It’s been a while since I’ve done a FinanciElle Bookshelf review, not because I’m not constantly reading or thinking of books you might get value from but because, the past 6 months I’ve been going through some professional changes that have taken up a great deal of time and head space.

This month I’m doing two book reviews of books that have helped me get through this time and provided some valuable advice and reminders.

During this time of transition where people are being faced with choices, either voluntarily or involuntarily given the times we’re in, I thought it would be a good time to share them. Maybe it will be an opportunity for some people to re-evaluate where they’ve been, where they are now, and where they want to be when some semblance of “normalcy” returns.

The second book in this April FinanciElle Bookshelf duo is Everything is Figureoutable, by Marie Forleo.

I first heard about Marie Forleo when I watched the documentary Dream, Girl. There I heard about MarieTV, I’ve kept it in my back pocket and always wanted to watch the show but somehow never made the time. Fast forward to December 31^st 2019 when for some reason, I thought New Year’s Eve, while I was getting ready to go out, would be a good time to check it out. Given the transition I was going through, I felt very reflective so when I saw her Decade in Review exercise video series, I thought perfect, I started getting to work on it and ordered her book. Fast forward to January/February when I was in a place where I was trying to figure some things out, this is when I knew that things happen for a reason and come into your life when you need them, if you’ve never watched Marie’s talk on Oprah’s Super Soul Sessions – Watch!

I had already done the Map the Trajectory of Your Life, exercise from my first April Bookshelf pick Self-Made, so, I decided next, I was going to read Everything is Figureoutable. As soon as I read about Marie’s experience working on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, it felt like everything kind of clicked into place,

She shared this from her experience, “But no matter how hard I tried, something just wasn’t right. This little voice inside me kept whispering, This isn’t it. This isn’t where you’re supposed to be. This isn’t what you’re supposed to be doing with your life.”

She had felt the exact same thing I was feeling and I could take a breath and everything was going to be okay, it was figureoutable!

Every chapter has exercises called Insight into Action Challenges and figureoutable stories that helped reinforce that I was on the right track with figuring it out. There was one section in particular that really helped me and re-enforced the power of my intuition.

The section entitled Fear vs. Intuition: How to Tell the Difference, where Marie said the following:

“When you’re faced with an opportunity to grow, it’s normal to feel hesitant and unsure. But how do you tell the difference between helpful, directive fear that needs to be metabolized and moved through, and your intuition trying to tell you not to do something that you’ll later regret? This is an important distinction…Whenever I feel torn about a situation and can’t immediately tell whether I’m experiencing normal, healthy, directive fear ( a sign to say yes and GROW!) or an intuitive hit to run the other way, I always find my answer through a subtle, visceral body check. This only takes a second and it produces a clear answer. Every. Single. Time”

What is this check in you might ask?

“Does saying yes to this make me feel expansive or contracted?”

“In other words, when you imagine moving ahead with this opportunity, what happens in your body the nanosecond after you ask the question? Do you feel an openness, a sense of moving forward, a lightness in your chest? Joy, excitement, or fun?

Or do you feel an immediate sense of heaviness and dread? Does your heart sink? Do you detect a tightening in your chest or sick feeling in your tummy? Does something subtle inside of you retreat, pull back, close down, shut off, or somehow energetically say no – even though declining may not make logical sense?”

I will say that at the point in time I was reading this book I felt the latter, I’ve only ever felt that feeling one other time in my life and made a pivot then to and so far, both times I’ve listened to that contracted feeling and made the pivot, I’ve put myself in a much better place and have been extremely grateful that I listened to that feeling, instead of trying to ignore it, thinking that I needed to act a certain way.

Reading this made me feel like I could trust myself.

This book is dog-eared and highlighted to the nth degree and came into my life when I needed it most.

I highly recommend it. I think right now especially, people need the message that everything is figureoutable!