"Four Word Self Help" Blog Tour Stop Here! Day 1

I'm not sure when I found Patti Digh's blog, 37Days. Maybe it has been 2 years now. Before she commented here, I think the only folks who had ever commented were friends of mine. She left me a lovely comment at just the right time and on just the right topic. Since then, I have been an even bigger fan of her blog, her books, and her courses. You might even say I'm kind of a cyber-groupie of hers (in a good way).
When the opportunity to join the blog book tour came up on Facebook and on Patti's blog, I threw my hat in the ring. I wasn't really even sure what I was doing. I had some stressed moments after I signed up, realizing that I really didn't know what I was getting myself into. After some waiting and wondering, I received a copy of Patti's new book, Four Word Self Help: Simple Wisdom for Complex Lives from her publisher. I actually got the book from the publisher the day before I knew I was going to be participating in the blog tour - when it arrived, I was a little bit puzzled because the two other copies I had ordered had already arrived.  I thought maybe I had lost my mind and wondered how many copies I had actually ordered.

It has taken me a while to read it because of my crazy life, but also because this book possesses a simple beauty that is really deep and requires thought. As I read the book, I realized that I was trying to take it all in at the same time, but really, I needed to digest each phrase and all the artwork a little more slowly.  There is time for that later - this isn't a one-read book. For now, this is step one on the Wild Rumpusing leg of the blog tour.

Tomorrow, I will be posting more specifically about the book and providing some tempting tidbits so that you will run out and buy these books for all your friends and family for Christmas, birthdays, Hanukkah, or any other gift-giving holiday. I know sometimes people don't really understand the gift of a book like this until they look at it, but once people crack the cover, they fall in love with the colors, the art, the words.

Over the last couple of days, as I have been considering how to best highlight this book, I decided I like the idea of the deeper exploration of this deceptively simple little book that is filled with art and thick, yummy pages. As I have been struggling a little to refocus my thoughts here on the blog, I thought I could take an opportunity for a deeper look and also to focus in on this concept of simple phrases with powerful meaning.  To that end, I hereby declare October "Four Word Wisdom" month here at Wild Rumpusing.  At least once a week, I will choose a four word phrase to prompt a post. I thought it might be a fun homage to choose both some phrases from the book and some phrases that maybe didn't make the cut. :)

**Full Disclosure: Globe Pequot Press publishing provided me with a complimentary copy of "Four Word Self Help" in return for my participation in the Blog Tour.