Blog Archives
Nature Mandalas for Busy Minds
Life is noisy, fast, and often overwhelming. Nature Mandalas for Busy Minds is like a deep breath of fresh air on a chaotic day. Tela Talise offers a beautifully crafted guide to mindfulness through nature-inspired mandalas, weaving together reflections, affirmations, and journaling prompts that encourage stillness and self-awareness. The book is about admiring mandalas and using them as tools for introspection, healing, and finding peace in a world that never slows down.
One of the things I absolutely loved about this book is its approach to mindfulness. It doesn’t preach or overcomplicate things. Instead, it gently invites you into a space of self-reflection. Talise starts by explaining her own journey—how art, nature, and mindfulness helped her through personal struggles, including postpartum depression. Her vulnerability in sharing this made the book feel deeply personal. The section “My Mandala Story” struck a chord deep in me, especially when she described realizing she had abandoned her creative passions for the sake of life’s obligations. How often do we forget to nurture the things that bring us joy?
Beyond personal storytelling, the book is structured in a way that encourages ongoing practice. Each mandala is paired with an intention—concepts like “Acceptance,” “Healing,” and “Patience”—alongside affirmations and journal prompts that make you pause and reflect. I found the “Lost Connections” section particularly powerful, where Talise discusses how we deal with relationships that fade or change over time. The affirmation, “I release the void created by farewells, welcoming the potential for new connections and growth,” felt like a necessary reminder that endings can be beginnings, too. The way she ties each theme to natural elements—like using dried roses and rosemary to symbolize memory—makes the experience feel so tangible, like you’re truly connecting with something beyond just words on a page.
What makes Nature Mandalas for Busy Minds so special is its accessibility. You don’t have to be an artist, a meditation expert, or someone with hours to dedicate to mindfulness. Talise makes it clear that even a few minutes of reflection—staring at a mandala, answering a question, repeating an affirmation—can be transformative. I tried her suggestion of flipping to a random page when seeking guidance, and it was almost eerie how spot-on it was. One night, overwhelmed with overthinking, I landed on the “Overthinking” mandala, which compared negative thoughts to weeds in a garden. The reminder to focus on “flowers” instead of “weeds” helped reframe my spiraling thoughts in a way I desperately needed.
I recommend this book to anyone looking for a simple yet meaningful way to incorporate mindfulness into their daily life. If you find yourself constantly stressed, always in your head, or struggling to slow down, this book is for you. It’s also a perfect gift for someone going through a tough time—a gentle, nonjudgmental companion that reminds you to breathe, reflect, and reconnect with yourself.
Pages: 167 | ASIN : B0DSC9GRKD
Mess and Magnificence
Living All In: How to Show Up for the Life You Want is an inspiring and motivational book that helps readers transform their lives and develop strong self-confidence skills. Why was this an important book for you to write?
Thank you for that question. My coaching clients were my inspiration for writing Living All In. Watching client transformations and knowing the grit they apply to their growth during our work together, is rewarding for me. It inspired me to write the transformative coaching tools in a book that is available for readers beyond my clients.
What were some ideas that were important for you to share in this book?
It is important for me to share with others that they are not broken and do not need fixing. Our personal development journeys begin from where and who we are right now. We can bring our mess and magnificence to the growth process. I also wanted to share how to create a mindset that serves the reader. We all know it is a good idea to think positive thoughts. I wanted to explain how to do that with practical tools. The tools I’ve laid out in Living All In will help people create narratives, labels, and a focus that serves them, then dump those that don’t.
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With so much essential information and advice in your book, what is one piece of advice someone gave you that changed your life?
That I get what I focus on, so focus on what I want, not what I don’t want (because if focused on, I’ll get that too)!
What is the next book you are working on, and when will it be available?
I am writing another coaching book. This one focuses on addiction and will be available in 2025.
Author Links: GoodReads | Instagram | Facebook | Website | Amazon
Living All In gives you the tools to tap into your resourcefulness, embrace an empowering mindset, and move to action. Board-certified coach Chris Janssen, MA, BCC, shares what she’s learned, personally and from her clients, then places the keys to a life you love in your hands.
In this transformative guide, you’ll discover:
Strategies to identify and overcome unhelpful narratives you may tell yourself.
Techniques and tools to cultivate a positive mindset.
Inspiring success stories that showcase the healing power of embracing change.
In Living All In, you’ll learn to think thoughts that serve you and dump those that don’t, because you are magnificent—and you deserve the right to decide how you feel, and show up for the life you want!
Chris Janssen is a board-certified life coach with a master’s in counseling psychology who has helped hundreds of clients, successfully and sustainably, move forward with a mindset that serves them. In 2021 and 2023, Brainz Magazine named Chris one of the Global Top 500 Influential Leaders for her accomplishments in mental health and dedication to helping others. For more, visit http://www.chrisjanssencoaching.com
Allowing Now
There is nothing like a moving piece of poetry. A poem that takes readers on a journey filled with imagery and tangible feelings is a comforting thing indeed. However, the most beautiful thing about poetry is that virtually every situation life throws our way can be addressed in a way that will impact readers, give them hope, and make them feel validated. Truly well-written poetry takes readers’ breath in the first stanza and keeps them captivated to the last line. Orna Ross’s Allowing Now: A Book of Mindfulness Poetry is a prime example of verse designed to captivate readers and make them feel heard.
This beautifully written collection of poetry provides readers with timely selections and gives readers tips for appreciating each poem. Ross is careful to explain that mindfulness poetry has quite a different purpose than most other examples of this genre. There is a specific way to approach reading and thinking when absorbing this work, and Ross breaks it down in no uncertain terms in the book’s introduction.
Readers who love haiku will be excited to see that Ross has included many in this style. Ross gives readers exquisite three-line gems that will stir not only vivid imagery but will inspire readers to try their hand at their own haiku. In addition, Ross’s work would make an excellent example for teachers to share with students in introducing this writing style.
“Here is Where: Salema Moods II” is my favorite of Ross’s longer works. As a melanoma survivor, I felt her words strike a chord. There is a certain level of sadness intertwined with hope in this particular selection. The rhythm and cadence are truly beautiful and lend themselves well to the poet’s goal of mindfulness.
Allowing Now: A Book of Mindfulness Poetry is heartfelt, moves readers, and spans a variety of topics. This thought-provoking collection will appeal to any poetry fan looking to delve into a complete body of work by a single poet. It is easy to absorb Ross’s entire book in a sitting, and it is perfect for a reread. In addition, Orna Ross gives readers something others sometimes lack–hope.
Pages: 134 | ASIN : B07W7FBLHB
Spirituality 103 The Forgiveness Code: Finding The Light In Our Shadow
![Spirituality 103 The Forgiveness Code: Finding The Light In Our Shadows by [Figueroa-Otero, Ivan]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51Ngbj19AxL.jpg)
Ivan Figueroa-Otero’s Spirituality 103: The Forgiveness Code is the third installment in a succession of self-help books that focus on spirituality, mindfulness, and self-understanding. This installment more specifically deals with the power of forgiveness. The reader is encouraged to connect with his or her inner ‘Warrior of Light’, meaning that in order to confront the negativity around us we must look into ourselves and examine the negativity that we harbor internally. Figueroa-Otero employs the use of Buddhism and Chinese-Tao concepts to help the reader get on a path towards connecting with him or herself and to understand that forgiveness is necessary for progress and growth.
One thing that I found helpful about the novel was the glossary that was included in the beginning. It gave the author’s expanded definition for various specific terms that was used throughout the book, such as ‘Warrior of Light’, ‘Warrior of Shadows’, and so on. Figueroa-Otero also provides homework questions at the end of chapters to help the reader review and fully understand the concepts discussed in each chapter. I found this helpful as it allowed me to exercise my understanding what I just read.
Another helpful aspect to the novel is that the reader does not necessarily need to read the first two installments in order to comprehend and fully practice the message and lesson that the author communicates. Figueroa-Otero does an excellent job in the introduction at summarizing what the readers have learned from the first two books and how that might be applied to this book.
Overall, I enjoyed this novel. I’m all about a good self-help book, and it’s refreshing to see one written on the power of forgiveness. However, the prose was so dense with poetic and figurative language that I would have to reread some sections to understand what was said. Along with amble use of metaphors I felt that I sometimes had to apply my own meaning rather than being told what things meant.
This would be a great book to read for anyone who finds themselves bitter or harboring hateful feelings towards others. I love the lesson presented within the book and you can really feel the authors passion for the subject matter. And in the end, with a self help, what you’re really looking for is an author that cares. And I think I found that in this book.
Pages: 154 | ASIN: B0764DYJHS
LITERARY TITAN 