“Starlight” Is Her Map To Spiritual Health: A Soul-Soothing Journey
This in-depth review by Kelly Steele, of my newest book --Awaken the Starlight Within-- is our first guest post.
She deep dives into life's joys and sorrows, revealing her one-of-a-kind experience with "Starlight," a book that guides your inner healing and positive feelings.
Kelly shares how Starlight helped her deal with losing a loved one, a journey from tragedy to triumph which many other readers have experienced, that warms my heart.
Starlight was written to help you navigate whatever challenges life throws your way, uncovering the light that is always within you.
Here's a short teaser about it from Kelly: “Awaken the Starlight Within is a road map that anyone can easily follow… for those who are ready to heal themselves… with an easy beginning and an ending that leaves us wanting more.”
Read below for Kelly Steele’s review of Awaken the Starlight Within: Heartfelt Wisdom to Reveal Your Personal Power.
Kelly received an advanced copy of 'Awaken the Starlight Within' by I. C. Robledo for an unbiased review. The book is a self-development guide that helps readers along their spiritual journey. Robledo encourages readers to let the book 'read' them, applying the wisdom to their life experiences. Kelly's review reflects her transformative experience and what the book's spiritual guidance looks like in practice, and the value of self-discovery.
Disclaimer: I received an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of Awaken the Starlight Within in exchange for a short review. The following post is completely separate, not sponsored by I. C. Robledo, and I was not paid for this.
Why We Are Here
I received a copy of this ARC book seven months ago and I finished reading this book five months ago.
And the review has been on my to do list ever since.
I wasn’t ready five months ago to write this.
As I re-read my notes last week, I realized why. I needed time to let it all simmer behind the scenes. I needed time to subconsciously apply some of the knowledge in this book.
Because, as I re-read my notes, everything meant ten times more to me last week, than it did five months ago. It probably would have meant five times as more to me than it would have two months ago. Basically, I needed to not write this back then. This piece could only have been written now.
Let the Book Read You
One of the very first things I. C. Robledo mentions in this book, is to let the book read you.
I gotta be honest. I thought he was crazy. I also don’t know what that even means. At least, I didn’t. Not before I actually read the book when I realized that I did, in fact, let the book read me.
Issac Robledo, a man with a mission “to seek truth and use wisdom to help individuals and societies pursue higher states of consciousness, understanding, and being,” has written many books, including this one.
His books include topics ranging from daily questions for inner exploration, how to take more away from books you read, guides on how to live your life peacefully, happily, and even one book that will help you discover that you are actually a genius, you just have to know how to access it.
I will be honest with you. I haven’t read any of his other books. I cannot even remember how I stumbled upon Robledo. I think I started following him on Twitter back in 2020, 2021, but that was a decade ago. And I am not even 50% positive of that.
I probably followed him because of his wise words. I’d tell you the type of wise words he says over there, but I am voluntarily, no longer a member of Twitter.
Moving on.
No Two Journeys are Alike
I have been on my own personal spiritual journey for a few years. I went through an existential crisis in 2020 due to a personal tragedy that gutted me and made me rethink everything. I ultimately became something, someone, new.
Robledo says this book is ultimately to help people bring all the things they have learned and discovered on their personal spiritual and self-development journeys. Into – more or less – a book that encapsulates all the aspects that one on a spiritual journey will encounter at one point or another.
With 15 books under his belt, all on various aspects of self-improvement and spirituality, he knows what he is talking about. He pulls from his personal life and shares the gifts that he has been given. And through his words, Awaken the Starlight Within is a road map that anyone can easily follow.
This is where his instructions to let the book read you, come into effect.
No two journeys are alike. Our personal journeys are much like fingerprints and snowflakes. Vastly different and unique. Where two people may have started at the same time, both will encounter different points of the “road map” at different times. And probably not even in the same order.
As someone who has been on her own spiritual journey for the last handful of years, I was honestly curious about what I would learn from this book. I was also curious what Robledo considered “Starlight.”
I was pleasantly surprised by the end.
Take Notes
I took notes while reading the book. Something I never do, but I felt compelled to do so for this one.
And then I completely forgot about the existence of the ARC until an email I had snoozed months earlier for future Kelly to deal with, popped up.
As the book read me, I had already encountered most of the topics he covered. Such as how to stop worrying about the future, how to stop caring what other people think, and learning to live with yourself not against yourself. I already had found my inner calm.
I started from the beginning and read in order. I did not skip around. Through the first half of the book, I found myself nodding constantly. I understood everything he had written. All things I experienced in the beginning of my journey.
Themes like remembering to look at the big picture, be present, look inwards for your own light, and live with – accepting – the knowledge that everything is temporary.
After each section I read, I jotted down a few thoughts.
After this first batch I read, I wrote:
“Robledo puts my feelings and understandings into words.”
And it’s true. Each concept that he discussed thus far, were things I had been ruminating on for a while. I just had a hard time finding the right way to describe them.
Notice, Find, Be the Good
I’d also add – make the good.
The next big chunk I read, included Robledo’s wisdom on how to notice the good, to find the good, to be the good.
He writes about daring to look inward at the flaws in our ideas because that is what we can control. This man of wisdom wants his readers to own their fears, to confront them. Because that is where we find our strength, our light.
My thoughts after this section included his Universe of Thoughts and the marriage of conscious and subconscious. A concept I hadn’t heard about or explored. And I made a note that I needed to work on this. Just not sure where to begin, how to start. I still haven’t looked further into this idea but I know it’s something that stuck out to me.
You see, Robledo’s book may compile things all types of things people have experienced on their road to becoming their best self. A lot of which are common information and things most of us know are important, yet we also struggle with. Daily.
Such as being empathetic and understanding, to rise above our anger, to let go of our ego, and staying true to who we are at our core, all important points on your personal journey.
Just this morning (the morning of editing this) I got frustrated with my 14 year old for something I have been reminding her to do for 6 years. Over and over. It’s become part of our daily conversation.
Now, in that moment, I didn’t scream. I didn’t yell. I told her how frustrated I was. And then we came up with a game plan. Before 2020, I would have lost my cool and everything else. The rest of my day completely ruined.
Instead, I went to the gym, came home, had a journaling pity party, and moved on.
The Value of Being Perfectly Imperfect
Robledo continues on, reminding his readers that our philosophy is a constant work in progress. That there is always a choice, and that starlight is what radiates from us to others when we have positive energy.
My kids know (now) that I don’t hate them when I am frustrated with them. I am not angry with them. I am frustrated about the situation. About the actions they are choosing.
They know that mom is, 95% of the time, positive. It took many years to get to this point, and every day, every situation, I still find myself needing to re-evaluate my thought process and how I am reacting.
Issac pushes this idea of being the perfect imperfect version of ourselves because trying to reach perfection will only bring about the “illness[es] of society”, such as imposter syndrome, ignorance, addiction, anger, lying.
Awaken the Starlight Within is a road map for those who are ready to heal themselves. It is for those ready to put in the work, or, at the very least, ready to open their minds to what could be. Because once they are ready, that is when the starlight within begins to awaken.
I.C. Robledo discusses topics that range from learning how to master our own selves, our own emotions, and thoughts, to becoming a lifelong student, an information seeker, where everything is something to experience, something to choose how we respond.
Around this time in the book, I wrote down:
“So many of Robledo’s thoughts and few choice words have made my hair stand up on end. Like we are similar souls and I was meant to connect with him.”
No cap. I don’t remember how I connected with him, just that I am glad I did.
Our Power is Both Creative and Destructive
And then we get to the next chunk I read. It included ideas on how to find our inner strength, how to rely on our intuition, to give up desire, thus taking ownership of our life. Robledo discusses creative and destructive forces. That “the power to create is deeply connected to the power to destroy.”
This chunk probably resonated with me the most as it tells us how to practice being still, practice patience, and how to take ownership of our life.
All things I find so incredibly invaluable in my life, that I am constantly finding ways to teach my kids these lessons so that they don’t have to learn this stuff at 30 like I did.
When I was re-reading my notes where I mentioned that “a year ago, I would have been dreaming about finding my personal power…as I read it [the book] today, I realized that I AM this section.”
I then go on to pledge to “destroy the last few remaining bad habits.”
It’s been 5 months since I read that chunk, wrote those thoughts. I didn’t do it consciously, but I am happy to report that I have destroyed 90% of those remaining bad habits I was thinking about when I made the comment.
You see, when you are on a journey to healing, a journey of self-growth, self-improvement, spirituality, whatever – everything you pick up along the way, stays with you. Maybe not consciously, but it will be there when it will mean more, make more sense. It will be ready when your path finally passes by.
Visualize What Can Be
When this book reads you, not everything will make sense to everyone. And yet, this book allows us to see ourselves in Robledo’s words.
The way he writes, the poetry and rhythm, help the reader feel what it might be like to not be angry constantly, to believe in ourselves, to let go of the externals. What it might look like if we were to throw out the frameworks to replace them with what makes sense, what seems a better fit, not what has always been done. To conquer our own weaknesses that we may not have realized we have.
Although, if you are reading this book, chances are you already are aware of your weaknesses and strengths. You are aware of what you want to change, evolve, so you can become unapologetically yourself because that is where starlight shines. Where your starlight shines.
When Robledo talked about No Man’s Land, a place with trials, a place unknown, a place not to be lived in, and yet completely unavoidable on any spiritual, physical, mental health journey, I made a quick note to remind me of what I felt in that moment that I read that section:
“This blew my mind! I think this section and the ones to come, is where my journey may be heading.”
I have been on this path for so long that when I think I can’t learn anymore, dive any deeper, heal anymore, when I read this section, Robledo stopped me in my tracks.
My thoughts after that section:
“Wordless. I am in No Man’s Land and the Twilight Zone theme song is playing. I am just frozen in awe. Everything is aligning…. I have been unlocking my limitless potential and that’s how I am here [reading this book].”
Memento Mori: Remember, You Must Die
I could have closed the book and walked away then. I had a lot to think about. No Man’s Land is where we aren’t sure what comes next, yet we continue to put in the effort to open our minds, to constantly seek knowledge, and apply what we learn to our lives, ultimately becoming our best versions.
“Death teaches you to live,” Robledo wrote. And that is straight facts. When my best friend died, my personal tragedy, I metaphorically died with her.
It was after her death, after I finally picked myself up, that I started reprioritizing. I stopped caring what people thought of me. I poured myself into what excited me, what sparked joy inside. I learned how to live in the present. Of course, those are all things I didn’t really start to master, let alone truly internalize, until this past year.
Robledo reminds us that there is never enough time. That, while this book reads you, life is but a snippet in time. A snippet that we should all aspire to live fully, freely, without regrets. A snippet in time in which we shouldn’t live to work, but work to live.
Our life’s blood, as Robledo refers to it, is what gets us the most excited, and gives us that feeling of “flow”, that makes you so happy, everything else blurs, that’s risky but worth doing, and that’s something you can do all day without succumbing to any of those illnesses of society Robledo believes in.
If we can remain true to that which makes us feel alive, aligned, authentic and still want to pursue more wisdom, more knowledge, and open ourselves up to the potential of being changed by something outside of us, with no expectations, that is how we awaken the starlight within.
Awaken the Starlight Within: A Roadmap
Robledo’s book is a roadmap. One with an easy beginning, and an ending that only leaves us wanting more. But we have to go through the other points along our journey to truly understand, to fully believe, to wholly embody and become, the starlight that he describes as representing goodness, unlimited potential, inspiration, love, truth, hope, joy, excellence, and, eventually, enlightenment.
Enlightenment: A place where, according to I. C. Robledo, we are finally seeing with our “whole being, heart, mind.” A place that we no longer have the energy for, or the energy of, the negativity and that which dulls our starlight.
Six days after I finished the book, I wrote my final thoughts. I mentioned that the last chunk I read didn’t really provide me any new info that I didn’t already know. However, what I did read, helped me internalize things that just had been floating. Those pieces that I have collected throughout my journey that I hadn’t had use for yet.
Like deciding to one day hire a house cleaner because I hate laundry and dishes and cleaning, yet I need a clean house to be creatively efficient, unhindered. Reprioritizing.
I wrote how writing and photography is my life’s blood. That I am a cheerleader of truth and try to teach my kids the value of truth – in the world around them and their own. That I made the problems in my life, and that I have the power to unmake them, taking away their power.
Robledo says that the more we understand, attract, give, love, the more our starlight will shine, our goodness. But only if we keep our minds clear and master our thoughts and true selves.
Remember to Keep Living
A few weeks earlier, I had completed a 16-mile 1 overnight backpacking trip with a few friends that I had been planning and working towards for four years. For four years, this experience consumed me. I had put so much energy into that event, that I completely forgot that life existed afterward.
Robledo would have some thoughts on that, on getting so focused on one goal, we forget to keep living. I lost myself for a few weeks after that trip. I was on a raft in the middle of a current-less ocean.
It was this book that reminded me life still existed. Actually, this book was what told me, made me realize, that I forgot to keep living.
Robledo ended his book talking about ending the chase. That by feeling fulfilled inside, we wont need, or search, or want. Or chase. I wrote in my takeaway thoughts that I wasn’t sure if I agreed or not with that statement. I am still of the same thought. But, I can confidently say that this is also where I am currently at in my journey.
However, I did write that this was the only section in the entire book where:
“This made me stop and think and question and long for more understanding.”
My Final Thoughts
Below are my final thoughts. Mostly grabbed from what I actually wrote down in my journal on June 15th, 2023.
All in all – this ARC book was enlightening. I didn’t know how a book could read me, but it did. It was as if it looked into my soul and formed the words I couldn’t.
I have been on this spiritual journey, this journey of awakening since I rose from the ashes in 2020. I. C. Robledo was able to put a very subjective spiritual journey into words and actions.
I don’t know if someone at the beginning of their journey will get it quite as clearly, but this book has many valuable lessons, stories, and methods on how we can become our best selves. Which, just so happens to also Awaken the Starlight Within.
For those farther on their journey, this book provides further support and evidence, proof that we are headed in the right direction. Towards experiencing unconditional truth, love, and understanding.
It should also be noted that Awakening the Starlight Within is not a one-and-done thing.
We all have starlight within us. It’s up to us to bring it to life and continue nourishing it.
This journey, this path – is living, breathing, evolving because this journey is us. If we stay still, stagnant, what’s the point?
If you find yourself stuck, still, stagnant, frozen, unsure how to move forward and are ready, Robledo, a spiritual guru, has some wisdom and knowledge he would like to share with you.
In the meantime, Adventure on with Curiosity,
Kelly “lifelong spiritual student” Steele
Now, a message from I. C. Robledo:
Ready for Awaken the Starlight Within to read YOU? Pick it up on Amazon or other major retailers.
