Assertiveness for Earth Angels: How to Be Loving Instead of "Too Nice"

I absolutely love Doreen Virtue and I've never met a Hayhouse book I haven't liked. As a recovering people pleaser, Assertiveness for Earth Angels: How to be Loving Instead of "Too Nice" by Doreen Virtue was the perfect choice as my latest read. This one actually screamed out to me.Doreen describes Earth Angels as highly sensitive people with an innocence regarding love and life, believing in God's loving power, gentle, caring, seeing the best in others, trusting, optimistic and more. She digs deep into the many pitfalls of being such a sensitive being, and how to learn to be assertive without being aggressive.For as far back as I can remember, I have found myself giving too much, and yet still feeling like it was not enough. I always had high expectations for what I needed to do for others, but never held anyone to that impossible standard. I even helped people who were quite capable of helping themselves. After reading Doreen's book, I learned that my jumping in to try and "save" them didn't really do them any favors. They have their own path, and their own lessons to learn. I also learned that giving for the wrong reasons can cause resentment, fatigue, money issues, health issues and more. Pure giving, she teaches, is not out of guilt, feeling sorry or obligation.She discusses how to set healthy boundaries, how to handle professional victims, gossipers, martyrs, guilt trippers, toxic relationships, narcissists and sociopaths (who tend to take advantage of kind, giving people).I was an extremely sensitive and quiet child. Although I was often bullied, it was always easier to stand up for others. I could feel their pain and I didn't want them to suffer. I remember my college years and so enjoying going out with my friends. But I also remember not liking large crowds. Trust me, we had lots of fun together, but I also remember feeling drained (not from my dear friends, just the crowd around us) and needing time by myself too. I honestly felt weird for that. Now at 48, I am more sensitive than ever. I absorb everyone's energy, whether positive or negative. It wears on me. I didn't realize that is what was happening to me, until I read Doreen's book. I thought that I wasn't a strong enough person to have my own thoughts and feelings. I felt weak. That's not what it is. I'm empathic. Picking up on the feelings of my classmates when I was a child, was because I truly could feel what they were feeling. Needing quiet time through my college years (and now too), was because the energy I was picking up was exhausting me. I feel very grateful to Doreen that I can now feel compassion towards myself for who I am, instead of criticism. There are so many ways to look at a situation, and more and more I am taking the positive view. That is what is so wonderful about reading books like this, you can find who you really are, and let go of that negative voice.Doreen shows how how to enjoy life instead of people pleasing. She talks about following your passion and shows how we can use delay tactics instead of working on our life purpose by overeating, compulsive shopping, addictive internet surfing, substance abuse and more.She shows us how to shield ourselves from harsh energies with crystals, angel lights, clearing, grounding and trees (yes, go hug a tree, it heals!). Also, you will learn how to have more time and energy by exercising, stretching and releasing, and eating healthfully.There is so much wonderful information packed into this book, and what I love about Doreen, is that she is honest and caring. She guides us to be truthful with ourselves about our real intentions, and provides so many tools to live an authentic, positive, peaceful and purposeful life.As you can probably tell by now, I highly recommend this book.In Gratitude,Kerri Mulhern

I couldn't put this book down which is a rare feat for me. I may start a book and then I end up shelving it for some time or indefinitely as I've picked up another one and so forth. I'm sure I have some form of ADD. However, that was not the case with this book. I picked it up and was immediately pulled into it and I had to keep going without stopping. If I had to take a break or go to sleep, I was irritated as I wanted to finish it. It was that kind of book for me.This book is about Earth Angels who are highly sensitive human souls that want to help others and yet have a difficult time saying no. They also tend to be in and out of abusive or manipulative relationships because they feel like they can fix everybody. They're afraid to make moves in life or knowing when to help or when to back off. Of course the definition is a lot more in depth than that. The author explains it in detail, but she also offers solutions to those that exhibit particular behavior patterns that are destructive or cause them to be taken advantage of. This book is jam packed with so much information on the nature of Earth Angels that it would be too lengthy to list it all here.Although I'm not an Earth Angel (or at least I don't believe I am), I still gained from this book because there were some behavior patterns discussed in this book that I could very well fall into from time to time. I found this book empowering as well as detailed and informational. Some of the many things covered in this book are things like learning to be more assertive, developing better communication skills, having boundaries and learning to say no, toxic and karmic relationships, trying to fix people, ridding oneself of negative traits like guilt, worry and fear.This is one of the author, Doreen Virtue's finest books next to "Divine Guidance: How to Have a Dialogue with God and Your Guardian Angels", "The Angel Therapy Handbook" and "Divine Prescriptions: Spiritual Solutions for You and Your Loved Ones". One of the reasons is that it's all her rather than others infusing their stories. Those are great too, but this resonated with me on a bigger level because of all the information and messages contained within it.