In recent weeks, as I’m settling into a new chapter of my life, I’ve had a companion.
It is a treasured book, published in the year I was born and given to me by a beloved friend and mentor from another significant time in my life.
Perhaps some elements have become outdated, but the heart and soul of it still resonate. I have found comfort and inspiration in its pages during my life-changing summer by the sea.
It is my pleasure to announce that our July Book To Live By is:
Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh (*paid link).
Perhaps best known for her famous and electrifying but troubled marriage to aviator, author and inventor Charles Lindbergh, Anne Morrow Lindbergh was a luminary in her own right. She led an accomplished life of magnificent triumph and unthinkable tragedy.
Like her husband, she was a decorated aviator, but she is most remembered for her writing. She was an acclaimed author of more than a dozen books of fiction, poetry, diaries and memoir that won numerous awards.
In 1955, her fifth book, Gift from the Sea, was a bestseller, and it has become an enduring classic, inspiring women for generations. It also established her as a trailblazer in the fledgling environmental movement and helped to redeem the tainted Lindbergh reputation following their support of fascism leading up to World War II.
Anne was the mother of five and not yet 50 years old when she wrote these wise and lyrical essays during a two-week retreat on Captiva Island in Florida. She ingeniously uses the sea and seashells as metaphors for the roles of women throughout the stages of life.
The book owes its lasting appeal to the universal truths she embraces. She explores the importance of solitude and focusing on inner development to live a full and creative life. Her remedy to end the tension between society’s expectations and a woman’s own yearnings is to clear out distraction and discover who she truly is. “When one is a stranger to oneself then one is estranged from others too,” she writes.
Revolutionary in its time, this small memoir remains relevant today. It brings insights that help you to go with the ebb and flow of life and find peace and joy in the moment.
Gift from the Sea (*paid link) has been an uplifting gift to me during a challenging time. Wherever you are in your life journey, it can help to brighten the path.
To your finding peace and joy,
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*As an Amazon Associate, Women on Fire earns from qualifying purchases.
