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Day 27: A Book that Changed My Life




To be honest, reading changed my life more so that one book.  And yet when pushed to decide I can come up with one novel and one non-fiction that had a profound impact on me.

Priscilla Warner's Learning to Breathe - taught me about being still, meditating and finding peace in the quiet moments.  I seem to pick it up every year or so just to remind me of her journey.  I've exchanged emails with her to thank her what she's taught me, and that was a wonderfully powerful experience too!

The other book that impacted me was a novel by Richard Russo - who's originally from a small town very close to where I grew up.



Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo

Here's my favorite quote from the book - that still resonates today as I read it.

"The line of gray along the horizon is brighter now, and with the coming light I feel a certainty: that there is, despite our wild imaginings, only one life. The ghostly others, no matter how real they seem, no matter how badly we need them, are phantoms. The one life we're left with is sufficient to fill and refill our imperfect hearts with joy, and then to shatter them. And it never, ever lets up.


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