Sarah Ban Breathnach, (author of bestselling book, Simple Abundance,) relates a suprising story in her latest book, Something More, Excavating Your Authentic Self. The story goes that Gloria Steinem, one of the founders of the Women's Liberation Movement, came to a point in her life where she began feeling incomplete (p. 155). She wanted something more. This being the case, if one of the founders of the women's movement felt that something was still missing after being liberated, how can other women find freedom?

In a different vein, Anfra's book, You Are My Sister, addresses the same issue. At the beginning of her book, she quotes Ralph Ellison: "When I discover who I am, then I'll be free." This simple truth is at the crux of the problem faced by many women. Unfortunately, we have been taught the opposite--- that freedom starts on the outside. Consequently, we often seek our dreams from the outside rather than from within.

And that is the paradox. Today many women are seeking that something more, in spite of the fact that they have more. In general, women have "more" money, "more" prestige and "more" power than ever before in history. At the same time, women suffer "more" anguish, "more" anxiety, and "more" anger. Why? In spite of "high-powered careers," living out the dream of having it all (family and a career,) and even owning our own businesses, something is missing. Women have never felt emptier. In fact, women are dying from the "more" disease. This symptom can be witnessed by the increase in the number of suicides, heart attacks, and cases of depression suffered by women. As Anfra's book contends, women are "spiritually bankrupt."

Needless to say, women are sick but they don't know why. As Anfra's book points out, modern women are beset with so many problems because many of us are living without a purpose. We are busy, but going nowhere fast. Somehow, in moving up and seeking more, women have lost touch with their spiritual purpose. You are My Sister shows that what is missing is spiritual fulfillment. This book will aid women in putting some substance back into their lives.

Anfra does so through a series of candid essays and written exercises to help women get back in touch with themselves. In her essay, from "Powerless to Powerful," she gives a personal account as to how she walked off her job in corporate America in order to pursue her dream of being a motivational speaker/writer/publisher. She shows how she stepped out there on faith in spite of the naysayers, even in her church. In that case, her first book, You are My Sister, is truly her vindication that she made the right choice to follow her heart. Life is not an exact formula. That's why we are given spirit and intuition. Anfra uses her book to help other women define what gives them joy and meaning.

With no holds barred, Anfra's book, You Are My Sister examines how women author much of their own misery. She addresses issues such as why women date married men, why women have unprotected sex in this day and age of Aids, and why men cheat. Her signature poem, the "Sisterhood Creed," urges women to unite in a bond of Sisterhood.

Although this book is written by an African American woman, it is for women from all ethnic backgrounds in that so many women today are "stressed out" from juggling the demands of career and families. Stress is the number one killer and it knows no race or gender. But more specifically, this book is relevant to African American women, who allegedly have had a history of being "liberated" when it came to being a part of the work force. Yet now that Black women are more "educated," have more "choices," why don't they feel "liberated?"

Where are the answers? Anfra's You Are My Sister offers many solutions. This book provides affirmations and meditations to help women align themselves with their purpose. She gives alternatives to women such as why they should consider celibacy as a healthy way of life when they are single. She has an essay on "Coping with Loneliness" for single women. There is a chapter on "Living By faith,"which involves reprioritizing our lives. Anfra shows how many of us claim we have faith, but our faith is in our jobs, our material possessions, our husbands, boyfriends and preachers. She has a workbook at the end of the book to help us peer into the mirror of self. These self-inventories outline our sexual histories and the qualities we would like in our spiritual mate.

What is so unique about this book is that it started out as an Internet column. Due to the response from women around the world, the author saw the need to write the book. It is set apart from the other motivational books in that it has a feast of poetry, sermons and essays. After reading this book, women will feel enlivened and empowered.

To sum up the essays in Anfra's book, she demonstrates how having more is not the equivalent of "being more" when there is no spiritual foundation. When one has a spiritual center, one can become in sync with her purpose. But in order for women to be in sync with our purpose, women have to excavate layers of who they were told to be instead of whom they wanted to be--their authentic selves. Anfra examines this syndrome of living as a people pleaser through her poem, about living through "Someone Else's Eyes."

To quote Gloria Steinhem, at the end of her quest for "something more", she realized, "Self-Esteem isn't everything…" It's just that's there's nothing else without it."