Inspirational Sunday: A Princess and Her Garden by Patricia R. Adson, Ph.D: Book Review

We are so accustomed to disguise ourselves to others that in the end 

we become disguised to ourselves.  

~François Duc de La Rochefoucauld

Do you have problems saying "no" to requests?

Do you feel like a second-rate version of yourself? That you are doing and being for everyone else except you?

Are you a "Princess to Other People?"

Dr. Adson has created a fable about a princess caring for her garden {her life} until others come along, like parents and partners and expect the princess to care for their gardens.  Quite an interesting concept that helps one to realize how easy it is to fall into the trap of caring for others to the detriment of caring for oneself.

A Princess and Her Garden is a fable that reflects the stories of many women-and some men-who learn to put other people's needs before their own, until one day they come to realize they feel lost or unhappy because they have forgotten, or perhaps never learned, how to care for themselves. 

The telling of this story is more about the awakening and arrival of you, the reader, than it is about the journey of the Princess. The authors have wisely used their years of counseling and coaching experience to create a guided journal (The Queen of Yourself) that prompts you to reflect and answer thought provoking questions about your childhood, and what you learned about taking care of yourself and others. This unique journaling experience helps you cultivate a new life story in which you love both yourself and those closest to you. Beautiful color illustrations enhance this new edition-a beautiful allegory for reflecting on any stage in life. The included book club discussion questions are designed for meaningful conversation around changing lives.

The perfect gift for people in transition, from new parents to the just-divorced, A Princess and Her Garden is also a welcome story for fresh graduates and newlyweds, and anyone (including yourself) who is learning how to take care of themselves and plant nourishing seeds.

 The watercolor illustrations are absolutely gorgeous and worth looking through if nothing else.  But the story inside The Princess and Her Garden are worth reading too.  I've always been a fairy tale/fable reader - one of my first book collections I can remember starting were fairy tales, so this fable definitely spoke to me.  There is a guided journal after the fable that takes you through many aspects of your life to see if you've given up tending your own garden in order to care for someone else's.  I liked the journal, but some of the questions were confusing and seemed almost a bit redundant.  That might be the idea in order to make it stick how easy it is to get sucked into caring so completely for others.

Now don't get me wrong, the book is not saying "thou shalt not care or tend to others..." Rather it is quite effectively, saying care for others but not to the extent you lose yourself.

At the website you can scroll through some of the illustrations in the book - I highly recommend taking a moment to do that if you are into art at all ~ so incredibly beautiful, detailed and whimsical.

Many thanks to the publisher for the lovely hard-bound copy to giveaway.  If you'd like to enter the drawing, please leave your email address in the comments below.  This giveaway will end on 1/14/2012 at 11:59 pm.  Good luck!

About the Author:  Patricia R. Adson, PH.D., has been devoted to helping others discover their best selves for her entire career. A former schoolteacher, Dr. Adson initially taught high school English, and social studies. While pursuing her Master's Degree in education, she began working with children with emotional and behavioral disorders. It was this experience that inspired her – at age 49 – to enter a Ph.D. program in Educational Psychology, where she also received training and licensure as a psychologist and psychotherapist, working with individuals, families, and groups. 

Sites of Interest: A Princess & Her Garden | Buy the Book

Publisher: Center of Applications for Psychological Type (CAPT) | Published: November 30, 2011

Genre: Self-Help | 135 pages | ISBN: 978-0-935652-93-2

Many thanks to the publisher for the complimentary review copy and giveaway.

Happy Sunday!