This Messy Magnificent Life: A Field Guide to Mind, Body, and Soul (Paperback)

Description

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Geneen Roth, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Women Food and God, explains how to take the journey to find one’s own best self in this “beautiful, funny, deeply relevant” (Glennon Doyle) collection of personal reflections.

With an introduction by Anne Lamott, This Messy Magnificent Life is a personal and exhilarating read on freeing ourselves from daily anxiety, lack, and discontent. It’s a deep dive into what lies behind our self-criticism, whether it is about the size of our thighs, the expression of our thoughts, or the shape of our ambitions. And it’s about stopping the search to fix ourselves by realizing that on the other side of the “Me Project” is spaciousness, peace, and the capacity to reclaim one’s power and joy.

This Messy Magnificent Life explores the personal beliefs, hidden traumas, and social pressures that shape not just women’s feelings about their bodies but also their confidence, choices, and relationships. After years of teaching retreats and workshops on weight, money, and other obsessions, Roth realized that there was a connection that held her students captive in their unhappiness. With laugh-out-loud humor, compassion, and dead-on insight she reveals the paradoxes in our beliefs and shows how to move beyond our past to build lives that reflect our singularity and inherent power. This Messy Magnificent Life is a brilliant, bravura meditation on who we take ourselves to be, what enough means in our gotta-get-more culture, and being at home in our minds and bodies.

About the Author

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Geneen Roth is the author of ten books, including the New York Times bestsellers When Food Is Love, Lost and Found, and Women Food and God, as well as The Craggy Hole in My Heart and the Cat Who Fixed It. She has been speaking, teaching groundbreaking workshops, and offering retreats for over thirty years and has appeared on numerous national shows, including The Oprah Winfrey Show, 20/20, the Today show, Good Morning America, and The View. For more information about her work, please visit GeneenRoth.com

 

Praise For…

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"Geneen Roth's early work pulled my sister out of the abyss of eating disorders. My gratitude and admiration for Geneen has deepened still with her newest book. In This Messy Magnificent Life, we experience her signature divine wisdom and hilarious humanity—but Geneen also gives us something new and important. Here, Geneen shows us how our individual body and food obsessions are directly linked to our collective oppression as women—and how getting free from our personal prisons is crucial to seeking liberation at every level. This is a beautiful, funny, deeply relevant book -- a vital work for this moment."
— Glennon Doyle, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Love Warrior and founder and president of Together Rising

 “Geneen Roth's secret sauce—the ingredients of which are warmth, wisdom, honesty and powerful self-scrutiny—are all blended to perfection in this lovely book, which will be a welcome companion to her legions of readers, and bring her many lucky new ones. There's a reason she's such a treasure.”
— Dani Shapiro, author of Hourglass and Devotion

 “I’ve long admired Geneen Roth’s approach to food and its place in our lives.  In This Messy Magnificent Life she goes beyond food and shows the complex interconnection between our minds and the bodies we have the power to heal.  Her insights and simple practices will help readers rediscover the power to live their most vibrant lives.”
— Mark Hyman, MD, author of the New York Times bestseller Eat Fat, Get Thin

 “This Messy Magnificent Life delivers a brilliant, funny, and frank offering at the stroke of midnight (just when we need it).  By page ten you're convinced she's your smartest and funniest best friend.  This Messy Magnificent Life is—dare I say it? Yep. Messy. It's magnificent, hilarious and 100% the generous, complicated gift that is Geneen Roth's imagination, experience and soul, on a platter. 2018 will be made easier to navigate with This Messy Magnificent Life by my side.”
— Kathy Najimy, actor, activist, director

“Roth’s pioneering work on mindful eating and spirituality has helped countless dieters do as the extreme yo-yo dieting author did herself: Make peace with food — or at least call a truce.”
— NPR’s The Salt

“Roth is an intellectual, but her tone is warm and comfortable, and she knows when to add a touch of humor. She willingly shares her own emotional baggage, and her advice is life-affirming.”
— Booklist

“Now is the time to celebrate the qualities that make you unique and to be bold in your pursuit of personal bliss. This book will help get you started.”
— BookPage

“Roth, who has become more resilient with age, will captivate readers with her energetic yet calming wisdom.”
— Publishers Weekly

“These chapters of simple advice are easily digestible, and reading one per day is a good way to start this practice. Empowering words for women—especially those struggling with body issues—to regain control of their lives.”
— Kirkus