Hands Free Life

Hands Free Life by Rachel Macy Stafford

9 habits for overcoming distraction, living better and loving more.

One of the best things about this book, Hands Free Life, is that it covered the need to talk about internet and online safety and sibling bonding. For online safety, obviously it wasn’t covered or word for word what to say to your child but it did give you ideas on where to start and that it’s never too late to start talking about it. This was based on going to an online safety conference and hearing people talk about it and what it was that they wished their parents had said to them.

Sister Bonding

For the part on sibling bonding, considering I don’t have any, part of me doesn’t know what’s normal and what’s not. In the book, Rachel says that she became an author because of encouragement from her older sister. Even when I look at my husband’s relationship with his older brother, they are quite close. So it was good to read about her experience and how Rachel explains this to her daughter.

Just this evening, I decided to utilise this new knowledge that I had gained when after a day of listening to my girls’ bickering and crying over petty things. I decided to have a chat with my older daughter about the way she speaks to her younger sister. I’m not as eloquent as Rachel, but I decided it was a start. I might go back to the book and say it almost word for word.

Chapters

There are 3 parts to this book, each with three chapters:

Part One: Creating Lasting Connections

Habit 1: Fill The Spaces

Habit 2: Surrender Control

Habit 3: Build A Foundation

Part 2: Living For Today

Habit 4: Take The Pressure Off

Habit 5: See What Is Good

Habit 6: Give What Matters

Part 3: Protecting What Matters

Habit 7: Establish Boundaries

Habit 8: Leave A Legacy

Habit 9: Change Someone’s Story

At the end of each chapter is a poem to summarise the chapter and scattered throughout the book are daily declarations on how to live a hands free life and be more present.

Overwhelm

Another thing that hit home was that you can always feel overwhelmed. No matter how much you take off your to-do list by cutting back on commitments etc, you will find something else(maybe less important) but something else to fill your list and keep you distracted and not present in the moment.

This I find to be so true and I do need to create boundaries so I can protect what is important to me.

As usual, I had lots of corners in the book folded for bits that rang true for me and I wanted to go back and read again. Parts of it I read through really fast as I assume in the form of blogs I had already read something similar but it was still good to re-read it again. I liked re-reading her husbands 40th birthday gift; the idea of spending at least 10 minutes a night with each daughter talking and cuddling them. I have noticed that when i do spend time with them before they go sleep, they seem to fall asleep faster.

Unlike her last book which had questions at the end of every chapter and almost another things to do to be hands-free, this book is less demanding in that sense and just lets you be free to take on board her advice or not as it pleases you.

This book along with an unrelated youtube video I watched recently both talked about surrender. This basically means to stop wish and trying and praying for something and to trust in God and just let go and surrender. This book also emphasises that life will take you where you need to go.

Daily Declaration – Free Download

I have attached a download of my 10 favourite daily declarations. There are a lot more and narrowing it down to 10 was hard enough but I’m hoping by starting off with just these 10 will be a good start.

Other good stories and chapters include Avery’s unique yet optimistic diving and swimming style and Chapter 5 or habit 5, had me nodding from the first sentence and I really wanted to photocopy the whole chapter as I was reading it. The first sentence said: ‘ I don’t know when I changed from being a positive person to a negative one, I only knew that I had.’ As I read that, I agree that I have everything I have ever wanted and more, yet I’m still so grumpy and fed up some days its unreal. I need to do some more daily gratitude as I was less irritable then.

Overall, like her last book, Hands Free Mama, it is an enjoyable book and I would definitely recommend it. Follow the link above to see my review of Hands Free Mama.

In addition, you can buy Hands Free Life below:

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