Book Number 8 on my Book-a-Week list for 2011 – Aha! Moments: When Intellect & Intuition Collide by Dianna Amorde
I’ve had the great fortune of spending an hour on the phone with Dianna Amorde, author of this insightful and inspiring book. She is a brilliant and delightful woman, with a compelling message to share. She is a Harvard MBA and long-time corporate leader, who burned out on the corporate life and decided to follow her passion and help others follow theirs. Her company, Inspired Leap, is dedicated to helping people learn how to understand and follow their intuition. She uses great stories and examples throughout the book to bring those “Aha!” moments to life. The book gave me many Aha! moments of my own, and did so in a surprisingly orderly fashion. Each chapter ends with inspired questions that help you personalize and take action on the information in the chapter. And throughout the book, Dianna includes exercises that she uses with her clients to help them tune into their intuition.
So many of us go through life doing what we think we should do, what we are trained to do, and what we’ve always done. We don’t take the time to learn how to really listen to our heart and our true calling. Living an inspired life requires that we truly listen to our intuition and respond to it. Dianna teaches us how to do that. I will read this book again soon; there is so much richness in it.
One of my favorite excerpts from the book is in the last chapter, “Claim Your Brilliance.” Dianna talks about the journey we are all on to find our true calling, and how recognizing those aha! moments is such an important part of that journey. She includes a short poem by Mary Oliver called “The Journey” that I found very moving and may help you get a glimpse of the wisdom and beauty contained throughout this book. Here is an excerpt from the poem:
from “The Journey” by Mary Oliver
…and there was a new voice,
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do–
determined to save
the only life that you could save.
This book is a perfect read for anyone in transition, and for anyone determined to live an inspired life. I highly recommend it.