MSI Press Blog

For Transformation Tuesday, here is a nugget of transformation from A Woman's Guide to Self-Nurturing by Joanna Romer. " The art of self-nurturing encompasses a broad range of activities from the simplest to the most complex. In its most elementary form, it can refer merely to pleasures such as indulging in a bottle of perfume or buying a bouquet of flowers on our way home from work. On a more advanced level, self-nurturing can entail consciously expressing gratitude throughout the day for everything from the food on our table to a new job promotion. Making lists of items we are grateful for, along with recognizing activities that fill our soul with joy, can have a tremendous impact on our psyche. By acknowledging beauty, abundance and joy, we add them to our lives. A natural concomitant to gratitude is prayer, which then works to enhance our feelings of worth. Acknowledging God’s role in our lives is a powerful aid to self-esteem. " Book description: A Woman's Guide...

  The MSI Press study guide series is a set of documents/posts prepared by authors to help readers take a deeper dive into and personal look at various MSI books.  Today's study guide is meant to accompany A Woman's Guide to Self-Nurturing by Joanna Romer. Book Description: A Woman's Guide to Self-Nurturing offers a new perspective on how to comfort yourself while bolstering self-esteem. Using Bible stories as well as creative techniques for self-nurturing, the book will help you determine exactly what pleases you and nourishes your self-esteem, expand your repertoire of self-nurturing techniques by adding love and gratitude, and show you how self-nurturing can work toward building a new identity. Combining specific guidelines with inspiring examples of self-nurturing, this book will help you recover lost self-esteem and embrace a new mission for a more fulfilling life. Keywords: self-nurturing for women, Christian self-care, faith-based self-esteem, Bible study for heali...

  From A Woman's Guide to Self-Nurturing The Road to Self-Esteem What brings you happiness? Is it love? Is it meaningful work? Does a passionate interest meet that yearning that just has to be fulfilled? Chances are all of these needs are important, but there may be one hidden desire that never gets the attention it deserves. That need is self-esteem, the quiet, undemanding hankering to feel good about oneself. Certainly doing well in a job can bring self-esteem, but it may not be the kind we need, or it doesn’t last long enough before the next goal is put into place and we’re off again. Love comes closer, but again it has to be the right kind of love. Women’s love, as we know, is often focused outward, and that’s good—but for a true gain in self-esteem, women need to give love to themselves. This is not being selfish, it’s just being fair. We need to cherish ourselves in every way we can, if only so that our cup will be full enough to continue helping others. The Parable of the Te...

  Today's excerpt comes from  A Woman's Guide to Self-Nurturing  by Joanna Romer. What is Self-Nurturing? On a tray in the middle of your bed sits a pretty teapot, milk and sugar, a flowered teacup and, the piece de resistance , a frothy cream puff on a matching flowered plate. No, you’re not sick, and there is no one invited to this little tea party but you. You have gone out of your way to create a tempting display of yummy food and fine china solely for the purpose of pleasing yourself. “A waste of time,” I can hear you saying—but is it? Gazing at the tea tray and the cream puff, some inner part of your being is unaccountably soothed. It is the side of you that is, undeniably, female. Yes, men and women are equal, but sometimes their needs differ. Even Sheryl Sandberg, author of Lean In, the most feminist book in decades, declares, “…there are differences between men and women both in their behavior and the way their behavior is perceived” (Sandberg, p. 145). Sometime...

  from  Divorced! Survival Techniques for Singles over Forty  (Romer)        Self-Nurturing   You’ve had a rough day battling challenges at your job, perhaps some unexpected financial upsets and the usual tumult of traffic, weather and never enough time. Lurking behind these everyday occurrences is the hurt and confusion of dealing with your divorce. What do you do? Should you bolster a stiff upper lip, swallow your feelings and continue your work, whatever it may be? No, not necessarily. The newly divorced person, like the newly bereaved, needs special handling. That inner child in you is still confused about all the pain you’re going through—it (and you) deserves some coddling. How do we comfort ourselves when we know that comforting and pampering are exactly what we need? It’s not hard—the only difficult part is allowing ourselves those moments of self indulgence. Self-nurturing is a must for the newly divorced person, but it’s an activity...