From the author of Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy comes a guided excavation for women who suspect that there's something more to life than the top layer pursuits of money, sex, and love. In service to these restless souls who want to scratch beneath the surface, Ban Breathnach offers tidbit-sized essays that help women unearth pay dirt--their reason for being. Using archaeology as her frame of reference, Ban Breathnach suggests imaginative exercises at the end of each chapter, which she refers to as "Field Work." Although it occasionally feels overdone, the archaeology metaphor works well--helping readers unearth their past choices and circumstances to better understand the soul's current mission. Early in the book, Ban Breathnach offers this enticing invitation to go on a spiritual dig: "Besides the fact that your soul is one of the last unlooted sources of the miraculous, with discoveries as spectacular as any found in the Delta of Venus or Egypt's Valley of the Kings, you can embark on a soul trip and be back before anyone even notices you're missing. They might be curious about that gleam in your eye and that flush on your cheek, but I'll never tell if you won't. Are you game? We're heading to the sacred site of your soul." --Gail Hudson


From Publishers Weekly
"Passion is truth's soul mate," writes Ban Breathnach in this follow-up to her stupendously successful Simple Abundance (1995). The author who helped millions discover the overlooked richness of everyday life by practicing gratitude now appends that message by urging us to heed our yearning for "something more." Understanding that most women are better at sacrificing themselves than at discovering and honoring their own passions, Ban Breathnach urges them to see the spiritual wisdom of "reembodiment," excavating from under layers of fear and disappointment their own moments of connection with a deeper, more authentic self. Offering a collection of teaching stories drawn from her own honestly rendered experience, as well as stories and pithy quotes from her friends and a host of notables (Rumi, Virginia Woolf, Madonna et al.), Ban Breathnach nudges readers beyond "settling and stumbling and surviving." Although she aims to help readers explore the depths of their own hearts by using an "illustrated discovery journal" (a collage of images and text meant to express the tastes and strivings of readers' authentic selves), the real power of this work, despite some workaday writing and concepts, lies in the unpretentious sincerity and raw immediacy of Ban Breathnach's many variations on the assertion that "At the end of the day, or at the end of a life, all we have is ourselves and love. And if we love ourselves, truly, madly, deeply, all we have is all we need." Writing not as a guru but as a friend who has learned to cherish her past, Ban Breathnach will galvanize her wide readership to believe we were all put on earth for something more than indifferent marriages and discarded dreams. Serving up self-worth and "repose of the soul" as the most priceless of attainments, she is a friend indeed. 750,000 first printing; One Spirit Book Club main selection; first serial to Good Housekeeping; Time Warner audio; author tour. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Drawing a potent metaphor for self-discovery from the process of excavation, Ban Breathnach (Simple Abundance, Warner, 1995) addresses care of the soul in archaeological terms, showing women how the ability to learn from past experience leads to deeper self-knowledge that allows them to recast lives of authentic joy. She discusses such painful aspects of experience as surviving, settling, stumbling, sensing, and searching for "something more," which every woman undergoes as she dismantles her past. The author devotes a good portion of the book to the difficulties of marriage and love relationships, and although her own experiences in this realm are painful, she remains positive and hopeful. This practical book of inspiration for women who habitually place others' needs before their own is sure to be a popular addition to most public libraries. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
If a woman has wealth, love and health, she is considered fortunate. Yet millions of women find themselves searching for more out of life. Sarah Ban Breathnach invites her female listeners to dig deeply within themselves and seek abandoned desires and lost dreams. Ban Breathnach is an inviting reader who draws in her listeners with warmth and sincerity. Additional insights are provided by women who have celebrated the joy of self-fulfillment. Ban Breathnach's convincing revelations will inspire and encourage women to plunge into a deep pool of soul-searching, which, she promises, will result in opportunities and satisfaction. B.J.P. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
In Simple Abundance Sarah Ban Breathnach taught readers about the power of gratitude and passed on the wisdom that "all you have is all you need." In her new book, Something More, she explores the curious circumstance that many women find themselves experiencing today: They feel that they really ought to be happy, given all the wonderful things in their lives, but live with the sadness that there's still something missing. Ban Breathnach attributes that feeling to spiritual hunger, a hunger that has at its root a disconnection from an authentic sense of self. In Something More, she offers inspiration and practical advice for getting in touch with that authentic self and charts the nine stages — Sensing, Surviving, Settling, Stumbling, Selling Out, Starting Over, Searching, Striving, and finally, Something More — that women must go through to find it.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In this eloquent and evocative book, Sarah Ban Breathnach encourages you to become an archaeologist of your Self: to plumb your past with its unfulfilled longings, forgotten pleasures, and abandoned dreams, to "excavate" the authentic woman buried inside.

SYNOPSIS

From the author of Simple Abundance comes this inspiring new guide to excavating your authentic self. Sarah Ban Breathnach illustrates with anecdotes and advice the nine stages women must go through — Sensing, Surviving, Settling, Stumbling, Selling Out, Starting Over, Searching, Striving, and finally, Something More — before they can reconnect with their deepest self and truly banish the sad feeling that even in the midst of a wonderful life, there's still something missing.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

"Passion is truth's soul mate," writes Ban Breathnach in this follow-up to her stupendously successful Simple Abundance (1995). The author who helped millions discover the overlooked richness of everyday life by practicing gratitude now appends that message by urging us to heed our yearning for "something more." Understanding that most women are better at sacrificing themselves than at discovering and honoring their own passions, Ban Breathnach urges them to see the spiritual wisdom of "reembodiment," excavating from under layers of fear and disappointment their own moments of connection with a deeper, more authentic self. Offering a collection of teaching stories drawn from her own honestly rendered experience, as well as stories and pithy quotes from her friends and a host of notables (Rumi, Virginia Woolf, Madonna et al.), Ban Breathnach nudges readers beyond "settling and stumbling and surviving."

Although she aims to help readers explore the depths of their own hearts by using an "illustrated discovery journal" (a collage of images and text meant to express the tastes and strivings of readers' authentic selves), the real power of this work, despite some workaday writing and concepts, lies in the unpretentious sincerity and raw immediacy of Ban Breathnach's many variations on the assertion that "At the end of the day, or at the end of a life, all we have is ourselves and love. And if we love ourselves, truly, madly, deeply, all we have is all we need." Writing not as a guru but as a friend who has learned to cherish her past, Ban Breathnach will galvanize her wide readership to believe we were all put on earth for something more than indifferent marriages and discarded dreams. Serving up self-worth and "repose of the soul" as the most priceless of attainments, she is a friend indeed.

Library Journal

Sensing. Surviving. Settling. Stumbling. Selling Out. Starting Over. Searching. Striving. Something More. According to Breathnach, spirituality columnist for Good Housekeeping, women must pass through these nine stages to achieve happiness. A follow-up to her New York Times best-selling Simple Abundance.

Library Journal