Amanda Owen is the author of Born to Receive: 7 Steps Women Can Take Today to Reclaim Their Half of the Universe. With a background in social work and a twenty-five year practice as a counselor and consultant, Amanda has been presenting lectures and workshops since the mid-eighties.

Born to Receive provides women with seven practical steps that are easy to integrate into daily lifestyles and will help them get ahead in the world. The book gives readers examples from inspiring women, exercises, special tips and resources that will help women develop better health, happiness and goal achievement strategies. In addition, Owen helps women to relieve stress by utilizing power that they already possess. Born to Receive provides readers with a simple but life-changing message: it is acceptable to receive.

Curious about some of the advice Amanda gives? We asked her a few fun questions so you can get to know the woman behind the advice…

Your first book, The Power of Receiving, was published in 2011.  What led you to write this second book and how does it expand upon your first?

The Power of Receiving provided a foundation and basic tools for living a balanced life. I enjoyed hearing from my readers and meeting some of them as I traveled giving talks and workshops. They told me that learning about receiving has given them a language and a framework that helped them to be stronger, steadier, happier, and healthier.

In 2012, I decided to write about the specific issues women face in daily life. Women pay attention and tend to other people’s needs in a way that makes them vulnerable to overextending their giving and subjugating their own needs and desires. I wanted to provide practical solutions and demonstrate how embracing their receptive power would give them more energy, reduce stress, and help them achieve greater reciprocity in their relationships and create more balance in their lives.

In Born to Receive I offer seven practical steps that women can easily integrate into their daily life and give numerous examples of women who have changed their lives for the better by using their receptive power.

At the end of each chapter in Born to Receive, you provide inspiring quotes by female thought leaders.  Who do you find most inspiring?

I find all of them inspiring! One of my favorite quotes is from cultural anthropologist, Mary Catherine Bateson: “We need to compose our lives in such a way that we both give and receive, learning to do both with grace.” I like its simplicity and quiet clarity.

What are three simple things women can do every day to help open up and receive?

I’ll give you my ABCs of Receiving:

1. Accept all compliments: Show the world you are ready to receive.

2. Be Spiritually Naked (authentic): Share who you are with others and invite them to get to know you.

3. Count Your Blessings: Strengthen your receptive powers by saying “thank you.”

What is the biggest takeaway you want women to understand after reading this book?

The path to happiness and fulfillment is not reached by overdoing and over-giving but by receiving as well as giving, so that all that you give is returned to you by grateful mates, appreciative children, thankful employers, and hard-working employees and coworkers.