Friday, December 9, 2011

Book Review and Giveaway: The Hidden Gifts of Helping

Are you facing hard times due to a job loss, the need to relocate or the loss of your home?

Has your life been changed by the volatile economic times, job uncertainty and the increasing isolation and loneliness of modern life?

"Hidden Gifts of Helping; How the Power of Giving, Compassion, and Hope Can Get Us Through Hard Times" by Stephen Post, is a book about the pain and healing of being uprooted.

About The Author
Stephen Post is Professor of Preventive Medicine, Head of the Division of Medicine in Society, and Director of the Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care, and Bioethics at Stony Brook University (www.sunysb.edu/bioethics). He was previously (1988-2008) Professor of Bioethics, Religion and Philosophy, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, and Senior Research Scholar at the Becket Institute of St. Hugh's College, Oxford University. Post is a Senior Fellow in the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University.

Helping Is The Key To Happiness
In 2008, Mr.Post was told that his job at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine was ending. After more than 20 years, the Post family was forced to leave their beloved home in Cleveland, Ohio and move to northern Long Island where Mr. Post had been offered a new job.

The author shares his own personal story about the struggles that his family faced in their journey to adjust to a new community. The author shares research on the emotional and physical challenges that often come with moving. Americans are on the move in these economic times, and often less because they want to than because they have to. The author shares the healing power of helping others in his own family's adjustment to a new home and community.

Mr. Post offers tips and specific advice on how to get started reaching out to others when you are facing difficult situations. Many people tend to become isolated and depressed when adjusting to a new and different environment. The author suggests the following tips finding your own hidden gifts of giving;
  • Keep a journal about the large and small ways you are giving to people right now.
  • Think about how others have given to you, right now or in the past.
  • Visualize helping.
  • Make it a practice to help one person each day.
  • Draw on your own talents in giving.
The author believes that regardless of our life circumstances or genetic predisposition, our happiness depends on how we play the cards that we are dealt. Our own behavior, attitudes, activities, practices and responses determine our happiness.

My Thoughts
I found this book to be uplifting and inspiring. It is a perfect read for going into a new year with a determination to make giving and helping others a priority in our lives. What a wonderful gift to give ourselves and others!!!

I think Mr. Post has truly found the key to happiness. The information in this book applies to all ages. The author shares his Christian faith in this book but you do not have to be a Christian to benefit from this publication. I highly recommend this book to all who are seeking happiness in all the wrong places.

Book Giveaway
I would like to share my review copy of this book with one of my readers. All you have to do to enter this book giveaway contest is post a comment at the bottom of this book review. Please include your email address so that I can contact you.
I will conduct a random drawing at noon on Monday, December 19.

I will contact the winner via email to request your shipping address. If I do not hear from you by the end of December 21, I will draw another name.

If you would like to learn more about this book, please read "The Hidden Gifts of Helping; Do Good Things For Others This Holiday Season."

I would like to thank Audra Jennings of The B & B Media Group for sending me a review copy of this book and sponsoring this book giveaway.

Please share your thoughts in the Comments Section below.
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