Book Reviews

This first review is going to be about the bestseller, The Secret. Many of you have no doubt read it, plan to read it, or have seen the movie. I thought it would be a great place to start. The writer, Rhonda Byrne, has single-handedly created a rush of interest in metaphysical theories that have been around for centuries. She has a gift for synthesizing and creating awareness of the very powerful energy currents that are all around us.

The most important piece of information in the book is the concept that “like attracts like.” This is a universal law, and many spiritual practices have been founded on it. The Theosophists and the secular Unity Church have it at their core, and as Rhonda Byrne points out, it has always shown up in some form in spiritual traditions.
The law of attraction is as real to me as anything in my life. Anything that makes the very real law of attraction available to people is a great service. From working with all of you, I get a constantly reinforced picture of the power you all have to create your lives. My work is to help with the birthing process. Adding the blueprint of the law of attraction is a great asset to anyone’s energetic well being.
So, is this going to be a love fest about this book? No, not completely. While I have firm beliefs about the abundance that is available to us, I believe that Rhonda Byrne presents the material in an overly simplistic way. One section that set my teeth on edge was the chapter devoted to health. She puts too much of the result of enjoying good health on the law of attraction and the simple removal of negativity to create health. I think that is irresponsible. What about environmental issues and their effect on health? What about genetics? Now, I happen to believe that even one’s genetics can be re-worked, but not in every instance. And, it is a very big project!  To say one becomes ill because they have an imbalance in their love and gratitude quotient is just adding one more burden to someone facing a health challenge. “Every form of healing has its place”, according to Dr. John Demartini, and I’d like to second that.
If the universal law of attraction is a new concept to you, then this is a must-read. It will resonate with most readers. Although too simple and broad brush, the author really makes the reader feel that, indeed, anything is possible, and I agree with that!

Sacred Contracts

This book, by the well known author Caroline Myss, is called Sacred Contracts. I attended her workshop in St. Louis in 2001 that introduced and explained her theories about archetypes, but the book had not been published yet, and anyone can access her methodology. Caroline Myss explains how you can identify your signature archetypes and use them as guides and gatekeepers to understanding yourself. This means more insight about why you are attracted to certain types of people or repelled by others. It also helps explain your own behavior, choice of career, and role in relationships. 

Most importantly, she talks about the positive aspects of archetypes that we are only too quick to find the negative connotation of. For instance, she claims that we all have a saboteur lurking in our archetypal mix. One immediately assumes the negative aspects of this; how and why and where it hurts us! What if the purpose of this archetype was to warn you and protect you against your tendencies to sabotage yourself? Each archetype has a positive and a negative interpretation, but the awareness of those patterns can provide a great wake up call. You can become a witness to your actions, not engulfed in them.

Another archetype we all share is the child. Now, is that the wounded, innocent, magical, or nature child? Is that the bratty spoiled child we’ve all exhibited? If we’re aware of the archetype, we can manage it, along with the necessary energy management I stress in my work.

This book allows you to see your life symbolically, thus allowing you to manage your personal power from a more neutral perspective. Emotional dramas fade away with familiarity of the archetypes at work. I hope this book challenges and engages your interest – and helps you discover your divine potential.

 Positive Energy is by a brilliant writer named Judith Orloff. She is a psychiatrist who has researched and recognized the importance of understanding the subtle energies and their relationship to mental and physical health. Her medical background is invaluable in establishing her credentials for this work.

 For energy work to be of true value, it has to HELP you deal with the stresses and strains of everyday life. We all need ways to re-group, get grounded, and most of all, recognize when we’ve become completely scattered. Shallow breathing offers a clue! This book offers tools that provide clear and effective ways to combat both the negative energy that comes your way, but also the needy energy. If you are pre-disposed to absorbing energy, a real empathy, then this is an important book for you. Many of us aren’t; the stew of negative energy all around us doesn’t faze us. For those of us who get worn down, anxious and burdened, it’s a victory to be liberated from this state of mind and move through the world in a centered, protected way.

Positive Energy focuses on ten prescriptions for optimum energetic health, covering everything from body energy types and their relationship with food, to identifying the common energy types. Check out the “energy vampire” and see how many of them you know! It’s another description of “drama queen,” and you’ll be very surprised to read Ms. Orloff’s view of what is going on.  As with everything, recognizing what you’re dealing with helps you to take steps to protect yourself. Then, take them again when the next challenge arises.

As we close this year, it is my hope for all of you that your evolution towards creating an abundant flow of positive energy continues. It is more than wishing and hoping; it can be practically developed and managed. Managing and tuning into yourself with a goal of shedding overload and being more energy aware is a great use of your time. This book offers so many new insights about the subtle energetic components of health and behavior that I keep it by my bedside. I’ll close now, and begin re-reading it in preparation for the upcoming holidays.

After Ecstasy, the Laundry

After the Ecstasy, the Laundry, is by Jack Kornfield, author, meditation master, and co-founder of Spirit Rock, a meditation retreat in Marin County, California. This book is about how the modern spiritual journey unfolds. Most, if not all of you, aren’t able to spend a few years sorting things out in silence on a mountaintop. The challenges of work and family, emotional pain, and our own imperfections require most of us to stick around and make a spiritual life around “real” life. In the introduction Kornfield asks, “What happens when the Zen master returns home to spouse and children? When the Christian mystic goes shopping?”

This book, through traditional tales and individual stories, shows ways to translate the excitement of discovering your spiritual path with making peace with the necessary “laundry” of our lives. “All spiritual life is preparation for transition, from one state to another, from one circumstance to another. The ability to make wise transitions is the ability to keep a beginner’s mind. Change is not the enemy.”

Yes, the book has a Buddhist orientation, but it also draws upon Christian, Jewish, Hindu and Sufi traditions. It’s about our hearts, and how we can prepare them for a deeper experience of love and awakening. It’s about truth, and the power of truth to heal and to make sense out of some of our hardest lessons. It’s about acceptance of ourselves as we are. Yes, that!

So, I invite you to take this opportunity to read this funny and wise book and maybe even be willing to air that dirty laundry, openly and without judgment.

I’ve discovered a book that is in alignment with this season of maximum light and growth. It’s actually a book that was first published twenty years ago and the author is now a beautiful woman in her 80’s. It’s as fresh and relevant now as it was in the 1980’s, and written while the author was in her 50’s. See, it’s never too late to heal your life!

You Can Heal Your Life is by Louise Hay, one of the notable pioneers in the human potential movement. I chose her because in the course of working with all of you, her clear view of the importance of self love keeps bubbling up in all my sessions. Like developing techniques for staying grounded and centered, self love is the foundation for healing. Those two elements are building blocks upon which anything can happen. It is the basis for creating your authentic experience. All of the negative mind chatter, doubt and fear can be traced to the earliest experiences of longing for love. Love, held in the heart center, directed towards ourselves and the wonderful uniqueness of our experience can work miracles. I have had the honor of witnessing that process with clients and it is a beautiful sight.

This book offers her style of healing. She works mainly through affirmations and simple exercises. If the timing is right, they are effective additions to your work, and if the timing is wrong, they seem silly. Pay close attention to your responses as you read, and you’ll know if this is right for you. On a personal note, I saw this book twenty years ago and thought I would rather do anything else in the world than these healing exercises. Now I am fully aware of their power. See what a difference timing makes? I took the long way in embracing this work!

One aspect of healing that Louise Hay returns to over and over again is the importance of practice, practice, practice. You are removing limiting beliefs and it’s an opportunity to treat yourself as a young child learning something new. When babies are learning to walk, do you berate them for each tumble? Of course not. Give yourself the same permission to learn something new.