What keeps us constantly moving? When the next project doesn’t deliver the promised panacea, what is left? A never-ending chase, doing even more, frustration, exhaustion, a sense of flatness? Most of us in Western nations are overfed and undernourished physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. There comes a time when our old roadmap stops being useful. Through personal and client stories, Angela Silva Mendes reminds us to learn to recognize the roadmaps that keep us trapped in the perpetual rat race, for only then we can stop the mindless busyness.
This book is the outcome of over 30 years of integrated experiences, lessons from self-work, and work with children, women, refugees, and families in Africa, Europe, and America. The results of Angela’s work are subtle yet groundbreaking. In Getting There by Being Here Angela shares her struggles as well as four principles and eight practices that teach us how to develop the ability to rest here, for this is the moment of all possibilities. It is possible to slow down and listen to what is unique about ourselves, to what Angela calls our Selfprint. If we want to rewrite our story, we can only do it from here and with who we are already. Life’s invitations are not always pleasant but now, instead of dismissing or fleeing, we can dare to face the music and dance. Are you ready?
In Getting There by Being Here, Angela Silva Mendes encourages us to slow down and participate whole-heartedly in the dynamic flow of life, which is more than just one endless, self-improvement project. Through personal stories and innovative invitations to self-inquiry, Angela writes and shares from her own direct experience and realizations, which have been hard won, embodied fruits of her own journey through the darkness and into the light of compassionate awareness.
In this book Angela shared what she has learned to put into practice. I met Angela many years ago, just at the right time. I was a foreigner in a country where I was almost alone, newlywed, and a little bit scared of my new life. She then appeared as a soft breeze with her sweet voice, always willing to help. She was there in a very tough time and then she danced with me through the pain, giving me her time and kindness, and that made it easier to endure my loss. That was her mission in my life, and as she helped me, she did it with so many people. All of those who were around her knew what her mission was, and I’m so glad to have been part of her journey of giving her soul to help others. Let’s dance through her beautiful words, thoughts, and experiences written by a wonderful dancer.
Rare is the book that engages you so magnetically in the story of the author and her clients, and through these stories illuminates “life’s invitations to dance.” Angela offers the reader a tantalizing view into how she explored the first steps of her own life’s choreography and surrendered to the flow of our essential nature that is energy. Angela offers the reader opportunities for self-exploration through Homeplay, an invitation to be curious, turn inward and surrender to the melody within. In the process, the reader is unraveled and healed. An excellent addition for my self-help shelf.