By Fr. Joseph F. Sica (A Paulines Publication, c2003)

Are you living the life you want to live? Fr. Joe Sica believes that life is a gift waiting to be unwrapped and lived abundantly with every breath we take. His book offers practical, easy-to-apply suggestions for upgrading your life, accompanied with plenty of stories, humor, and quotes. He combines traditional spirituality with modern psychology as he discusses how to embrace change (Step 1) by clearing out the clutter in our lives (Step 2), how to take better control of our lives (Step 3) by letting go and learning to forgive (Step 5).

He talks about the need to find a cure for the disease to please (Step 4) and gives pointers on how to connect in meaningful relationships with others (Step 6). Two chapters are focused on what to do with heartaches (Step 7) and how to overcome adversity (Step 8).

Learning from his 20-years experience as a priest, Fr Joe suggests that we resolve our life problems, difficulties and challenges by talking with the Shepherd (Step 9) and by believing that the best is yet to come (Step 10).

He closes by saying: “The day you arrived into the world God gave you two promises: your life will have meaning and you are going to live forever. Both depend on each other, but remember, what we do here determines the after. You have no one to blame if you miss an opportunity to live the good life.”

He continues, “Change doesn’t happen all at once. Remember the basics: embrace change, keep it simple, take care of yourself, be content to live in the moment, listen, manage your thoughts, laugh, talk to Jesus, be quick to love, forgive, and leave the world a better place when you go to bed at night. Thomas Edison says, ‘If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.’ Go ahead – don’t let anything stand in your way of living your life.”

This is a great book to spend a few moments with or to take with you for a day’s quiet recollection.