Blog Book Tour with Author Christine Fonseca, and a Contest

Hello everyone! I have the pleasure today of being a part of Author Christine Fonseca's blog book tour as she promotes her new book, "101 Success Secrets For Gifted Kids."

We are also hosting a contest. Every comment left on this post is an entry to win Christine's book as well as a $30 Amazon gift card. I'll choose the names at random (i.e. slip of paper/name/hat). You have until Tuesday May 10th to enter.

I asked Author Christine if she could give a guest post talking about the advice she received when she was a child.  So take it away, Christine!
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Life in Hindsight

Today’s tour stops here at Michelle’s blog. She asked me to write a bit about the advice I received as a kid, and if or how it affected my life.

What a cool thing to think about. I don’t know about you, but I never really sat down and thought about the specific advice I received growing up. At least, not until now.

As I pondered this post and thought about my childhood, four pieces of advice really stood out – two from my early childhood, and two from you early adulthood. I thought I share all four pieces with you today, as these little tidbits have absolutely shaped my current approach to life.

1. Plan Ahead or Go Behind:

My grandmother used to tell me this forever. I literally can not think of a time when she wasn’t saying this. To her, life was always about the Plan B – about adapting to whatever life threw at you. That, and planning for as many uncertainties as you could. Given her life, this made perfect sense.

For me, the statement meant always know where you wanted to go. Sure, things may change, but when they do you needed to make a new plan. And yes, I have lived my life this way.

2. Do what you love, and the money will follow:

My mom raised me to believe I could do anything I wanted to. More importantly, she raised me to believe that if I followed my heart and did what I loved, everything else would take care of itself. This advice was certainly true for her – she always filled her life with things she loved. This doesn’t mean she always was employed doing only what she loved. When she left my bio-dad, she took whatever job she could so that my needs were met. But, it does mean she was willing to take some risk in the pursuit of her passions – and that part, taking a risk, is something I gleaned onto.

For me, I believe that life is far too short to waste it through quiet dissatisfaction. Like Thoreau, I never want to get to the end of my life realizing that maybe I had never actually lived. And this, this is what my mom meant by her advice, I think.

This is what I try to teach my kids.

3. There is no meaning to anything other than the meaning we place on it:

My mother was into Zen philosophy and I was raised with lots of philosophic ideals. She believed that much of the angst we feel in life is because of how we have defined our lives – and that much of that really is irrelevant to reality. Much of it is a matter of perspective.

This was too difficult a concept for me when I was young, but in college and the early days of my marriage, it is THE advice that helped me the most. Every time I struggled with an argument with my husband, or a disappointment in my life, my mother would remind me that if I was dissatisfied, maybe I needed to look at my definitions for things. Maybe the argument wasn’t bad, as I had defined it…maybe it was something.

Perspective, she would say, changes. Maybe you need to change yours.

4. Life is perfect. Period.

This advice came from my Step-Dad. Whenever things are overwhelming and I feel like I might drown in the weight in it all, he reminds me that life is perfect. That it is always perfect, even when I can’t see it’s perfection. He says I need to trust that things are unfolding exactly as there are supposed to. It is by far the hardest lesson I have tried to learn, but it is always some of the most helpful.

So, there you have it – advice I live by. Anything sound familiar???

School psychologist by day, YA and nonfiction author by night, Christine Fonseca believes that writing is a great way to explore humanity. Her books include EMOTIONAL INTENSITY IN GIFTED STUDENTS (2010) and 101 SUCCESS SECRETS FOR GIFTED KIDS (2011). In addition to books about giftedness, Christine writes contemporary and fantasy fiction for teens. When she’s not writing, she can be found playing around on Facebook and Twitter. Catch her daily thoughts about writing and life on her blog.

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Thank you, Christine, for your guest post. Remember you leave a comment (and email addy) for your chance to win cool prizes. And you can visit Christine as well as purchase her book at the following links:

Website
Blog

Find me on Facebook or Twitter

Order the book.

Want an e-reader version? Order here.

Read the first chapter here.

Let the contest begin!