If you are a parent raising children in the 21st century, you are likely struggling from the demands of living an over scheduled, frantic, and guilt-ridden life. Michelle Gale, mother, mindfulness teacher, and founder of the podcast, Mindful Parenting in a Messy World takes us on an intimate (and often hilarious) journey through her most difficult life experiences to show us when we embrace our struggles and imperfections with awareness, humor and love, our suffering becomes our greatest strength.

Michelle teaches us that the act of parenting really begins with parenting ourselves and understanding that when we tend to our inner landscape of past hurts and pain, we can show up in a more compassionate and authentic way with our children and everyone in our lives.

As the reader follows Michelle from childhood, adolescence, young adulthood and into parenthood, the reader witnesses the awakening of a wounded girl into a vaster consciousness and way of being present, even in moments of struggle. Michelle shares her discovery of meditation and mindfulness and how it helped her gain strength and clarity throughout the rollercoaster of experiences in her life.

Each chapter is coupled with an exercise that help her reader understand the basic premise of meditation and mindfulness and start cultivating their own practices. The exercises help readers relinquish the need to be in control and instead lean into discomfort, ultimately finding peace. As we develop a practice of deep forgiveness and compassion, we learn to love ourselves as perfectly, imperfect human beings.

Michelle brings her readers home to the message that life is messy, and it's exactly within this messiness where we find our greatest potential for growth and transformation.