The secrets to living a fantastic life by Dr. Allen Lycka and Harriet Tinka is a very inspiring and thought provoking book written by two people who have lived through extremely traumatic and difficult experiences. The authors learned from those experiences and came to understand that they did not have to let what happened to them negatively influence the rest of their lives. Instead, they both chose to move on and have successful careers and happy lives, deciding to collaborate and write a book to help others live “fantastic lives.”
The secrets to living a fantastic life is subtitled “Two survivors reveal the 13 golden pearls they have discovered.” Those “golden pearls,” or life lessons, helped them get through the traumatic events in their lives and move on. The self-help book they wrote, detailing what those 13 golden pearls are, is full of revelations that The authors hope it will inspire readers of the book. The negative things that everyone experiences in their lives, to one degree or another, do not have to define who we are as people.
I really liked that Dr. Allen Lycka and Harriet Tinka opened up in The Secrets to Living a Fantastic Life and revealed the nature of the traumatic experiences they went through. Dr. Lycka was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS) and told he only had six months to live. Harriet Tinka was a fashion model and woman of distinction who lived through the terror of being kidnapped by someone she knew, stabbed by the man, and left for dead. Dr. Lycka and Harriet Tinka could have let these things embitter them and alter the course of their lives and careers for the worse. Instead, they moved on, grew, and didn’t allow the negative things they went through to define them.
What are the 13 golden pearls that the authors discovered and relate to their readers in The secrets to living a fantastic life? Being an author myself, I don’t want to reveal too many spoilers. I’d rather potential readers of the book have the pleasure of seeing what pearls are for themselves by reading Dr. Lycka and Harriet Tinka’s book. They reveal pearls in an engaging and entertaining way by telling stories from their own lives as well as using a myriad of quotes from famous authors such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and celebrities such as Sir Paul McCartney, Christopher Reeve and Bruce Lee.
However, I will mention a couple of the pearls that I loved reading about the most, and those are the importance of forgiveness and laughter. I’ll talk more about some of the other gems with Dr. Lycka and Harriet Tinka in an interview they graciously agreed to do with me, which can be read elsewhere on this site.
The ability to forgive someone who has hurt and wronged you can be very difficult to do, but doing so is an important step if one wants to live what the authors call “a fantastic life.” The authors write about this in the seventh chapter of the book, “Forgiveness.” They relate a story called “My Uncle” told by a contributor to the book, Lauren Magliaro. Lauren begins the chapter by recounting the reconciliation that took place between her uncle and her father, when her father was in the hospital suffering from a brain aneurysm. Her uncle was there with Lauren and the rest of their family at the hospital by their side, supporting them and their brother during what Harriet describes as “the hardest days of our lives.”
After Lauren’s father recovered, whatever the gap between him and his brother was like a “clean slate.” From that point on, both sides of Lauren’s family were back together, and she writes that “family gatherings no longer had a dividing line.” Forgiveness is definitely a very powerful pearl that we should all treasure in our hearts. In fact, Lauren describes forgiveness as “the essence of love.”
Laughter is such an important part of our lives that it has sometimes been called “the best medicine.” In the eleventh chapter of The secrets to living a fantastic life, aptly titled “Laughter,” Dr. Lycka begins the chapter by writing about a run-in he had with a stubborn camel he was trying to ride in Egypt. The camel driver, playing a trick on Dr. Lycka, tells him that the camel he has chosen is the “softest”, but the stubborn animal refuses to obey the camel driver’s orders and flattery.
The camel repeatedly tries to throw Dr. Lycka, who is now regretting his decision to try to ride the animal, off its back. Only after the ordeal is over, and the camel driver buys a Coke for Dr. Lycka, can the author see the humor in the situation and laugh at it. Both authors relate various ways in which laughter, including being able to laugh at oneself, is important. Dr. Lycka writes that: “Laughter, especially at oneself, moderates the ego, interrupts narcissism, and enhances your happiness in the moment.” It is one of the thirteen pearls that the two authors write about that can really make a big difference in our lives, make the problems and worries that we all have seem a little less important and help people achieve a “fantastic life” .
The secrets to living a fantastic life It is a book that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. It is a valuable and engaging self-help book that will keep readers engrossed and entertained as it informs and teaches them about the thirteen secrets, or “pearls,” discovered by authors Dr. Allen Lycka and Harriet Tinka. Knowing about these pearls may not lead to fantastic lives overnight, but when put into practice on a daily basis, the nuggets of wisdom the authors write about will definitely improve readers’ overall perspectives on life. life and put them on the path to becoming better versions of themselves. This is a book I highly recommend you check out and add to your reading lists!
