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, and decided 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 “pearls of gold,” or life lessons, helped them overcome traumatic events in their lives and move on. The self-help book they wrote, detailing what those 13 pearls of gold are, is full of insights 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 Great 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 distinguished woman who lived through the terror of being kidnapped by someone she knew, stabbed to death by the man, and left for dead. Dr. Lycka and Harriet Tinka could have let these things sour them and alter the course of their lives and careers for the worse. Instead, they moved on, grew, and didn’t let the negative things they went through 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 give away too many spoilers. I prefer that potential readers of the book have the pleasure of seeing what pearls are for themselves by reading the book by Dr. Lycka and Harriet Tinka. They reveal what pearls are in a captivating and entertaining way by telling stories from their own lives and also using myriad quotes from famous authors like Ralph Waldo Emerson and celebrities like Sir Paul McCartney, Christopher Reeve and Bruce Lee.
However, I will mention a couple of 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 very 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 recount a story called “My Uncle” as 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 for suffering a brain aneurysm. Her uncle was there with Lauren and the rest of her family at the hospital by her side, supporting them and her 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 reunions 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 chapter eleven 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 prank 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 commands and cajoling.
The camel repeatedly tries to throw Dr. Lycka, who now regrets his decision to attempt to ride the animal, off its back. Only after the ordeal is over, and the camel driver buys a Coke for Dr. Lycka, is the author able to see the humor in the situation and laugh at it. Both authors list various ways in which laughter, including being able to laugh at oneself, is important. Dr. Lycka writes that: “Laughter, especially at one’s own, tempers the ego, interrupts narcissism, and enhances your happiness in the moment.” It’s one of the thirteen pearls the two authors write about that can really make a world of difference in our lives, make the problems and worries we all have seem a little less important, and help people achieve a “great life.” .
The secrets to living a fantastic life It is a book that I really enjoyed reading. It is a valuable and engaging self-help book that will keep readers engrossed and entertained while informing and teaching them about the thirteen secrets, or “pearls,” discovered by authors Dr. Allen Lycka and Harriet Tinka. Knowledge about these pearls may not make us lead 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 the life and will put them on the path to becoming better versions of themselves. This is a book that I highly recommend you check out and add to your reading lists!