It's Raining Books: Say Yes to Life by Elliott Robertson

Tuesday, August 3, 2021

Say Yes to Life by Elliott Robertson

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Elliott Robertson will be awarding a $15 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

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I’m sharing five things you might not know about me today. Here goes.

My favorite fiction writer is Alice Munro. She’s been writing masterful short stories for decades.
I discovered her when I lived in New York city, in the late 1980s. I started worshipping her immediately. Every story was a joy to read.

I don’t remember how I discovered her. All I remember is the ragged book I was reading from, one of her early collections of short fiction. When I was at a dinner party and the conversation turned to writers, I would always tell people she was the cat’s meow.

Eventually, I started getting intuitive hits that her latest story was in The New Yorker. Whenever I would get an intuition from out of the blue, I would go to the corner magazine store and look at the table of contents, and sure enough, Alice Munro’s latest treasure was in the current issue. Every time, without fail.

I couldn’t resist buying the magazine, of course. Eventually, I had a pile of New Yorkers in my apartment, all of them featuring her short fiction.

What else? I lived in Japan when I was a kid. My father had been invited to teach at Wasada University when I was four. So my childhood memories include the two years I was in Tokyo with my father, mother, brother, and young lady who had been hired as a maid, Kiyoko.

I remember walking down the streets in my neighborhood and looking up at her. A memory of her towering over me.

Kiyoko came to America a few years later, and she tracked down my mother. So I ended up seeing her again. That’s when I noticed that she was no more than 5’ 2”. If she hadn’t made the trip to America, I might never have known.

Third thing: When I was seven and my brother eight, our parents got a couple of cats for us. Eric named his cat Frodo and I named my cat Sam after two of the main characters in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Okay, what else? You probably would never guess that I have made up dozens of recipes for vegetarian entrees. Spending time in the kitchen improvising all began when I started writing a book to help people change their eating habits, to emphasize vegetables in their dietary routine. The book was going to serve as training wheels. And I wanted to include a bunch of my own recipes in the book along with tips for making the transition with ease.

Eventually I decided against the book format. Instead, I designed a six-week coaching program. Over the course of six weeks I support people in making a gradual transition to eating vegetarian meals consistently. Plus provide recipes I’ve created. For some, two meals a week is an appropriate upgrade. Others choose to be more ambitious with three or four meals a week. One of my favorite things is when clients who graduated contact me a few months later and tell me they have continued with their healthier eating habits.

And now for the grand finale. I’m interspiritual. I love Quan Yin and Jesus. And love to read wisdom from many traditions. I’m even interested in spirituality and spiritual beliefs from beyond planet Earth. I’d love to find out what those from Pleiades believe and what they do when worshipping. Do they have places comparable to churches? Do these churches have liturgies, or are they similar to Quaker unprogrammed worship, which is sometimes an hour of silence? Other planets probably have something I never would have thought of in my wildest imagination, possibly more advanced than anything I’ve experienced on Earth.

Well, there you have it: my favorite writer, time spent in Japan as a kid, the names of two cats from many years ago, a coaching program I offer, and my interest in every flavor of ice cream, I mean spirituality. I hope you’ve enjoyed these glimpses into my life, this scattered potpourri of how I might answer the question, “Who are you?”

Say Yes to Life provides you with seven keys to unconditional, abundant living. Each key opens a doorway to experiencing life as a gift.

This book will guide you to the depths of your heart where you long to celebrate life with a wholehearted "Yes!"

You will be led to a place of greater authenticity.
You will be encouraged to take joy in who you are.
Only willingness is needed to embrace yourself with gladness.
With your true Self in the driver's seat and the ego in the back seat, life takes on a new vibrancy.

Now you are present to yourself, to your companions, and the cosmos. The mountaintop appears and beckons you into the fullness that has always been awaiting you.

Read an Excerpt

The opinions we carry about ourselves are not readily identified. They are not easy to spot. We think the opinion (“I can’t handle adult responsibilities,” or “I’m socially awkward and therefore I’ll always be rejected”) is a fair, objective description. We mistake the mask we’re wearing for who we are, and we have no recollection of ever choosing the mask, or putting it on.

To say Yes to life is to bow down to Spirit, to make the “Yes” God utters more important than any other considerations.

You may think of yourself as hobbled in certain ways. Your negative self-talk may have convinced you that you are not smart enough to pursue something you dream about. You may have formed unflattering opinions about, say, your artistic abilities, and these opinions may have caused you to leave your art supplies in the attic, untouched for years.

Cling to the negative self-talk no longer. Listen to Divine Intelligence say “Yes” to you, instead.

About the Author: