Consumer Critique: The God Box

I recently had a chance to review The God Box: Sharing My Mother's Gift of Faith, Love and Letting Go. This book would make an excellent gift for anyone who has lost a parent, or anyone who wants to think about the legacy they may be leaving behind. The book begins with a little backstory about the author's mother, and her death. It then delves into the God Box itself - the collection of notes that her mother wrote to God on behalf of everyone she cared about. It's divided into sections about compassion, aspiration, perseverance, and everything else she values. To get a little more information about the book, here's part of a Q&A with the author. Question: The most powerful lessons I found in the book was the power of your mom letting things go. Your mom was able to write it down put it in the box and let it go. How did she do that? Mary Lou Quinlan: We do hold on and think that we can do everything. We just mull and mull and chew and chew and stay up all night, your head is rolling with a million things. And I'm not saying my mom was perfect and she never worried, but certainly some things she asked for again and again. In the case of her illness, it wasn't like she had this cancer and it was over and out. As she experienced new levels of it she would ask again. It asn't about giving up. It wasn't really a persistence but she did learn to let go. That's why when we would keep nagging about whatever we were complaining about, she would say you really have to stop thinking you can fix this. She had this belief that it will be handled as it should be. She was amazing. She was a working mom in every way and a great wife to my dad, mother to us and just did her thing, day by day. Question Did you find it cathartic writing the book or did you find it difficult going back to those parts of your life? Mary Lou Quinlan: It continues to be cathartic because I guess the play makes it never over. I found that when I've written business books before, it's so easy to be arm's length from a subject and be all smarty pants but when you're writing about your mother... it had to be the best I could ever do. That's why I kept thinking the book had to be good for her.That makes you think deeply about what was the truth and what did I feel. And it's very cathartic, particularly about my dad because he died more recently. If you have experienced this and I'm not saying things get better with time but it does help, with my Dad's memory being so fresh when I write about him, I can say that was the harder part. I could still see him. And I also took care of him for six weeks in hospice which was different than my mom's situation so the death part of it was so palpable to me and writing about it was probably the hardest part. But I knew he wanted me to do it. When I first told him I was going to be doing it, I didn't know at the time that he was going to die. Question: Tell us about The God Box App you're developing. Mary Lou Quinlan: We hope the app will be ready in May and it will be free for the iPhone. It's very simple and you can choose your little note paper - just like my mom had different papers. It says Dear --- you fill in the blank and you have your message, sign it and then there's animation as it goes in the box. My mom always told people that you were in my God Box and now everyone can do it. Question: Where is the play running? Mary Lou Quinlan: It doesn't run in the traditional sense. I'll be doing it on the road in five different venues. I've set up different events - the proceeds of the book are going largely to cancer causes. It's really interweaving what works for the various audiences I'm performing it at a synagogue, at a hospice. For the next three weeks I'm at a different place every day. I'm doing a half hour version as part of the book tour vs. the theater crowd. What I've identified are the most important themes. The thing that I have heard when I talk about my mom, people say "but I hate my mom, I can't believe you never had a fight," I'm not going to make up a conflict. The conflict is more in me grappling with my ongoing relationship with letting go and having the courage to admit that something is wrong. For more information, please visit The God Box Project, follow @GodBoxProject, or like The God Box Project on Facebook. You can also find The God Box Project on Youtube and Mary Lou Quinlan's Pinterest page or Mary Lou Quinlan on LinkedIn. Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of the book to facilitate this review.