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A Gentle Reminder
A gentle reminder, for the days you feel light in this world, and for the days in which the sun rises a little slower. A gentle reminder for when your heart is full of hope, and for when you are learning how to heal it. A gentle reminder for when you finally begin to trust in the goodness, and for when you need the kind of words that hug your broken pieces back together. A gentle reminder for when growth hangs heavy in the air, for when you need to tuck your strength into your bones just to make it to tomorrow. A gentle reminder for when you are balancing the messiness, and the beauty, of what it means to be human, when you are teaching yourself that it is okay to be both happy and sad, that you are real, not perfect. A gentle reminder for when you seek the words you needed when you were younger. A gentle reminder for when you need to hear that you deserve to be loved the way you love others. A gentle reminder for when you need to recognize that you are not your past, that you are not your faults. A gentle reminder for when you need to believe in staying soft, in continuing to be the kind of person who cares. A gentle reminder for when you need to believe in loving deeply in a world that sometimes fails to do so. A gentle reminder to keep going. A gentle reminder to hope.
A gentle reminder, for you.
Take what you need.
A gentle reminder, for you.
Take what you need.
152 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2021
About the author
Bianca Sparacino
7 books1,977 followersBianca Sparacino is a writer from Toronto, Ontario who aims to write honestly about the beauty that arises from the contrasts of life. From love, and loss, to joy and regret, she has dedicated herself to turning the human condition into poetry.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,671 reviews
May 12, 2021
I spent the last year loving someone who wasn't ready to love me. It was an experience. And right as it ended, I picked up this book. I've been reading a couple pages here or there over the last 2.5 months as I grieve the loss of the relationship. It's exactly what I needed. It's the gentle reminders that I'm okay exactly as I am, that even saying yes to love is a gift, and that I deserve a relationship with someone who's as much a full yes to me as I am to them.
I couldn't have asked for a better companion in my healing process. It all feels oddly synchronous. That I found this book when I needed. That I'm putting it down in completion right around the time that I'm ready to let go of the lost love. Much gratitude to Bianca Sparacino for sharing these vulnerable and kind truths.
I couldn't have asked for a better companion in my healing process. It all feels oddly synchronous. That I found this book when I needed. That I'm putting it down in completion right around the time that I'm ready to let go of the lost love. Much gratitude to Bianca Sparacino for sharing these vulnerable and kind truths.
March 29, 2021
I felt like a lot of the pages or little quotes were getting repetitive, without fully expanding on an idea or thought entirely, just reusing the same lines over and over. There were also a few typos in my copy. I did find this book to have some poems that were quite profound and underlined quite a few lines and tagged some pages to read again later. Overall okay. I think I liked her previous book more.
October 17, 2024
A Gentle Reminder is everything we ever need. If at all you feel like you are not enough, not doing enough, not happy enough or be anything enough just pick up this book. They say time heals but you know words heal anytime.
September 17, 2022
a rare contemporary poetry collection that did not make me want to gouge my eyeballs out due to how awful it was. instead, it consisted of numerous rather lovely poems that more often than not spoke to me, even if some of the poems did feel like they had come straight off of tumblr.
”Please, just trust the timing of your life. You don’t have to have it all figured out by a certain age; you don’t have to chase a version of success that does not inspire you.
You just have to learn about yourself. You have to keep doing the work — not just physically, but emotionally.
You have to learn about who you are on a foundational level, you have to understand what you deeply value, what ignites your soul, what makes you want to get up in the morning, and you have to choose that every single day. You have to stand up for it. You have to leap towards that hope, even when it’s scary, even when you’re the only one dreaming in that direction.
Because there’s no point in moving quickly towards a life you don’t want. There’s no point in doing everything right if you are just going to end up unhappy.
No—you are not failing at life. You are not falling behind because you are moving at a different pace than those around you. You are not odd, or delusional, if your dreams do not look like the ones society told you to have when you were younger. You are making your life your own. You are growing into your future. Never be ashamed of that.”
”Please, just trust the timing of your life. You don’t have to have it all figured out by a certain age; you don’t have to chase a version of success that does not inspire you.
You just have to learn about yourself. You have to keep doing the work — not just physically, but emotionally.
You have to learn about who you are on a foundational level, you have to understand what you deeply value, what ignites your soul, what makes you want to get up in the morning, and you have to choose that every single day. You have to stand up for it. You have to leap towards that hope, even when it’s scary, even when you’re the only one dreaming in that direction.
Because there’s no point in moving quickly towards a life you don’t want. There’s no point in doing everything right if you are just going to end up unhappy.
No—you are not failing at life. You are not falling behind because you are moving at a different pace than those around you. You are not odd, or delusional, if your dreams do not look like the ones society told you to have when you were younger. You are making your life your own. You are growing into your future. Never be ashamed of that.”
September 30, 2022
Repetitive. Sometimes, contradicting. Pretentious.
July 14, 2021
It is hard to read a book like this after reading books like “On Earth we’re Briefly Gorgeous” or “This is How You Lose the Time War” because the prose can’t compare. In the realm of poetic writing, those two books have set the standard so incredibly high, with sentences and ideas that poke holes in your heart and make you want to weep for the sake of words that you don’t even fully understand. So, I found the writing of this book to fall flat with it’s vague and repetitive notions.
However, reading this book was relaxing and easy, and it contained a general theme of human connection. It reminded me of a conversation I had at Hippiefest a couple years back. There was an older lady sitting at a table with a sign that read “Free Advice”. I went over, bantering with my dad about the comical nature of the lady and her sign, and sat down to receive my words of wisdom. I ended up talking with this lady for half an hour: about her experiences being homeless in Texas as a child, to her then becoming a midwife and helping low income women deliver their children, to finally the loss of her life partner two years prior. In return, I think I opened up more about myself to this lady than I had to my closest friends and family for the past 16 years. We were two strangers, and to this day I still don’t know her name.
This book felt like an exaggerated and drawn-out script of that conversation, and I think it lost a lot of its impact because I had already had a much more powerful and intimate example of human connection with this lady.
But, there were three quotes from this book that connected to me, especially from days when i was younger, and I want to list them. I kind of wish I could have read these sentences earlier.
1. “At the end of the day, you should leave this world with a heart that is worn-out and soft all over. A heart that is bruised from loving, and feeling, and caring in the best way possible.”
2. “I hope you have the courage to forgive yourself for what you had to do to kill your sadness”
3. “When you assume that you will never be seen and accepted for who you truly are, you rob yourself of the opportunity to be known, to be surprised by those who will show up in your life and hold your heart the way you have always hoped for it to be held.”
Anyways, even though I didn’t fall in love with the book, I’m giving it four stars because it reminded me of a moment where I was truly vulnerable with a stranger, which is something that doesn’t come easy to anyone.
However, reading this book was relaxing and easy, and it contained a general theme of human connection. It reminded me of a conversation I had at Hippiefest a couple years back. There was an older lady sitting at a table with a sign that read “Free Advice”. I went over, bantering with my dad about the comical nature of the lady and her sign, and sat down to receive my words of wisdom. I ended up talking with this lady for half an hour: about her experiences being homeless in Texas as a child, to her then becoming a midwife and helping low income women deliver their children, to finally the loss of her life partner two years prior. In return, I think I opened up more about myself to this lady than I had to my closest friends and family for the past 16 years. We were two strangers, and to this day I still don’t know her name.
This book felt like an exaggerated and drawn-out script of that conversation, and I think it lost a lot of its impact because I had already had a much more powerful and intimate example of human connection with this lady.
But, there were three quotes from this book that connected to me, especially from days when i was younger, and I want to list them. I kind of wish I could have read these sentences earlier.
1. “At the end of the day, you should leave this world with a heart that is worn-out and soft all over. A heart that is bruised from loving, and feeling, and caring in the best way possible.”
2. “I hope you have the courage to forgive yourself for what you had to do to kill your sadness”
3. “When you assume that you will never be seen and accepted for who you truly are, you rob yourself of the opportunity to be known, to be surprised by those who will show up in your life and hold your heart the way you have always hoped for it to be held.”
Anyways, even though I didn’t fall in love with the book, I’m giving it four stars because it reminded me of a moment where I was truly vulnerable with a stranger, which is something that doesn’t come easy to anyone.
August 16, 2021
" Maybe this is the season you are being challenged to make amends with your heart, to stand up for the vast ways in which it loves, and cares, and believes in the goodness of vulnerability, and expression, and being the person who softens even when the world is not gentle. Maybe right now you are getting a second chance — to trust in it, and to forgive yourself for giving it away to those who could not value it; but most importantly, maybe right now you are being called to protect it, to find your way back into your tenderness, to find your way back into your soul."
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Anything Bianca writes is fire, and this is no exception.A must read and reread book ❤
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Anything Bianca writes is fire, and this is no exception.A must read and reread book ❤
April 7, 2023
"This is your reminder — sometimes your biggest losses end up introducing you to your biggest gains."
esperenme porque yo estoy llorando, porque mi vida amorosa es un quilombo, enamorada de alguien que ya rehizo su vida, a la que ya no le importo y en mi cabeza ibamos a terminar juntos asi que nada, aca estamos con el corazon destrozado leyendo sobre como a veces la vida no es como queremos y como no podemos hacer que la otra persona nos ame y me parece de lo mas injusto. asi que me voy a ir a terminar de llorar hermanas y nada vemos cuando vuelvo a leer.
"maybe right now your journey isn’t about love.
Maybe right now your journey is about you"
pd: este libro seria 1989 de taylor
esperenme porque yo estoy llorando, porque mi vida amorosa es un quilombo, enamorada de alguien que ya rehizo su vida, a la que ya no le importo y en mi cabeza ibamos a terminar juntos asi que nada, aca estamos con el corazon destrozado leyendo sobre como a veces la vida no es como queremos y como no podemos hacer que la otra persona nos ame y me parece de lo mas injusto. asi que me voy a ir a terminar de llorar hermanas y nada vemos cuando vuelvo a leer.
"maybe right now your journey isn’t about love.
Maybe right now your journey is about you"
pd: este libro seria 1989 de taylor
December 22, 2022
This is one of those books where if it finds you at the right time, it can really be special. That's what happened to me.
I agree with the other reviewers who said this is a bit repetitive, and for that reason, I deducted a star, but I really needed a book like this. I easily highlighted over half of it because the quotes resonated so much, and it even made me cry which I wasn't expecting.
If you're feeling a little lost, this is a nice gentle reminder that everything always works out the way it's supposed to, in the right timing.
One day, when you least expect it, you are going to crash into someone who is going to be so soft and gentle with your heart, and you are going to be so glad you kept it open. You are going to be so glad that you continued to fight for it - that you chose to believe it deserved more.
I agree with the other reviewers who said this is a bit repetitive, and for that reason, I deducted a star, but I really needed a book like this. I easily highlighted over half of it because the quotes resonated so much, and it even made me cry which I wasn't expecting.
If you're feeling a little lost, this is a nice gentle reminder that everything always works out the way it's supposed to, in the right timing.
One day, when you least expect it, you are going to crash into someone who is going to be so soft and gentle with your heart, and you are going to be so glad you kept it open. You are going to be so glad that you continued to fight for it - that you chose to believe it deserved more.
January 17, 2022
To be precise, it is 3.5 ⭐
It is quite a quote-filled book that I found it hard to finish in one setting. It is like a meal, it has to be savoured slowly because it makes you think and enjoy the words. For me, it definitely brought me back to some instances of my life where I think I could have done better or made a better decision. It also helped me to reflect about what can I do to make my life better.
Giving it 3.5 ⭐ because I found some themes repetitive and the book was a little disorganised for me. I couldn't jump into the flow when the theme/topic of the writing changed compared to the previous page.
My favourite pages of the book were pages 135-138. It was very relatable and important to me.
Overall, a thought-provoking read.
It is quite a quote-filled book that I found it hard to finish in one setting. It is like a meal, it has to be savoured slowly because it makes you think and enjoy the words. For me, it definitely brought me back to some instances of my life where I think I could have done better or made a better decision. It also helped me to reflect about what can I do to make my life better.
Giving it 3.5 ⭐ because I found some themes repetitive and the book was a little disorganised for me. I couldn't jump into the flow when the theme/topic of the writing changed compared to the previous page.
My favourite pages of the book were pages 135-138. It was very relatable and important to me.
Overall, a thought-provoking read.
August 13, 2022
one star! ★ I'm sorry, but there's nothing remarkable.
It's repetitive, cliche, and generic love yourself, healing, moving on, etc. It's like a series of tumblr posts compiled into a single book. (No offense to Tumblr; I once was on Tumblr too.) But I think if you put it in a book, there should be more to give than these.
I appreciate the message; it lovely. I don't think it is for me, though. I think people would fall in love with these if they were in dire need of encouragement words and affirmations. I still love Thought Catalogs! 🌷
It's repetitive, cliche, and generic love yourself, healing, moving on, etc. It's like a series of tumblr posts compiled into a single book. (No offense to Tumblr; I once was on Tumblr too.) But I think if you put it in a book, there should be more to give than these.
I appreciate the message; it lovely. I don't think it is for me, though. I think people would fall in love with these if they were in dire need of encouragement words and affirmations. I still love Thought Catalogs! 🌷
May 2, 2021
This book is the perfect balm for heartbreak. I don't think I would have enjoyed it had I not been heartbroken while reading it, which I actually think is a credit to the book. Bianca Sparacino clearly wrote this book for the people who need it. Because it is was so intensely targeted to just one experience, it felt like the words were directly speaking to me and therefore were so, so healing. It's akin to medicine - if you take medicine for an ailment that you're not afflicted by, it probably won't do much of anything. But for the people who do have that ailment, the medicine can be life-saving. This book was life-saving for me, giving me the exact comfort that I needed.
If read at the wrong time (when not heartbroken) or in the wrong way (all at once rather than in small doses), this book could easily fall short. Its genius lies in how it is the exact right thing that a person needs to experience at the exact right time in their lives. And isn't that what love is?
If read at the wrong time (when not heartbroken) or in the wrong way (all at once rather than in small doses), this book could easily fall short. Its genius lies in how it is the exact right thing that a person needs to experience at the exact right time in their lives. And isn't that what love is?
August 27, 2024
"No one will ever fully be able to understand the internal battles you had to endure just to heal, just to grow, just to make it here today. Be proud of the way you fought to save yourself. Be proud of the way you survived."
This book was for the little girl in me. So I took her out and made her sit on a beanbag chair. She just listened as I read to her. She always seems to tug on my heartstrings when I see her. My God, how beautiful she is. When I finished, we were both teary-eyed. And we sat there, just looking at each other. God, I wanna hold her. But all I could muster up to that beautiful broken little girl was, “I’m sorry, lil one.”
Not all poetry to me has to be lyrically artistic and polished. There is beauty in rawness. In the mess. Let it be formed from whatever source it came from. Let it be what it wants to be, not what you want it to be. This book is for people like me to take out and read every once in a while to recenter our younger selves. To remind ourselves. I feel like I don’t need to explain what that means, ‘people like me’. When you check out the description of this book if you are drawn to it like I was? Trust me, take out your younger self and read it to them.
“It is through our darkened journey that we are taught how to appreciate the warmth, how to chase the light.”
This book was for the little girl in me. So I took her out and made her sit on a beanbag chair. She just listened as I read to her. She always seems to tug on my heartstrings when I see her. My God, how beautiful she is. When I finished, we were both teary-eyed. And we sat there, just looking at each other. God, I wanna hold her. But all I could muster up to that beautiful broken little girl was, “I’m sorry, lil one.”
Not all poetry to me has to be lyrically artistic and polished. There is beauty in rawness. In the mess. Let it be formed from whatever source it came from. Let it be what it wants to be, not what you want it to be. This book is for people like me to take out and read every once in a while to recenter our younger selves. To remind ourselves. I feel like I don’t need to explain what that means, ‘people like me’. When you check out the description of this book if you are drawn to it like I was? Trust me, take out your younger self and read it to them.
“It is through our darkened journey that we are taught how to appreciate the warmth, how to chase the light.”
April 10, 2024
I think I needed this. Life’s been life lately and this kinda just changed my view on some stuff. Very happy I read it and truly enjoyed it.
August 12, 2023
I enjoyed "A Gentle Reminder." The book's title fits well, as it shares helpful thoughts about life and love. While I liked it, towards the end, it got a bit repetitive.
DNF at 80%, maybe I will read the remaining 20% at a later moment.
DNF at 80%, maybe I will read the remaining 20% at a later moment.
July 27, 2021
cute and inspirational texts, but repetitive and boring at some point... maybe an audio version would work better because this is exactly the kind of texts you'd have in an inspirational youtube video or something
August 8, 2021
you deserve to be loved the way you love others
January 30, 2024
Sampai saat ini, masih ada sesuatu yang bisa memantik kembali ingatan buruk atas trauma yg pernah kualami.
Beberapa hari lalu, aku seperti melihat orang yang kukenal di salah satu gerbong MRT. Sayangnya, posisi kami agak berjauhan sehingga aku nggak bisa memastikan. Aku bukannya mau menghampiri buat menyapanya. Malah sebaliknya. Kehadiran sosok yg kayak mantan saya itu membuatku nggak tenang.
Pengalaman deg-degan di MRT itu kemudian mengingatkanku terhadap A Gentle Reminder yg ditulis oleh Bianca Sparacino. Aku nggak nyangka bahwa tulisannya bisa resonate on my current condition so much.
Tentang move on, move forward, and celebrate the love that I deserve.
Melalui tulisannya, dia nggak mengecilkan pengalaman buruk seseorang just because they keep talking about it (ya kayak saya zaman masih awal-awal diputusin). Aku ngebayaning kalau mbak Bianca ini seperti teman yang sabar banget ngasih semangat sambil puk-puk.
Setiap tulisannya enak dibaca pelan-pelan. Direnungi dulu sebelum berpindah ke halaman berikutnya.
In my case, seperti judulnya, Bianca ngingetin aku bahwa the past is the past. Aku punya kendali buat "mengubah" masa lalu itu demi menciptakan masa depan yang less traumatic. And as she said, "The love you deserve will choose you just as confidently as you choose it."
Jadi, nggak masalah kalau kita sampai outgrow mereka yang nggak lagi satu frekuensi dengan kita (risiko adult friendship juga kan?). Asalkan terus melakukan perjalanan ke dalam, know ourselves better, kita bisa tahu siapa yg deserve our love & siapa yg nggak.
A Gentle Reminder been on my wishlist shelf. Happy banget ketika tau bahwa @perpusjkt punya 2 eksemplar buku ini. Aku jabanin nungguin kapan bukunya tersedia untuk dipinjam (memantau Jaklitera tiap malem! 😂) & rupanya worth the wait ❤️
Semoga Perpustakaan Jakarta mau bikin pengadaan lagi untuk buku-bukunya Thought Catalog supaya lebih mudah diakses warga 😁
Beberapa hari lalu, aku seperti melihat orang yang kukenal di salah satu gerbong MRT. Sayangnya, posisi kami agak berjauhan sehingga aku nggak bisa memastikan. Aku bukannya mau menghampiri buat menyapanya. Malah sebaliknya. Kehadiran sosok yg kayak mantan saya itu membuatku nggak tenang.
Pengalaman deg-degan di MRT itu kemudian mengingatkanku terhadap A Gentle Reminder yg ditulis oleh Bianca Sparacino. Aku nggak nyangka bahwa tulisannya bisa resonate on my current condition so much.
Tentang move on, move forward, and celebrate the love that I deserve.
Melalui tulisannya, dia nggak mengecilkan pengalaman buruk seseorang just because they keep talking about it (ya kayak saya zaman masih awal-awal diputusin). Aku ngebayaning kalau mbak Bianca ini seperti teman yang sabar banget ngasih semangat sambil puk-puk.
Setiap tulisannya enak dibaca pelan-pelan. Direnungi dulu sebelum berpindah ke halaman berikutnya.
In my case, seperti judulnya, Bianca ngingetin aku bahwa the past is the past. Aku punya kendali buat "mengubah" masa lalu itu demi menciptakan masa depan yang less traumatic. And as she said, "The love you deserve will choose you just as confidently as you choose it."
Jadi, nggak masalah kalau kita sampai outgrow mereka yang nggak lagi satu frekuensi dengan kita (risiko adult friendship juga kan?). Asalkan terus melakukan perjalanan ke dalam, know ourselves better, kita bisa tahu siapa yg deserve our love & siapa yg nggak.
A Gentle Reminder been on my wishlist shelf. Happy banget ketika tau bahwa @perpusjkt punya 2 eksemplar buku ini. Aku jabanin nungguin kapan bukunya tersedia untuk dipinjam (memantau Jaklitera tiap malem! 😂) & rupanya worth the wait ❤️
Semoga Perpustakaan Jakarta mau bikin pengadaan lagi untuk buku-bukunya Thought Catalog supaya lebih mudah diakses warga 😁
February 3, 2024
A not-so-good-not-so-bad book. I found it okay, but I'll give it two stars instead of three because it did not reach my expectations.
"A gentle reminder" is a "poetry" book (even though I would call it somewhere between poetry and short prose) that promises to be there for you through your healing process and give you the motivation to find yourself again.
I really liked the concept of this book and the way Bianca Sparacino managed to write about it, but the reason I didn't necessarily find it as amazing and life-changing as I thought I would is the fact that it seemed pretty repetitive to me. I felt like, through the 150 pages, I continously read the same three or four ideas over and over AND OVER again, each time said a little bit different than the time before it.
It felt more like "A too-repetitive reminder".
Would I recommend it?
Depends on the type of person we are talking about. If you feel like reading someone continously reminding you how to move on would help you, go for it, but if your sarcastic and too analytical personality has brought you to the point where you're not necessarily focused on moving on, but on understanding your emotions and recovering your control over them (my case), I don't think you'll find it as good as it seems.
"A gentle reminder" is a "poetry" book (even though I would call it somewhere between poetry and short prose) that promises to be there for you through your healing process and give you the motivation to find yourself again.
I really liked the concept of this book and the way Bianca Sparacino managed to write about it, but the reason I didn't necessarily find it as amazing and life-changing as I thought I would is the fact that it seemed pretty repetitive to me. I felt like, through the 150 pages, I continously read the same three or four ideas over and over AND OVER again, each time said a little bit different than the time before it.
It felt more like "A too-repetitive reminder".
Would I recommend it?
Depends on the type of person we are talking about. If you feel like reading someone continously reminding you how to move on would help you, go for it, but if your sarcastic and too analytical personality has brought you to the point where you're not necessarily focused on moving on, but on understanding your emotions and recovering your control over them (my case), I don't think you'll find it as good as it seems.
July 2, 2022
Beautiful, heart wrenching, confronting, comforting, time to grow.
April 12, 2023
DNF at 30%. Not for me. The content and writing style is more suitable for a younger audience who need romanticized validation or advice for their feelings, perspective, or their self-awareness.
August 17, 2022
Some of the passages are kind of repetitive but overall, it’s a good book when it comes to dealing with loving on and focusing on yourself.
April 18, 2023
Het is inderdaad een gentle reminder!
While I’m still grieving over this piece of garbage :’), heeft het boek me echt wel geholpen. Ben alleen beginnen te lezen wanneer ik aan mijn ex dacht, zodat het kinda ging matchen met mijn fases van mijn healing stage.
Ik had bijvoorbeeld gemerkt wel dat ik met het laatste deel nog niet kan relaten omdat ik nog niet zo ver ben. Het hoofdstuk over closure heeft me zeker geholpen, veel is terugkerend en ook herhaling maar ook veel dingen resonate wel. Als je ooit in de healing stage bent en je wilt een gentle reminder dit is wel een goeike!
Mooie reminders voor mezelf dat uit het boek komt :
“When a human being has a broken arm, we know how to fix it, we understand that we need to be gentle with it while it heals. But when it comes to our minds, sometimes we do not give ourselves that same level of grace, that same level level of tenderness.”
“Maybe right now your journey isn’t about love. Maybe right now your journey is about you.”
“When we grip to closure, when we wait for it, when we make our healing contingent on what someone else is providing for us, we put our healing into their hands. In that way, we never let go until they allow us to. We never let go until they give us permission to let go. “
While I’m still grieving over this piece of garbage :’), heeft het boek me echt wel geholpen. Ben alleen beginnen te lezen wanneer ik aan mijn ex dacht, zodat het kinda ging matchen met mijn fases van mijn healing stage.
Ik had bijvoorbeeld gemerkt wel dat ik met het laatste deel nog niet kan relaten omdat ik nog niet zo ver ben. Het hoofdstuk over closure heeft me zeker geholpen, veel is terugkerend en ook herhaling maar ook veel dingen resonate wel. Als je ooit in de healing stage bent en je wilt een gentle reminder dit is wel een goeike!
Mooie reminders voor mezelf dat uit het boek komt :
“When a human being has a broken arm, we know how to fix it, we understand that we need to be gentle with it while it heals. But when it comes to our minds, sometimes we do not give ourselves that same level of grace, that same level level of tenderness.”
“Maybe right now your journey isn’t about love. Maybe right now your journey is about you.”
“When we grip to closure, when we wait for it, when we make our healing contingent on what someone else is providing for us, we put our healing into their hands. In that way, we never let go until they allow us to. We never let go until they give us permission to let go. “
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November 25, 2023Dnf it at 15% not for me !!! There were some motivational quotes that you can read everywhere or find on YT, so nothing new and a bit repetitive even in that short amount i read!
June 4, 2023
Ada yang butuh bacaan dengan kata-kata comforting? This book is for you!😃🫵🏻
Baca ini tuh menurutku rasanya kayak dimengerti aja gitulohh!! Kayak oh iyaa it's okay to feel that way, meskipun kamu harusnya begini dan begitu tapi kalo nggak ya gapapa, yaudah gapapa pelan-pelan aja. Jujur aku bingung mau ngereviewnya gimana karenaaa menurutku buku ini akan punya kesan yang berbeda di tiap orang—tergantung dari kondisi saat itu.
Sesuai dengan namanya, "A Gentle Reminder" isinya ya pengingat buat kita. Pengingat-pengingat yang menurutku tepat dibaca kalo lagi patah hati😔💔 atau ketika kita merasa down... pokoknya menurutku ini pas banget dibaca kalo kita berada di titik rendah dalam kehidupan kita.
Kalimat-kalimat di buku ini mengingatkan bahwa kita gak salah kok buat menaruh perasaan sebegitunya ke orang lain, we're not asking too much, kita tetap layak buat dicintai meskipun orang yang itu meninggalkan kita. Terus apa orang itu yang salah? Apa kita sebenernya wasting time ya sama orang yang itu? Gak juga sih. Justru buku ini mengingatkan kita bahwa dengan bersama orang yang itu, kita bisa jadi diri kita yang sekarang ini. Jadi yaa jangan disesali, jangan merasa bodoh juga, disyukuri aja. Memang orang itu bukan orang yang tepat buat kita.
Apa semuanya tentang percintaan? Gak dong! Banyaak hal lain lagi yang dibahas, intinya tentang kehidupan sih yaa. Dalam hidup ini kan ada ups and downs-nya. Jangan sampe fase 'down' ini bikin kita trauma, bikin gaberani buat take the risks. Jangan takut buat nunjukin diri kita yang sebenarnya, jangan takut buat ga 'diterima' sama orang lain. Wah banyak banget dehh kalo aku tulisin satu-satu ntar gamuat wkwkwk😅
Tapi kebanyakan memang tentang relationship, tentang how to love & value yourself dengan cara do not settle for the less dan gausah deh menghabiskan tenaga, waktu, dan perhatian buat orang yang ga mempedulikan usaha kita—know your worth! Nanti bakal ada kok orang yang lebih layak buat kita sayangin, yang bakal menyayangi kita sama besarnya dengan rasa sayang yang kita kasih ke dia (anjayy👍🏻). Ada juga bagian yang ngomongin soal moving on, letting go, dan soal closure.
Lalu, yang terpenting juga adalah belajar untuk memaafkan diri sendiri atas kesalahan-kesalahan atau pilihan di masa lalu. Jangan fokus sama kesalahannya aja. Sadari juga bahwa pilihan-pilihan yang mungkin kurang tepat itu membawa kita ke diri kita yang sekarang ini. Tanpa pilihan-pilihan atau kegagalan itu, tanpa ketemu that 'wrong person', kita gaakan jadi sekeren sekarang yekaan😎✌🏻
Buku ini menurutku tipe buku yang enaknya dibaca pelan-pelan, diresapi dulu halaman-halaman yang dirasa relate. Soalnyaa menurutku (lagi) buku-buku tipe begini tuhh bakalan ngena kalo kita lagi di kondisi yang tepat. Apakah 1 buku ini bakal terasa relatable semua? Ya gak juga. Pasti akan ada yang gabegitu relate jadi pas dibaca tuh kayak yaa yaudah aja gitu, asal lewat aja. Tapi kalo nemu yang pas banget sama perasaan atau kondisi kita, atau kita pernah mengalami, rasanya bakal beda!
Di cover belakang buku ini juga udah ditulis: "take what you need"—yang berarti memang ga seluruh halaman akan sesuai sama kita, ambil aja reminder yang sesuai, baca lalu resapi deh. Dibaca secara ga berurutan juga ga masalah. Buku ini bisa dibaca sekali duduk tapi rasanya kalo dibaca sekali tuh kurang sihh ya...😅
Aku gatau buku ini akan cocok di kalian atau nggak, soalnya ga semua orang suka buku selfhelp(?) yang setipe ini, mungkin ada beberapa dari kalian yang nganggep buku-buku comforting ini kurang cocok karena ngomong doang atau gimana lahh wkwkwk. Jadi, ini aku kasih sedikit cuplikan bukunya (silakan di-slide). Lalu kalo kalian masih ragu tapi merasa kepo, boleh pinjem di Zoe Library seperti akuu~
Baca ini tuh menurutku rasanya kayak dimengerti aja gitulohh!! Kayak oh iyaa it's okay to feel that way, meskipun kamu harusnya begini dan begitu tapi kalo nggak ya gapapa, yaudah gapapa pelan-pelan aja. Jujur aku bingung mau ngereviewnya gimana karenaaa menurutku buku ini akan punya kesan yang berbeda di tiap orang—tergantung dari kondisi saat itu.
Sesuai dengan namanya, "A Gentle Reminder" isinya ya pengingat buat kita. Pengingat-pengingat yang menurutku tepat dibaca kalo lagi patah hati😔💔 atau ketika kita merasa down... pokoknya menurutku ini pas banget dibaca kalo kita berada di titik rendah dalam kehidupan kita.
Kalimat-kalimat di buku ini mengingatkan bahwa kita gak salah kok buat menaruh perasaan sebegitunya ke orang lain, we're not asking too much, kita tetap layak buat dicintai meskipun orang yang itu meninggalkan kita. Terus apa orang itu yang salah? Apa kita sebenernya wasting time ya sama orang yang itu? Gak juga sih. Justru buku ini mengingatkan kita bahwa dengan bersama orang yang itu, kita bisa jadi diri kita yang sekarang ini. Jadi yaa jangan disesali, jangan merasa bodoh juga, disyukuri aja. Memang orang itu bukan orang yang tepat buat kita.
Apa semuanya tentang percintaan? Gak dong! Banyaak hal lain lagi yang dibahas, intinya tentang kehidupan sih yaa. Dalam hidup ini kan ada ups and downs-nya. Jangan sampe fase 'down' ini bikin kita trauma, bikin gaberani buat take the risks. Jangan takut buat nunjukin diri kita yang sebenarnya, jangan takut buat ga 'diterima' sama orang lain. Wah banyak banget dehh kalo aku tulisin satu-satu ntar gamuat wkwkwk😅
Tapi kebanyakan memang tentang relationship, tentang how to love & value yourself dengan cara do not settle for the less dan gausah deh menghabiskan tenaga, waktu, dan perhatian buat orang yang ga mempedulikan usaha kita—know your worth! Nanti bakal ada kok orang yang lebih layak buat kita sayangin, yang bakal menyayangi kita sama besarnya dengan rasa sayang yang kita kasih ke dia (anjayy👍🏻). Ada juga bagian yang ngomongin soal moving on, letting go, dan soal closure.
Lalu, yang terpenting juga adalah belajar untuk memaafkan diri sendiri atas kesalahan-kesalahan atau pilihan di masa lalu. Jangan fokus sama kesalahannya aja. Sadari juga bahwa pilihan-pilihan yang mungkin kurang tepat itu membawa kita ke diri kita yang sekarang ini. Tanpa pilihan-pilihan atau kegagalan itu, tanpa ketemu that 'wrong person', kita gaakan jadi sekeren sekarang yekaan😎✌🏻
Buku ini menurutku tipe buku yang enaknya dibaca pelan-pelan, diresapi dulu halaman-halaman yang dirasa relate. Soalnyaa menurutku (lagi) buku-buku tipe begini tuhh bakalan ngena kalo kita lagi di kondisi yang tepat. Apakah 1 buku ini bakal terasa relatable semua? Ya gak juga. Pasti akan ada yang gabegitu relate jadi pas dibaca tuh kayak yaa yaudah aja gitu, asal lewat aja. Tapi kalo nemu yang pas banget sama perasaan atau kondisi kita, atau kita pernah mengalami, rasanya bakal beda!
Di cover belakang buku ini juga udah ditulis: "take what you need"—yang berarti memang ga seluruh halaman akan sesuai sama kita, ambil aja reminder yang sesuai, baca lalu resapi deh. Dibaca secara ga berurutan juga ga masalah. Buku ini bisa dibaca sekali duduk tapi rasanya kalo dibaca sekali tuh kurang sihh ya...😅
Aku gatau buku ini akan cocok di kalian atau nggak, soalnya ga semua orang suka buku selfhelp(?) yang setipe ini, mungkin ada beberapa dari kalian yang nganggep buku-buku comforting ini kurang cocok karena ngomong doang atau gimana lahh wkwkwk. Jadi, ini aku kasih sedikit cuplikan bukunya (silakan di-slide). Lalu kalo kalian masih ragu tapi merasa kepo, boleh pinjem di Zoe Library seperti akuu~
August 15, 2022
A Gentle Reminder by Bianca Sparacino is a book that has caught my interest due to its uprising popularity all over the book community. It is advertised as a “self-help poetry book” about forgiveness, love, life, etc. But what I’ve read was a pretentious, repetitive book filled with quotes I’ve read on Twitter and Tumblr way back in 2015. This 152-page book could have been summed up in 15-20 pages maximum. There were some lines that really stood out to me, but it doesn’t change the fact that I literally had to force myself to finish this. The book revolves around four topics in general: moving on, deserving someone better, forgiving yourself, and life is a wonderful thing. What they forgot to mention is that life is suffering. The author paints this “perfect” world that gives the readers false hope. It keeps on mentioning how we deserved to be loved by someone like this, someone like that, while setting up the standards so impossibly high. Never mind the fact that this contains A LOT of toxic positivity and manipulation, guilt-tripping the readers to think this certain way. I had high expectations going into this book but, I was really disappointed on how it turned out.
May 22, 2021
I always thought that I need a closure. A closure that I deserve. Then I picked up this book tonight to this:
"One of the hardest lessons you will ever have to learn in life is that you do not need closure to heal and move on from something that had to end, from the kind of love you had to set down.
We have to gift ourselves the closure we so deeply desire. We have to take responsibility for our feelings and understand that we cannot wait for someone to give us our healing. We have to heal ourselves.
And that is something you give yourself. No one else is going to do it for you. No one else is capable."
Reading Bianca's writing always makes me feel things, in a way that I know I'm not alone, there are people who feel the same way that I do—I find comfort in her writing.
"One of the hardest lessons you will ever have to learn in life is that you do not need closure to heal and move on from something that had to end, from the kind of love you had to set down.
We have to gift ourselves the closure we so deeply desire. We have to take responsibility for our feelings and understand that we cannot wait for someone to give us our healing. We have to heal ourselves.
And that is something you give yourself. No one else is going to do it for you. No one else is capable."
Reading Bianca's writing always makes me feel things, in a way that I know I'm not alone, there are people who feel the same way that I do—I find comfort in her writing.
February 12, 2022
This is probably the best non-fiction book I’ve read. It’s literally perfect!!
April 1, 2024
this book is for the “overly” emotional ones. the ones who feel a little too deeply, care a little too much. this is for the ones who feel as though they aren’t easily tolerated, as though they are “too much” for anyone to ever love, the backup option, the second choice.
‘a gentle reminder’ is for anyone who needs a little reminder that they’re enough.
“you deserve to be someone’s favorite thing.”
‘a gentle reminder’ is for anyone who needs a little reminder that they’re enough.
“you deserve to be someone’s favorite thing.”
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