Tuesday Book Corner: Unlimited

Hello my lovelies, I am sorry that nearly seven days have traversed the stage since I last posted about the happenings and thoughts bouncing around in chickpea land. You see, we are now only eleven short days from my sister's wedding and so my time has been blissfully (she is as far from 'bride-zilla' as you could ever wish) spent doing final fittings for dresses, setting up her 'spring chicken night' (she is far too young to be a hen!) and going through final check lists for everything.

Today I would like to premier a new fortnightly segment for One Chic Chickpea - Tuesday Book Corner! To keep up with my New Year's resolution to read one 'fun' book per month (something that isn't on my university syllabus) I have decided to share my current literary entertainment every fortnight. I plan to use the Tuesday Book Corner to tell you about the books I am reading, or perhaps an interesting article I have read in the course of my university or at work.

To get us off to an inspirational and aspirational start I present to you 'Unlimited: How to Build an Exceptional Life'. As my family (and my iTunes account) are aware at the moment I have a slight Jillian Michaels obsession. I am revelling in listening to her podcast during my workouts and find her vim and vigour and sheer passion for things completely inspiring. Given that I am assessing things in my life at the moment and thinking about what it is I really want for myself now and in the future the natural choice from Ms. Michaels' book list was her latest offering 'Unlimited'. I am only into the fourth chapter but it has certainly given me a lot of food for thought already.
The title of the book really says it all, 'Unlimited' is dedicated to discovering what your dreams really are, believing in yourself and that you are worthy of your best life, and what steps it will take to achieve these dreams. There are self discovery questions at the end of most of the sections designed to lead you into deeper thought about preceding information and how it applies to your reality. On the 'Unlimited' website there is further content to assist in really utilising the tools and information in the book.
My verdict so far is positive, and all of the questions have helped me to unearth exactly what my dream of the future is, and why I might be holding myself back from achieving all that can dream.

What are my dreams for the future?

• I dream of writing for a living. Works of fiction, lifestyle and health books and articles, travel and everyday living are my areas of interest. I have already made a start towards this dream with my goal to submit at least two articles in these areas to magazines, websites or newspapers this year.
• I dream of living by the beach with dogs to keep me company and a big vegetable patch to yield plenty of food for a chickpea.
• I dream of spending time every year in Italy, and speaking fluent Italian (so I can order my porcini risotto and pistachio gelati in their native tongue!)

There are many more dreams, I firmly believe that our souls are inexhaustible wellsprings of these ephemeral gifts, and of course there are many steps on the journey to making these come true. The destination will be worth the journey and the journey is exciting too.

Jillian Michaels next covers the self destructive behaviours that may be holding us back from achieving these dreams, that which undermines our confidence and puts up roadblocks in our path to success. This section is proving more challenging and as I dig deeper, and make the commitment to applying myself to answering the questions at the end of each section I am gathering a clearer vision of behaviours and habits that I need to learn to unlearn so that I can take those steps to a successful future. I am sure that each subsequent chapter will only prove more instructive and I am certainly enjoying this book even more than I thought I would. There is more depth and purpose to it than I first imagined and I look forward to seeing how I can apply the rest of the book to building my own positive reality.

So now it is your turn, dream big! Tell me dear readers, what are your ultimate dreams for your future?