the house. Sometimes I find the prospect of "redesigning" my life as rather overwhelming, which leads me to shrug my shoulders and say, "Well, maybe I will think about this another day".........but putting it in terms that my feeble mind can understand, (cooking terms).......makes it not seem overwhelming at all!

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