I Am Maria: My Reflections and Poems on Heartbreak, Healing, and Finding Your Way Home by Maria Shriver

3.75 AVERAGE

gpitsoul's review against another edition

3.0
lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

broprahwinfree222's review against another edition

4.0
emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

mcgrathmag's review against another edition

3.5
emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced
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mcryan31's review against another edition

2.0
reflective slow-paced
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treed32's review against another edition

4.0
emotional inspiring medium-paced
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lanster84's review against another edition

3.0
reflective fast-paced
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booktalkwithkarla's review against another edition

5.0
emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced
This book of reflections and poetry is Maria Shriver’s story of moving from denial to building her life from the inside out while sitting still and dealing with a lifetime of emotional pain and grief. Shriver’s identity shift and move to her true self was helped by slowing down her life and writing poetry. Her insights and story are balm to the soul of midlife women. 

What I loved most is her honesty without revelation. She showed respect for herself and her family. Yet her words evidence her pain and her vulnerability. Every poem has value. Some I deeply identify with. This is a book I am recommending to many friends. I did make a short list of some favorites poems from the collection and quotes from the book. But read it for yourself because your takeaways will be unique to you. 

Some of my favorite poems:
A Room Full of Grief
I Know You Loved Me
Cherished and Shamed 
Picture Perfect
Time Stood Still
Rejection
Those Moments
One by One
Hand It Over to God
Life is Hard and Then It’s Not
I Finally See You 

Favorite quotes: 
“You may be wondering what on earth took me so long to see these truths? Trust me, I’ve asked myself that question 1 million times. But I now understand that I couldn’t have known these truths until I learned them – and I couldn’t have learned them until I lived them – and I couldn’t have lived them until I had to.”

“I would have to be brave enough to take off the layers of armor I’d been piling on since I was a child. Now I knew that armor was shielding me not only from danger, but from myself.”

“And I also learned that when that lifetime of disassociated grief and trauma is released, it rushes out like a tsunami, and it feels like you’re going under and can’t breathe. But there also came a shocking and critical lesson: that I am strong enough to survive my own grief, my own pain, my own loneliness.”

“I’ve learned that no matter how fast you run, life will catch up with you – and when it does, you have to decide if you’re going to push it away or pay attention, stop, and reboot.” 

“I believe our life’s work is to do the deep work of uncovering and understanding all parts of oneself, because all parts of you have value. There’s not good or bad. There’s just humanity.”

“Having a full, meaningful life means embracing the whole of life – the perceived bad as well as the perceived good. That’s the goal of my poetry: to embrace the whole of life. To awaken, to unearth, and to evolve and grow in a new direction. One’s own.”

steviespirit's review against another edition

4.0
adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

mwood333's review against another edition

5.0
emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

connim's review against another edition

5.0
emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced