This curated, 12-step, self-help guided meditative handbook by internationally renowned bestselling author Karen Casey teaches you the importance of daily meditation and contemplation and can lead to a life enriched with harmony and contentment.

Contents Author’s Note Introduction: Breathe, Pause, Breathe, Pause, Breathe . . . 1. Step Aside and Experience a Miracle in the Making 2. Hear the Silence, Rest the Mind, Let God Speak 3. A Faith-Filled Life 4. Rapt Attention 5. Say Something Kind or Nothing at All 6. The Journey Is Perfect, the Stumbles as Well as the Strides 7. Fear and Anger 8. Change Is Good 9. What’s Next? 10. Forgive Yourself Completely 11. Remembrances 12. I Can Choose Peace Instead of This 13. An Inventory 14. The Purpose of Life Is to Be Happy 15. Roses Rather Than Thorns 16. Teachers of Perspective 17. Seeking Solitude 18. Take a Day Off 19. Now We Can Really Live 20. Writing Your Story 21. Impacting Those around You 22. Improve a Little 23. Dream List 24. Doing More Than Nothing 25. Pay Attention to the Moment 26. What to Do Today 27. Making Small Efforts to Improve the World 28. Fulfilling Your Potential 29. Who Will You Bring to the Party? 30. Make Yourself Smile 31. Changing Ourselves to Change the World 32. Reaching Out 33. Influences 34. We Become What We Think 35. Listening for Messages 36. Being in Charge of Who We Are 37. Remembering Those Who Made a Mark on Our Lives 38. The Greatest Gifts We Can Offer One Another 39. It’s Time for a Change of Pace 40. Stepping Aside 41. Be Kind 42. Remembering the Little Things 43. Having Goals 44. Letting Go of the Past 45. Feeling the Wow 46. Your Mission Statement 47. Shape Your Mind 48. Overcoming Fear 49. A Vital Person 50. Cultivating Warm Relations 51. What Are You Grateful for Today? 52. Do You Like Yourself Enough? 53. Your Mind Holds the Power 54. Random Acts of Fun 55. Expressing Thanks 56. What’s the Biggest Lesson of Your Life So Far? 57. Be a Mentor 58. Lead by Example 59. What Makes You Come Alive? 60. Age Aside 61. Say What You Need to Say 62. Your Timeline 63. Life’s “Accidents” 64. Living in the Moment with Rapt Attention 65. You Can’t Change Others, So Change Yourself 66. Is Real Peace Ever an Actuality? 67. Telling Your Secrets 68. Living with Death 69. The First Day of Your Retired Life 70. The Serenity Prayer 71. Your Life Philosophy 72. Recalling Your Life Lessons 73. A New Challenge 74. What if You Had Six Months to Live? 75. Enthusiasm About the Author

Karen Casey's books have sold over 8 million copiesShe has hired a top level spirituality publicist who is pitching her to Publisher’s Weekly, Shelf Awareness, etc.She will be doing a series of podcasts and local and national radio, including NPR. Karen Casey has a very large following and readership in the recovery marketCasey worked closely with Hazelden, the world-renowned center in Minnesota, garnering her very high trust level with readersShe is a popular public and keynote speaker where she talks about recovery and facilitationShe runs the Women-Spirituality website/blog with a large following, which also provides information to Karen Casey’s workshops and conferencesShe will host virtual events and continuing her highly popular recovery meetings.

From the Introduction The gift of a somewhat retired life is having the time to fully appreciate the power of now, the power of nothingness. Which is, of course, the power of everythingness. This is a space I’m growing into in these days and weeks, hopefully months and years too, since turning seventy-five. Everythingness—what a glorious doorway to the unfolding of a life already well lived, and yet one that is ripe for far more living. Since the age of thirteen, I have been employed. I have also been an alcoholic since that age. Until now, I had not considered that parallel in my life. Does the alcoholism in fact “complement” the work life? I think it did for me. The drink was quite often the reward for work well done. As I aged, the alcohol also fueled the act of working. Seldom did I grade papers, develop strategic plans, or study for exams without a glass of Jack Daniel’s by my side. It eased the transition between thoughts and words on the page. It eased all the years it took to become a PhD. Throughout the journey from drink number one to the celebration of thirty-eight years of abstinence, I passed through many portals of life, and seldom did I take the time to breathe, pause, and breathe again. I simply rushed by the events, the people, the inclinations to make choice A rather than choice B. I had never considered the idea that what caught my attention had been “sent” from on high. Today, my faith is a thread that I have busily knit into the tapestry that is mine, and only mine. Knitting and breathing and pausing I know to be my main “assignments.” I say assignment because that word implies a necessary act. The act of breathing is, of course, mandatory for us all. The gift of pausing is an act to be cultivated, daily, hourly, even minute by minute. Cultivated not unlike the garden of vegetables we hover over after planting, pulling the hungry weeds stealing the moisture away from the roots feeding the carrots and the lettuce and the ruby red tomatoes. And knitting? Well, knitting the myriad threads is done automatically. By you, by me, by every creature of the forests and the streams. The many flowers along the side of one’s house scream for our attention in the midst of the breathing and pausing that have become our work, as the years draw us into the future moments, moments that have our names indelibly etched on them. Having these future moments call me to attention is one of the rewards of a life well lived, a life that has learned to be willing to listen for the next invitation, a life that knows there were no accidents along the way and none will follow me into the future. My certainty that the divine has always been the creator of the appointments I have been inclined to make and keep has, in its way, given me the confidence coupled with the willingness to breathe, pause, and breathe again at this time, at this age, with these people who share my journey. Life is a long time from being over, but it’s also mandatory, from my current perspective, to take the time to breathe, pause, and breathe again while the mood is still calling me. Can you allow it to call to you too?