Acquired Book By: I am a new reviewer for Hachette Books and their imprints, starting with FaithWords which is their INSPY (Inspirational Fiction & Non-Fiction) imprint of releases focusing on uplifting and spiritual stories which are a delight to read whilst engaging your mind in life affirming and heart-centered stories. I found Hachette via Edelweiss at the conclusion of [2015] and have been wicked happy I can review for their imprints Grand Central Publishing, FaithWords & Center Street.
I received a complimentary copy of “The Full Tank Life” direct from the publisher FaithWords (an imprint of Hachette Book Group Inc.) in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Why I felt reading The Full Tank Life would be a good idea:
I’m not the kind of girl who regularly seeks out ‘self-improvement’ non-fiction releases, as there are some of us who gravitate towards these kinds of books on a regular basis and then there are those of us (like me) who are quite selective in what they are looking towards finding inside them. When I first read the synopsis for The Full Tank Life, I was happily surprised by what Mr Tankard was eluding towards being revealled inside his inspiringly motivating guide towards self-actualising your own destiny.
One of the things I do not regularly share on Jorie Loves A Story is my personal life, as I have become in the habit of separating my personal life with my online life ever since I first started blogging. This doesn’t mean to say I’m not personally revealling certain bits of my life spilt into the book showcases and author interviews I’m featuring on my blog or in convos I’m happily engaging in on the twitterverse,.. it simply means that I found a balance between what I wanted to share on a public platform and what I wanted to keep private. Part of my choice to do this is because I knew one day I would become a published author, and I felt it was best to practice the duality of my reality early-on rather than wait til the day arrived and I was fully unprepared how to tackle being online in a world that craves insta-information on everything!
The reason I am bringing this to your attention, is because like most people in today’s socioeconomic uncertain world of stability and longevity of personal sustainability, my own path has taken it’s fair share of detours towards the realisation of my own personal life goals. Part of the reason I wanted to start my blog Jorie Loves A Story is to firmly take a full step forward into my future by starting to focus on the authors I enjoy reading whilst re-developing my own appreciation for literature. I was looking for a segue out of the stagnancy of where my hours were yielding back then, to where I was not exactly moving ‘towards’ where I wanted to be but I wasn’t exactly in the middle of a black hole either!
I have been a seeker all of my life, and one of the things I have sought the most is to find a way to carve out my own destiny towards realising my dreams. I have happily lived a non-traditional unconventional life by today’s standards (i.e. school, career, marriage, children, etc) wherein I’ve been blessed to re-focus on my developing my writer’s craft and sorting out what truly inspires me to create my own stories. In the background, I’ve taken the less travelled route to help my family during difficult times, including though illness and death.
The past three years I’ve been a book blogger haven’t quite been the easiest by half, but they have led to such an incredible girth of self-awareness and self-development, I can honestly say my blog started off being my saving grace through the tides of where life can take you before developing into a platform of where I can leave notes of gratitude or criticism to authors whose stories alight in my hands to read. I started off Jorie Loves A Story as a reader’s blog without realising all along it’s a writer’s blog full of the beautiful joy of serendipitous discoveries wherein the ‘writer’ behind the blog has sought enlightenment through the craft of stories but has become enlightened through the journey itself!
This month (August, 2016) marks my 3rd #blogbirthday where I launched Jorie Loves A Story *live!* a handful of months prior to joining the world of tweets and real-time conversations in November of 2016. As soon as the clock struck midnight on New Year’s Day, 2016 I sensed this might be the year where I undertook a Renaissance on Jorie Loves A Story, where the reader embraces her writerly path and where the blog re-focuses it’s shift of purpose spilt between continuing the foundation of where it began but increasing it’s outreach to include secondary modes of expression and communicating the path a girl in process of realising her writerly dream can endeavour to step out of it’s original roots.
On that vein of thought, I’ve been in transitional flux on a personal level, where it’s one thing to believe in yourself and the path you’ve set out to walk but sometimes it’s absent of the particulars that tie together your present with your future. This is why I sought out reading The Full Tank Life because for three years I’ve been running Jorie Loves A Story on half a tank and would love to one day say I’ve accomplished the balance I was seeking whilst anchoured in the faith to understand the journey I had to take to realise it. All of what you have read and have seen on this blog has been a walk of faith and the future of where Jorie Loves A Story is moving next is wicked exciting but the girl behind the blog is patiently awaiting the hour where prayer and actuality coincide to manifest her path in the way she had endeavoured to see into fruition.
The Full Tank Life
Subtitle: Fuel your dreams, Ignite your destiny
Modern-day Renaissance man and star of Bravo's Thicker Than Water Ben Tankard offers powerful motivation and practical tools to empower readers to find their destiny and create an action plan to unlock it.
As a pastor, pilot, motivational speaker, bestselling Gospel/Jazz musician, and reality TV star, Tankard has a lot of experience with both success and failure. He has learned that our greatest opportunities often come from our greatest disappointments. Today, he is doing what he was born to do, and he knows it didn't happen by accident. Tankard encourages readers to examine seven key elements-Dreams, Environment, Subconscious, Time, Inspiration, Network, and You, sharing his life-tested secrets to help readers find their own way. Including fresh insights on familiar Bible passages, wisdom from Tankard's own setbacks, and laugh-out-loud stories, Tankard shows readers that they too can have a "full tank" life.
Places to find the book:
ISBN: 9781455538294
on 30th August, 2016
Pages: 208
Published by: FaithWords (@FaithWords)
an imprint of Hachette Book Group, Inc. (@HachetteBooks) via Hachette Nashville
Formats Available: Hardcover, Audiobook & Ebook
Converse via: #INSPYbooks, #nonfiction, #motivationalbooks + #TheFullTankLife
About Ben Tankard
BEN TANKARD is the godfather of Gospel/Jazz music and has sold over 4 million copies of his award-winning instrumental albums.
He and his family star in NBC/Bravo's Thicker Than Water--The Tankards, which was the network's highest rated freshman reality show with over 14 million viewers in its first season.
A true Renaissance man, he also serves as a motivational speaker for the NBA, designs a line of men's clothing, and pilots his own plane. Together with his wife Jewel, he pastors a growing church outside of Nashville, TN.
Photo Credit: Ben-Jamin' Universal Music
On the Introduction:
One of the curious revelations Mr Tankard mentioned in his Introduction is the fact he opted out of college, except he didn’t quite say this in the same vein of thought I would have as he mentioned he dropped out. To me, if college isn’t the path that is a full genesis of improving your life or enabling you to learn whilst developing your own authentic realisation of self, why are we still lamenting about ‘dropping / opting’ out of college as if it were a negative? Why not celebrate the positive of recognising it wasn’t the right path to walk and by ‘going elsewhere’ during those years granted you the licence to be who you are right now?
Unsure why this particular thing struck such a chord with me, but I do notice society gets hung up on the smallest of details – for starters – knowledge isn’t limited to attendance of University and a person’s self-worth is not measured by statistical data generated from standardized test scores! I think we’ve transcended the old ideology of thinking the only learned people in the world exited college with a degree in hand. Personally, if I find someone wrote their own story and carved their own route of success without college, I find myself immeasurably more invested in hearing their story! It’s uniquely uncharted and unknown – a rocket of daring thought to live outside the lines of the proverbial box! Let’s start to champion those of us who ‘opted’ to walk a different path and re-defined not only success but self-learning and lifelong intellectual curiosity.
On a personal note, I’m growing disillusioned by everyone’s focus on stigmatized labels that are less than honest about who a person is in actuality to how they are perceived. I’m finding this isn’t limited to how your educated (as theoretically, I opted out of college!) but how you fulfill your own route towards parenthood. Don’t even get me started on what circles around you if you want to adopt children ahead of marriage and become a Mum!
I do agree with Mr Tankard about becoming muddled to the humbling truths we’re all consciously aware of prior to reading a book like his which places the internal focus on re-accessing the worth in our lives. We all absorb such a lot of stimuli whilst we’re living through our lives to where all information can become clustered and congested inside our mental filing cabinets, that something that is quite dearly wonderful to hold onto can become lost in the shuffle! It’s good practice to consistently be aware of what is causing the muddlement but also, to pitch hit as motivators towards re-inspiring ourselves with an attitude built out of hope and grounded through faith to see the larger picture during times of trial or frustrative barriers blocking our path.
My Review of The Full Tank Life:
I definitely concur with Mr Tankard about seizing a moment inside your ordinary hours to re-invent what your doing and how those hours are expelled through the hourglass. In many ways, when I created Jorie Loves A Story, I was taking a giant leap outside my comfort zone and endearing myself to not only fuse my curious thoughts and impressions as they parlay to the books I’m reading but I wanted to endeavour to bridge connections to other readers who are experiencing the same joys and angst of finding their next wicked good read. By extension, I also had hoped to entertain conversations with the writers who granted me the joy of entering into their imaginative worlds where fiercely realistic characters resided and the beauty of their stories could happily be absorbed.
The irony is that for me, I wasn’t planning on being a book blogger or a joyful tweeter when I first conceived of the idea for ‘Jorie Loves A Story’. Originally, I had a title (writers I am sure who are reading this are nodding their heads; they know what I’m hinting towards!) without knowing fully what I would cultivate behind it. I had a whisper of an idea formulating in my mind, an inkling of an idea of where that inspiration was leading me to venture and a heap of trepidation to follow through! This might explain why it took me from the 31st of March [2013] (my blogoversary, the very day I created this blog!) to the 6th of August [2013] (my blog’s birthday, the day it launched live) to feel comfortable enough to let others read what I was creating in this niche of the book blogosphere.
For me, it felt like a similar exploration of experimenting with a new concept for fusing my creativity with my writerly heart, in much the same fashion as I had during Nanowrimo 2008. Neither experience was extremely ironed out or pre-planned – I simply caught lightning in a capsule of inspiration and ran with the ideas as they felt to be right in the moment to pursue. It’s the memories behind both experiences that have overtaken my initial hopes for where these paths might lead me to walk, as my bounty of blessings and happenstance joys are without measure! I also knew going into both experiences, I would be tested and re-tested throughout the length of time I would commit to both adventures. One ended in thirty days, the other is on-going whilst happily becoming re-defined, moulded and shaped by how my perceptions of what my purpose for this space alter and change through the writing of this blog.
The key is that you have to jump dive into a new adventure feet first. Don’t overthink it to the brink of insanity or to where your ‘talking yourself out of doing it’. Dive. Jump. Fly into a new tomorrow with your faith guiding you and murmuring encouragement on the days you might question: am I prepared for this?
I loved how Tankard is talking about being a consistent dreamweaver! We each have a tapestry of dreams etched into our hearts and fuelled by our imagination; nothing is out of reach or limited by what can be realised in reality if only we first believe in the hope of where dreams can take us. I have even watched how my original hopes and dreams for this blog have championed themselves past where I felt I could take my blog and my new online bookish life.
When I created my betareading page, I hadn’t fully understood how that goal of mine would become realised, but I did post it knowing somehow this goal of mine to help writers write their stories would take me by surprise! The truth in the pudding is that my first author who granted me the gift of learning how to betaread crossed my path in July of 2014. Two full years later (with a lot of prayers in-between!) I started to cross paths with authors seeking the type of betareader I am, thus increasing my joy by giving me new betareading projects to work on! Including for the first time, offers to be an ‘alphareader’ rather than focusing solely on the line-edits that most betareading projects encompass! It wasn’t that I lacked faith in my abilities or had an absence of faith in realising this goal; sometimes, when hours stacked themselves into weeks, months and years, you start to question: did I do everything I could to make this goal of mine manifest itself into reality? Patience is a virtue I learnt in childhood, but as an adult sometimes the absence of moving forward taxes the patience we instinctively feel we can hold onto until things can change.
Concurrent to what I am doing on Jorie Loves A Story, I am the writer whose manuscripts have become placed on hold once again and a girl who’d like to radically change her stars by relocating out of the state she’s residing. I have a lot of big dreams – not only as a writer but entrepreneur dreams and dreams on a personal ledger of interest as well. The difficulties lie in understanding how to effectively create the change we’re seeking whilst focusing on the small ways in which we change our path through finding small steps towards building the future we can almost taste living inside. That’s the rub in life. It’s not always due to a limited scope of how to dream or how to believe in your abilities. Sometimes the hardest part is sorting out the road you need to walk in order to transcend the ‘here’ and ‘now’.
What I found most inspiring by reading The Full Tank Life is how Tankard makes his work conversative and accessible to your own thought processes as your moving through his engaging motivational promptings. For each chapter you arrive inside, there are prompts where you can journal your thoughts further as your instinctively inspired to muse and lay your head on the pensiveness of what is provoked out of reading his book. I, took this a step further and have shared my own wandering thoughts as I read the book with my dear hearted readers. Showing how you can cross-apply his motivational prompts and how his writing leads you to re-examine your own life, goals and and the process of moving forward with intention.
This is the best gift truly of what he’s left behind – to give us an entry into conversing about how to pin-point our strengths and areas of possible weakness to strengthen as we all seek to embetter ourselves to live our lives as authentically as we can. For those of us who are strengthened through our walk in faith, we will recognise the humbling truths Tankard anchours to his sharing of life lessons learnt through the corridors he walked to reach his current path and how his past was never vindictive of his future; as it should never be, as we can all aspire to go further than we can dare to believe possible!
I enjoyed reading sections at a time throughout the month, where I found it would spark in-person conversations with my family. I liked the way you can take and leave certain sections per your interests of focus at the point in time the book crosses into your life whilst giving full credit to the positive approach Tankard has allowed us to thread through our own internal clockwork of thought processes; it’s this re-approach to work through things from a different angle of approach that is part of what keeps us healthy from the point of view of not letting thoughts lie stagnant and unchanged. I hope each person who picks this up now, will find it inspiring as it directly applies to them in an intrapersonal way!
The only bit I disagreed with in regards to ‘destiny’ in children:
In part, I agree with Mr Tankard about children needing encouragement and guidance to understand their self-worth and how to continue to grow as they mature into their own futures. However, where I slightly disagree with him is that I do believe children should be asked and questioned what motivates them and what it is they truly feel would be something they would enjoy doing in their future. Partially because if my parents hadn’t asked me, I might not have realised I was a natural bourne writer who truly loves the fusion of creativity through the vessel of creating a world out of a palette of words.
As I had related on the top anchour of my review for Jane Two, I was encouraged to seek out life experiences and adventures at a very young age. My childhood was happily spent seeking out what inspired me, what motivated me and what truly could be said to be my passionate interests at heart. I tried out different fields of study, sport and vocation. I travelled and saw different regions of America inasmuch as the fullness of my home state, tip to stern. I regularly conversed with different classes of people and had the benefit of being raised in a melting pot of a metropolis which blessedly enriched my personal view of the world.
Now, if my parents hadn’t encouraged me to question what I instinctively could ascertain as a gift I was meant to share or a path I was meant to walk, I wouldn’t have sought out those experiences that determined my life’s path. If I was never asked ‘what do you want to do when you grow up’, I might not have pondered about what gave me the most joy to give to the world whilst actively contributing to the circle of creative expression and art.
It might not be a full-on disagreement with Mr Tankard – as I think we’re more aligned on this point than we’re apart, but the way in which we’re expressing ourselves differs. Therein, I felt it was valid to broach this on my review, as outside of some of his repetitiveness to go over a point he made in previous chapters, this one did not sit well with me, because it removed the freedom of choice and discovery from childhood.
I am not a learner who likes an over abundance of repetition – this is one reason why traditional methods of education failed me, because they seriously focused too much on the superficial layers of topics and subjects, without delving deeper into the core of what could have been explored. I understand for the majority this works brilliantly, but for me? I tend to find myself less enthused to listen if what is being said is a mere regurgitation of something already shared. Thus, on occasion if I found a repetitive pattern inside The Full Tank Life, I simply moved forward a few paragraphs or entered the next chapter.
Best takeaways from reading “The Full Tank Life”
Summaries by the distinctive ‘life points’ of how Tankard spilt his book into sections; I used his one word prompts to guide my final thoughts per each section listed.
DREAMS:
Unless you can set your attitude properly to understand the perils of where life can take you vs the passageways you’d rather traverse, your going to have more angst than what is advised. Your dreams are tied into how you set your mind to walk through your hours; if your attitude is focused on the positive whilst accepting there are going to be days of adversity and tribulations, your going to make it through just fine. However, whilst your going through a difficult period of your life, don’t forsake your dreams nor refuse to create new ones, because one of the dreams your forgetting to focus on is the one that could potentially change your life the most. Visualising your dream isn’t always enough… sometimes you have to dig deeper and truly find a way to believe everything will work out even if the logic of understanding the way ‘how’ isn’t yet known.
ENVIRONMENT:
I did not fully connect with this chapter personally, as I actively took the attitude to focus on the Light and positive in my life; not just within my personal sphere but of the world. Not that I’m in a bubble of not knowing what is going on but more to the point, my first awakenings each day are not on the newsfeeds; honestly, I never would think to check them! I sometimes become aware of ‘news’ via the radio as I love listening to different radio stations which hones in on my eclectic taste in music OR if I happen to be blogging or visiting blogs, I might see a flicker of a trend on Twitter. That might clue me in that something ‘big’ is going on, but I’m not actively seeking any of it out. I’d rather hear the good news and surround myself in positivity than be bogged down in the negative that as aptly put in Tankard’s book can muddle anyone out of their mood of happiness. Therefore, this is one section I felt was a miss for me, as I’ve been purposefully re-directing my attention on the positive and the goodness out of life since I was a young child. It was a conscious choice of mine and was directly inspired by my parents who practiced the same.
I did agree on keeping your focus on what you can personally handle and what you feel you can personally succeed in maintaining long-term. I faced a lot of challenges as a book blogger initially as I wasn’t like other book bloggers – for starters, I’m a book blogger not a book reviewer to begin with – the difference lies in how long my book showcases are per each book I choose to review. Book bloggers write the heart out about the stories their reading whereas reviewers tend to cut to the quick and write less length. It’s simply a difference of approach. Secondly, I elected to focus on one social media outlet (Twitter) rather than spreading myself thin in all avenues of social media; most of which I did not even understand how to use! Twitter was a niche for me to find a way to communicate in a method I not only understood but was able to find like-minded souls who liked conversing in real-time exchanges (esp Twitter chats!) in the same manner of thought as I do! This was a good fit for me!
I did not follow this by joining a heap of other sites just to be ‘socially seen’ as I felt I was being directed to keep my online presence focused and simple. All things are led through faith and my entire experience with my blog and the journey it’s taken me on has been lived through faith and grace. This is why I listen to what I feel is guidance and do not focus on what everyone else is doing as sometimes, what their doing isn’t right for me. Recently, I joined LibraryThing and felt for the first time since I discovered Twitter, I have a new extension of my blog, where I can reach out to other readers who like me, love sharing their bookish lives. Does this mean I’m going to join GoodReads? No. Reason why? I never felt the site was one I’d enjoy using. Is LibraryThing a better match for me personally? Yes. You have to remain vigilant in understanding what works for you in all facets of your life. I’ve been cross-applying the book [The Full Tank Life] to being a book blogger because this is the foundation of what I’ve been working on creating for the past three years. It was a larkspur idea that sparked a path for me to walk and a lot of what was written in “The Full Tank Life” I felt was beautifully inspirational for anyone who is still sorting out their lifepath or developing a path into their future.
My blog is only the first leg of my journey as one day I’ll be talking about my own stories that are not yet fully developed to publish. I never thought I’d find a path to have an online presence ahead of that moment arriving for me, but through blogging about the stories that are enriching my mind and heart with their breadth of story-telling – I found a way to give back part of the joy I’ve had as a reader. Sharing joy is something I love to do – my blog simply became a platform in which I can reach other readers who love reading the same types of stories I am reading now.
SUBCONSCIOUS:
One thing I have done throughout my life is listen to my inner thoughts and my own voice guiding me through my reactions and actions. I was the type of person who liked to push herself further, through challenges that would seek to step outside any zone of comfort she might have and find a new joy in discovering something new; about herself or the world. I am consistently doing this still – even on my blog. There were certain things I never fathomed I’d blog about in an open format of discussion – topics on Religion, Politics and Quantum Physics being at the top of the ‘mental list’ of books I’d keep to my private readings were amongst what I thought I’d not explore here. Then, of course, certain books came across my desk so to speak, and I became more comfortable sharing my thoughts on books whose heart of narrative are on contemporary topics of interest to all of us.
Remaining true to ourselves and listening to our intuition is partially at play at keeping ourselves in ‘check’ with our conscience and subconscious state of awareness. I think the truer key is remaining open to opportunities that life can afford us if we dare to believe our capabilities. For me, this began early-on in my childhood when I refused to believe I couldn’t create stories simply because I was dyslexic (honestly that never entered my train of thought but from the outside looking in, it was a question I had to respond too from others!) nor did I feel having difficulties in phrases (of tense), spelling or grammar would hold me back either. It is all about perspective. For me? I fell in love with words, so I pursued them at a young age. I read Dictionaries and Encyclopedias and even Thesauruses! Don’t ask me how to look up a word via an alpha sense of logic, but I could thrive on reading ‘new words’ daily! Fast forward: I joined Nanowrimo in 2008 and five years after I won the contest to write the beginning of a novel (50,000 words) I created Jorie Loves A Story! This is the next chapter on my journey as a writer. Everyone has to decide ‘what is their next step’ on their path to ‘where’ they want to be for themselves.
I might have had a few doubts along the way or rather hesitations; especially when I joined Twitter! That was inviting ‘the world’ to read my blog. Whoa! Really? Yes, I might have faltered a bit to continue to remain steadfast and confident in those initial months of sorting out the twitterverse; but then I met other like-mind spirits who loved books as much as I do. Similar to being a blogger – like attracts like – each of us has something positive to contribute and we are all sharing our journey. At the heart of our journey is the belief in the impossible and what is potentially plausible. In order to do that you have to set your mind on the positive and carve out your own path to follow. How you set your attitude is everything in the end.
TIME:
I definitely believe in acting in the moment of clarity of intention. When I first conceived the idea of Jorie Loves A Story, it was a title first and a blog second. In other words, I was inspired to create ‘something’ but what that something would become was still evolving into view. I elected not to hesitate but to act; I started to develop what my blog would look like and what I would focus on whilst I was blogging from the date I conceived it (31st March, 2013) to the date I launched it live to the world (6th August, 2013). The two dates I celebrate each year, are my blogoversary (March) and my blog’s birthday (August) as being mindfully respectful of the work I put into it originally and the mirth of joy I receive out of it each year as I maintain the initial reasons I started this journey whilst expanding what I want it to become in the future.
Timing is truly everything. Sometimes the timing that presents itself isn’t the one you’d think would be the best timing for you to undertake a project either. Best case in point: 45 days after I launched Jorie Loves A Story to the world, my personal life garnished a heap of personal stress and adversity; my blog became my saving grace during the first two years of it’s existence simply because it allowed me a way to off-set my focus from myself and to re-focus on the writers whose stories I was greeting as I read each one in turn. This simple re-direction re-enabled me to focus on everything that was positive even if everything else that was going on was difficult to overcome. We don’t always choose the timing in our lives to act or to take a risk to try something new that could change our lives. Sometimes we have to believe in what we do not yet fully understand or perceive as leading us to ‘someplace’ we’re meant to be lateron. All of life is a leap of faith. Including the timing in which we act to change our destiny.
INSPIRATION:
Again, this wasn’t a section I could personally connect with because most of what was being expressed and shared by Mr Tankard has been in my life for a long time. I grew up in a family who constantly inspired each other and built each other up by focusing on the positive in our lives. We had living histories in our family, too. Where we would take time to focus on the past and re-visit the lives of those who came before us inasmuch as we shared the stories I might not have known about my living relatives as I was quite young when my extended family started to pass on. I was grateful to know a bit about their lives prior to my entrance as it filled me with inspiration knowing more about where they came from and what they had done throughout their lives up to the point where I met them myself.
I do agree – we each have to decide what re-invigorates our spirit to create and to dream. Dreams are our lifeblood and our encouraging force to see the light threading through our days. Dreams help reserve our joy and embrace what we dare to believe is possible. We are constantly changing as our life goals change, and so too, do our dreams. By keeping consistently aware of what our innermost desires are and what we’re feeling inspired to do next in our lives, our inspiration will stay foremost in front of us. Personally, I find inspiration arriving out of the blue most days, as it’s as simple as an uplifting song, a walk in nature or acknowledging the natural world, a convicting story recently read, a happy-go-lucky Twitter chat, a wicked brilliant story heard aloud or even spending time knitting with my Mum! Knitting is my Zen; it re-aligns my inner balance and helps me re-focus by letting in new inspiration to bring into my life. Art is a therapy of it’s own creation.
NETWORK:
Again, this is a principle I learnt through my family – about how networking within your own living environ and community can withhold unexpected joys and revelations lateron. My family and I were always the cheerful sorts who like to give a positive nod of conversation or encouragement to whomever they meet! You’d be surprised how even within your ordinary habits of travelling in your community how you will see others’ speak in haste or not treat others with respect. A classic example is how many times have you gone out to eat and everyone treats the wait staff or server or clerk as if they are ‘less than’ everyone else? How many people acknowledge ‘the person’ rather than seeing them as someone being ‘of service’ to their (immediate) needs? How many take the time to acknowledge them, chat a short bit and get to know them on a personal level outside of the required bit where you place your order?
Networking isn’t rocket science – sometimes you find people at times where your not expecting to meet anyone new or to make a connection that will work for both of you. By keeping open and responsive, you’ll find meeting people isn’t as complicated as it appears to be. Sometimes you’ll find people will help you lateron even if you did not specifically get to know them in the short-term to fill a need you had down the road. By keeping positive and open to meeting new people who are not in your circle, you never know what door will open!
YOU:
I do agree – we each choose how to reach towards our goals and our dreams. We all make choices that will effect how our own personal story will be told or revealled. We’re the best encourager we have and the one that can hold ourselves back at the same time. Sometimes we need nudges and reminders about the strength we have inside to pursue what we’re trying to achieve and other times, we’re the ones who need to be someone elses cheerleader. The key is to find balance in being there for others (by listening, by supporting, by encouraging) and by being there for ourselves. We cannot forsake our own path nor can we dismiss our instincts if we are feeling guided to build more of the foundation that will lead to our dreams.
A FaithWords Blogger Extra Feature: Google+ Hangout feat. Ben Tankard
24th August, 2016 | Answering blogger Qs and sharing his journey
The questions I asked Mr Tankard:
Mr Tankard as you’ve created a special niche of music known as Gospel Jazz whilst visiting a church and sitting down to play in the lark of the moment, what were the initial steps you took to claim this genre of music and become a recording artist?
Mr Tankard I noticed in different places of your book you’ve mentioned you were a drop-out and although I realise there is a certain stigma attached to people who do not complete either high school or college, I found your educational background immaterial. What do you think will create a change of thought in this regard to accept self-motivated self-learners who find alternative routes to better themselves by a lifelong pursuit of knowledge?
Mr Tankard when do you feel the most at ease when your creating music? When do you know personally that you’ve captured the sound or texture of piece you’ve been working on?
Of which he kindly responded during the Q&A session with FaithWords!
I was full of gratitude to stream this interview & have the opportunity to ask questions which the author himself enjoyed responding, too! It was such a beautiful extension of reading the book! I used to love participating in a similar exchange of conversations with authors when BookTalk Nation was actively bridging authors and readers together through real-time conversations via YouTube and phone calls. This felt like a return to those exchanges I loved so much!
Thank you, FaithWords for setting this up for all us who loved reading the book!
This book review is courtesy of:
FaithWords
I am full of gratitude to FaithWords for giving me the pleasure of reading this book! I can honestly say I never heard of Ben Tankard prior to receiving this book and looking him up on the internet shortly thereafter to place the links in his biography on my review! What an incredibly motivating spirit who is increasing everyone’s joy by gracing them with a guiding light towards remembering how to find our path when life obscures our vision of how we go from where we are to where we’re in transition of arriving.
Rock on, Mr Tankard! Rock on!
Thanks too, for recognising I was the ‘third’ choice of reader picked up your book!
I look forward to reading your thoughts & commentary!
Especially if you read the book or were thinking you might be inclined to read it. I appreciate hearing different points of view especially amongst readers who gravitate towards the same stories to read. Bookish conversations are always welcome!
Read the #bookreview where a #bookblogger applied #TheFullTankLife of @BenTankard! Click To Tweet
@BenTankard answered Qs by #FaithWords #bloggers via live video! Watch it here! Click To Tweet
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2016.
I’m a social reader | I tweet as I read
Looking forward to the #livechat w/ @BenTankard via @FaithWords (https://t.co/XDOTYcb35U) video #interview! Reminds me of @booktalknation :)
— Jorie Loves A Story (@joriestory) August 24, 2016
Ooh! can finally view @BenTankard via his #livechat w/ @FaithWords! New link https://t.co/evh2TcASyK! My connection is in/out but I'm happy!
— Jorie Loves A Story (@joriestory) August 24, 2016
Wicked awesome Q&A w/@BenTankard! @FaithWords hosted a #livechat feat. #blogger Qs & this #motivational speaker! Blessed he answered my Qs.
— Jorie Loves A Story (@joriestory) August 24, 2016
@joriestory @BenTankard we loved having you! Thanks Jorie!
— FaithWords (@FaithWords) August 24, 2016
I found my #TuesdayMotivation in @BenTankard's #interview via @FaithWords! Now I'm #reading #YAFantasy by @WorldWeaver_wwp & #whoaretheclan!
— Jorie Loves A Story (@joriestory) August 24, 2016
*Loved!* #amreading #TheFullTankLife by @BenTankard #NonFiction via @FaithWords will INSPIRE https://t.co/1X2nPrYfRQ pic.twitter.com/SpRCFE6rux
— Jorie Loves A Story (@joriestory) August 28, 2016
#SundayBlogShare feat. NEW #nonfiction by @BenTankard https://t.co/1X2nPsfQJo Concepts applied by #bookblogger whose a #writer; #writerslife
— Jorie Loves A Story (@joriestory) August 28, 2016
#SundayBlogShare seeking a #writingprompt?
try #reading #Christian #nonfiction;
to INSPIRE journalling? https://t.co/1X2nPrYfRQ #amwriting— Jorie Loves A Story (@joriestory) August 28, 2016
Ever want to find #motivationalbooks giving clear goals & lead w/#writingprompts? I found #TheFullTankLife inspiring https://t.co/1X2nPsfQJo
— Jorie Loves A Story (@joriestory) August 29, 2016
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