A Charmed Journey: An Inspired Guide to Personal Transformation, by best selling author Angela Lenhardt doesn’t “tell” us, as much as she show us, her personal “in the trenches” odyssey—from being raised on a small farm in rural Montana by her rarely-home father and an alcoholic mother, to the life of a gifted psychic and intuitive healer, one who has touched countless people’s lives with her spiritual counseling and healing work.
“Living a happy, passionate and soul-filled life has been my priority; but the journey has been anything but well-paved or uneventful . . . The lessons I have learned have been powerful and life-changing. I have seen Spirit work through me, my animals, my relationships and my clients in truly phenomenal ways . . . Miracles happen before our very eyes . . . If we remain focused and trust in the process, allowing the universe to work through us, we discover that our purpose is to be of service—as well as to live a glorious life.”
Her affable and easygoing style of writing wins the reader’s attention through every chapter. The overall tone of awareness is not overworked, and it is carefully delivered…Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
— 22nd Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards, Judge
A marvel of a book. Readable and chock full of advice for living a spiritually aligned life.
— Well-known spiritual author Dr. Wayne W. Dyer
A Charmed Journey: An Inspired Guide to Personal Transformation
A Charmed Journey illustrates Angela’s struggle to identify her “life purpose,” as well as her search to resolve a variety of issues relating to men, money, housing, and “regular” work. Upon graduating from college with a degree in business, Angela quickly recognizes she is not “happy” at all—not with her career choice, her relationships, nor her life, in general. Inspired to study Thai massage in Chiang Mai, Thailand, Angela takes numerous trips to Asia, eventually completing her certification. Upon opening a stateside massage practice, she still finds she wants more out of life.
Angela vigorously pursues interests developed during her Asian studies, including taking training courses in “Reiki” – a spiritual practice and energy healing modality developed in 1922 by Mikao Usui, a Japanese Buddhist. Having a powerful experience in her first Reiki “attunement,” Angela continues on to become a Reiki Master herself. Simultaneously, she begins “awakening” to other dimensions of her spiritual life, including psychic gifts such as clairvoyance, clairaudience, and direct communication with angels and Spirit (a.k.a. God).
Both before and after this personal awakening, Angela shares—in A Charmed Journey—colorful, thought-provoking anecdotes and insightful lessons about “living an extra-ordinary life,” continually addressing what she considers to be the ABC’s of personal growth: one’s spiritual, emotional and physical interactions with the universe. In the concluding chapters, she offers up ten “daily habits” she practices and suggests, “ones that have produced the greatest results” in her life.
Book Review by Tim Larison
Early in “A Charmed Journey: An Inspired Guide to Personal Transformation” author Angela Dawn Lenhardt tells the story of how her mom would often get upset on the ride home from school with Lenhardt’s choice of words. The young Lenhardt, it seems, had a special talent for making her mother angry. “Immediately I’d be told to get out of the car and run home,” the author recalls. “Although it was somewhat of an ‘odd’ punishment,” Lenhardt says, “Mom’s discipline and my daily workouts paid off. I received track and cross-country scholarships, which paid for my college … and still to this day, I’m passionate about running.”
This story is one of many in A Charmed Journey where Lenhardt turns a seemingly bad experience into something good. I liked Lenhardt’s conversational style in the book as she tells of her various adventures, and the spiritual lessons she learns from each one. “From my personal experiences, the uncomfortable situations seem to have transformed my life the most,” she writes. “The hurdles that prove to be the toughest to overcome can be your greatest teachers in life, if you are willing to accept the challenge with an open mind and heart.”
If you are like me, you will enjoy reading what trouble Lenhardt will get into next, and how she gets out of each situation with humor and grace. From being homeless, to living in monasteries in China and Thailand, to chasing her horse across a busy highway, A Charmed Journey is full of entertaining stories of the author’s life. I found the book very easy to read (I finished it in two days). Lenhardt is especially vulnerable in the book, as she reveals her thoughts and feelings with each incident. When she doesn’t have you laughing, Lenhardt slips in valuable insights, such as:
“Giving to others, I’ve come to realize, is only part of the equation. Knowing how to receive completes the cycle.”
“Be in a state of gratitude – never let a day go by without being thankful for what you have … and don’t focus on what you don’t have.”
And after time spent as a hospice worker, “We do have choices at the end of our journey. We can either choose to leave gracefully and effortlessly, or resist the inevitable, retaining fear of the unknown.”
Read A Charmed Journey for more bits of wisdom. I am in good company in being impressed with Lenhardt’s work. Well known spiritual author Wayne Dyer says A Charmed Journey is “a marvel of a book. Readable and chock full of advice for living a spiritually aligned life.”