Momnificent. Isn’t that a great word? Lori Radun, author of The Momnificent Life: Healthy and Balanced Living for Busy Moms, defines it as “simply a concept that describes moms who value living positive, healthy and balanced lives.” And the goal of her new book “is to equip you with the tools you need to create a momnificent life as a mom.”

Reviewed on 10/07/2010 by ReviewTheBook.com Member Laura Fabiani

The Momnificent Life; Healthy and Balanced Living for Busy Moms, is a guide for all moms no matter what activities you balance. Whether you juggle your home life with work, school, church, sports, or charities, every mom has a busy and hectic life that can easily be encouraged, advised, influenced and supported by this book. The author lays a careful plan and guideline to help moms in areas such as time, managemnt, financial intimacy, personal development, career and health among many others. The goal is to help moms discover themselves aside from, yet in tune with, their children and families. It’s a book of how to manage life and stress, showing how you can have it all. It is about balance and how to take a nurturing approach to motherhood.

The book starts off with an introduction that shares the eight components to having a “Momnificent” life. Each component is summarized and later expanded on throughout the book. I found this overview very useful to the rest of the book. There is a wealth of knowledge in The Momnificent Life. The first time you read it will not be your last. I found myself re-reading specific chapters that dealt with my own needs as a mom and going back to it as a guide and re-fresher. The author carefully explains life as a balance process. If it is tipped to much in one direction it can easily burn us out. No one activity is good all the time, they are better in a balance with other activities, just the same as our health and eating habits. She clearly states that a balanced life is different for everyone because balancing is personal and in regards to what is important to you. She gives charts and assignment suggestions throughout the book help the reader to better understand themselves.

I really enjoyed this book! It is by far a wonderfuly useful tool to me as a mother. I am constantly busy. I have my own two children, one in school and the other potty training and generally a very curious child, which means I cannot take my eyes off her. In addition I baby-sit my nephew full time and work a full time job. I rarely have time for myself and have known I am burning out quickly for a while. The book has helped me prioritize where I didn’t know how, examine areas I didn’t think to examine, and encouraged me in area I have already started changing and working on. It is not a book that is a one time read for me, but rather one I go to to help remind me, encourage me and give me advise. One of my favorite parts of this book was “zap the mommy guilt” something every mother deals with on multiple levels and many different areas. I also personally enjoyed the chapter on friendships and stress. These two are two problem areas for me, my friendships are not being tended to properly and the stress comes in large amounts that are not healthy. With great attention to detail and the aspects of a moms life, Lori Redun provides a wonderful guide on how to be Momnificent!

Reviewed on 08/30/2010 by ReviewTheBook.com Member Tiffany Schlarman

 The Momnificent! Life— Healthy and Balanced Living for Busy Moms is the book that many mom’s have cried out to the heavens for. “Where is the manual?” Well, Lori Radun, a life coach, public inspirational speaker and author has answered the cries of busy mom’s with this book! As a full-time worker outside the home, homeschooling mother and wife I can attest to the struggles of keeping everything in balance while maintaining my sanity.   

Reviewed on 02/28/2010 by ReviewTheBook.com Member Paula Gardner-Porter

I am the world's worst procrastinator. When it comes to getting important things done, I'd rather stick my head under the pillow and hope that they'll get done by themselves. Or become no longer important.

It's not that I don't have a little time to do those things. Or even that I don't want to. I just have the ability to waste the time I do have on inconsequential things, like entering book giveaway contests. There is just this rush feeling I get when I find a "You Won" email in my inbox that keeps me going! At least it's an inexpensive addiction, right?

Or not. Time is pretty valuable these days. They say the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem.

Needless to say, I don't perceive my life to be very balanced. I scored quite horrifically on the Life Balance Analysis found in The Momnificent! Life: Healthy and Balanced Living for Busy Moms by Lori Radun.

It's time to get my head out from under the pillow and strive for healthy and balanced living.

Overview

This book is all about balance. "Balance occurs when who you are, what you want to do in life, and what you value are aligned with your thoughts, activities and choices."

Radun looks at eight components of your life - personal development, spirituality, fun and enjoyment, relationships, health & aging, personal finance, career & profession, and home & family - and, after helping you assess each component, gives you tips and strategies for achieving balance within those components. Each of the 59 chapters has a Take Action Assignment, as well, to motivate you to make the changes needed to achieve balance.

My Review

I started this book trying to read straight through it - thinking that's what I'd need to do to write a review.

Bad idea. Not only did my mind keep straying from the formidable task at hand, all the ideas jumbled up in an insurmountable and left me with nothing to focus on - no single-sentence message that could help me achieve anything.

So I quit reading. Took a  break. Went back to the first chapter. The assessment. Yes - I need help in just about every category of my life! But I'm not gonna achieve balance all in one go - it's an ongoing process! And I need to start small.

If I treat this book as a reference manual, it works far better.

The chapter on time management was a good one for me. In her 5 E's list, Radun helps you identify and prioritize non-negotiable items, things you have to do, and finally the "Uglee" items - time wasters that you need to be conscious of and strategize to minimize their damage.

And of course, the procrastination chapter! I appreciate that the author acknowledges that there ARE benefits to procrastination - that's why so many of us do it! And I appreciate her challenge to make changes to break the cycle.

The references to spirituality left me feeling a little uncomfortable. I am a Christian. The author believes in God. Yet the attempt has been made, it seems, to make this a book that meets all readers whatever their spiritual beliefs. And I would be more comfortable with a book that is overtly Christian in its solutions to finding balance, since Christ is the balancing point to me.

If you're looking for a starting point in your search for balanced living, by all means check this book out.

Don't expect it to work miracles.

However, it can be a handy reference guide, first to direct you to the areas you need to work on in your life to achieve balance, and then to give some tips in that area.

Once you know what you want to work on, you may want to supplement your reading with additional information on that area. For example, I've seen entire books on teaching children independence and responsibility that will obviously give a lot more information than you will find in one short chapter of this book.

And it might be helpful to read through this book as a group or with a partner - to provide some accountability for the action items.

Reviewed on 08/07/2009 by ReviewTheBook.com Member Jane Maritz