Ilsa Reyes' "Before There's A We, There's Me" Book Review

With Ms Ilsa Reyes 

"There is in each one of us a hunger for love, a yearning to be loved, appreciated, affirmed and cared for." Sounds cheesy! This is the foreword of the book I just finished reading by Ms. Ilsa Reyes, author of psycho-spiritual books on wholeness and inner healings. Our society and technology right now seemed to have twisted the real definitions of things that matter in our lives.  Her book "Nuggets about Healthy Self-love and Relationships" hopes to enlighten us about small things we deal every single day about ourselves, relationships and God. 

Her handwritten dedication in my book

I admit it was quite a challenge for me to read a 107-page hardbound book because I am used to do all my readings via Internet now. Anyway, finishing this book is worth it. All throughout the pages as she cites examples of personas, I am one of these below :

1. Stopping to acknowledge emotions we were not able to face before 

2. Facing anger we were denying to feel

3. Times that call for proper closure of something in our lives

I have read the word "love" all throughout the book how many times and I am just amazed to know how this word is used in so many ways. I mean I am used to this word always pertaining to physical admiration and sexual desires. Once in a while it feels good to be reminded of good things that never fade. 

What I like the most of this book is the author, Ms Ilsa herself admits that she too experiences difficulties just the same as everyone else. She does not claim she is an expert about the stuff she talked in the book, instead she uses her past mistakes/weaknesses as a human being to easily connect with her readers' feelings.

Fellow blogger Rence Chan with her

Also one more thing that I noticed is that she is very much aware as an author that nowadays our attention span to any kinds of learning has become shorter. Perhaps because of the birth of social media and mobile apps that we want everything simplified or shortened. She wrote the book in a conversation manner to allow more people to easily get the substance of what she's trying to imply. With a size that is just a little bigger than a Samsung Galaxy smartphone, this means not eating a big chunk of our time. I believe this book can be finished  for a few hours in one day only. 

If you feel weary, blue, happy, sad, discontent or whatever you feel right now I recommend reading this book.  I may have no idea what it is or what you are going through but maybe grabbing a hardbound book is all you need to freshen up a bit or lighten what you have inside just as I felt the same way after reading this. 

The book Before There's A We, There's Me is available at all Saint Paul's Bookstore for only P100.  If you want to get in touch with the author, Ms Ilsa Reyes' email is ilsabreyes@gmail.com. She is also a co-anchor at Salitang Buhay on DZMM Teleradyo Sundays 8:30-10pm with live audio through dzmm.com.ph, channel 26 Skycable & 630 khz am station in Manila.