We are super excited to share a book recommendation from one of our favourite authors and dear friends, Maria Sirois. Her brand-new book, The Generous Exchange – How Attention to Beauty, Goodness and Excellence Restores Us and Our World, launches this week in the United States!
Many of our my manifesto mates will already be familiar with Maria’s work. She has long inspired people from all walks of life to grow in self-awareness, to heal after loss, and to navigate life with grace and hope. In fact, our very first book recommendation (Blog #4, written by Sue on 26 January 2022) featured Maria’s earlier book, A Short Course in Happiness After Loss. That book remains one of my most gifted to friends and family members. And now, here we are at Blog #168, thrilled to recommend Maria’s latest work.
I had the absolute pleasure of reading and reviewing the manuscript for The Generous Exchange back in August 2024. After finishing it, I shared these words with Maria:
“I love the way you’ve organised the book. The sections on Beauty, then Excellence, then Moral Goodness create such a meaningful framework for expanding and enriching our appreciation of this generous exchange. Section 4 on Fragility helps us treasure the very qualities you hope to inspire, and Section 5 on Practices makes it all feel wonderfully tangible and accessible.”
“It has the same warmth and wisdom as Happiness After Loss — and once again, your ability to feel, yearn, and love so deeply shines through on every page.”
One of my favourite paragraphs reads:
It takes so little effort to see the world with an appreciative lens, and there is so much return in this gaze. Wherever you are, surrounded by concrete or palm, by forest or plain, beauty surrounds, goodness rises, and excellence stands tall. The headlines may be dark. Evil does exist. So much needs our care. And… we might yet steward the world into health… bit by bit… grateful and generous moment by moment, we may choose to make a difference.
Maria’s gift for storytelling, her gentle wisdom, and her thoughtful phrasing inspire us to notice, celebrate, and model goodness and beauty in our daily lives. To learn more about this beautiful book, please visit Maria’s website.
I’d love to close with the words I wrote as my personal testimonial for The Generous Exchange:
This book, with all its warmth and wisdom, has touched, soothed, and healed me — and I believe it can do the same for you. Whether it significantly helps heal our world is now up to us. Guided by Maria’s wisdom, I will do my best to contribute. As I finished The Generous Exchange, I felt compelled to do two things: first, return to Page 1 to enjoy the journey all over again, and second, obtain copies to gift to my family and friends.
We wish Maria all the very best with her book launch — and we wholeheartedly encourage you to read this nourishing and inspiring work.
And perhaps, as you read, you might feel inspired to ask yourself: What do I notice? What am I celebrating? What can I contribute? These are the same questions we ask in our my manifesto work, and they are questions that, when answered with intention, can guide us to live our best lives.
With warmth,
Justin & Sue