How can you not pick up a book called “Living a Charmed Life: Your Guide to Finding Magic in Every Moment of Every Day? We all want to live a charmed life, don’t we?

In this how-to book, Victoria Moran presents fifty lighthearted essays which are essentially instructions on how to live a life of full happiness and contentment with a prosperity thrown in for good measure. While many of the tips given can be considered common sense; for example, give peace a chance, detox your body, and dress for the occasion, Moran delves deeper into hidden meanings and then drills everything down to bullet lists of simple day-to-day action.

Just when I thought there couldn’t possibly be anything else I could glean from her wisdom, each new essay brought to light more practical information that was truly inspirational and funny, to boot. Moran's approach is effective because it's personal. She uses her own experiences and explains how simple interactions and turns of events become essential to opportunities for living a charmed life. In “Take such good care of yourself, she tells the story of her best friend Consuelo who said, "Remember when you take care of yourself, you take care of the universe". In “Write yourself a life list” she recounts the story of her daughter who at the age of seven hands her a piece of paper that lists the things she wanted to do. Moran expected to see “fantasy” items, not the seemingly impossible, “would take a miracle for any of them to come true” items of go to Paris, go to China, learn to scuba dive, and be in a movie. Not wanting to deflate her daughter’s dreams, she responded “That’s nice.” Her daughter was able to check everything off of that list as complete and did so by the ripe old age of twelve.

My personal favorites include "Start a serendipity log," “Enlist your inner epicure”, “Give something away today”," "Take such good care of yourself." “Write yourself a life list”, “Fill your life with beauty”, “Indulge in your simplest pleasure” and “Expect the Best”. In "Expect the Best", she tells a story of when she was 14 that she knew that she was going to meet the Beatles. She didn't just "want" to meet them - she "expected" to meet them - and she goes on to tell how she did. This chapter in Living a Charmed Life made me wonder what happened to my expectations? As we grow older, why do we stop expecting the good things to happen to us?

Each chapter concludes with a “Lucky Charm”, an action item or inspirational nugget that applies to the lesson of the chapter. Probably the best lucky charm that Moran shares in the book is in the last few pages. This is where she lists all her resources of the like-minded people who have written their stories and shared their insights.

The essays are quick reads and a great way to start or end your day. While reading this book, I felt hopeful and appreciative. I just loved this book! "Living a Charmed Life" is a life guide, one that has all the easy instructions for living a life worth living. Everyone deserves a charmed life... Moran shows how to achieve it.