Category: book review

Book review: The Art of Simple Living by Shunmyo Masuno

100 Daily Practices form a Japanese Zen Monk for a Lifetime of Calm and Joy

This straightforward, unpretentious, quick read should be on everybody’s TBR stack because with just subtle shifts in your habits and perspective you’ll be able to live simply. The author is the head priest at a 450-year-old Zen Buddhist temple in Japan and separated his book into four parts:

  1. 30 ways to energize your “present self”—Try making a subtle shift in your habits.
  2. 30 ways to inspire confidence and courage for living—Try changing your perspective.
  3. 20 ways to eliminate confusion and worry—Try to change how you interact with others.
  4. 20 ways to make any day the best day—Try shifting your attention to the present moment.

It begins by reminding us of how we felt the first time we stood on a mountain top and looked out at the great expanse or staring out across the ocean at the horizon. It’s a sense of being refreshed where your heart feels lighter, worries vanish, and you feel more alive.

Our daily life is full of accumulating stress, worries, and feeling burdened. But how do we change our world? That is a monumental task. So, better yet, let’s change ourselves. It only requires slight changes in habits or a subtle shift in your perspective. The author shows us how to do this with the help of Zen which is about habits, ideas, and hints for living a happy life: deep, yet simple life wisdom. He begins by telling us that we shouldn’t be swayed by the values of others, troubled by unnecessary concerns, or place value on wasteful things.

Here are some of the book’s insights:

  • Make time for emptiness by first observing yourself. Be with yourself as you are, but without haste, without impatience.
  • Savor the morning air. The monk’s secret to life is found here. Each day is not the same.
  • Discard what you don’t need. It will refresh your mind. Part with old things before acquiring new ones.
  • Organize your desktop. Cleaning hones the mind. Your desk is a mirror that reflects you inner mind.
  • Exhale deeply. How to eliminate negative emotions. Improve your breathing and your mind will improve, too.
  • Sit Zazen. The effects of sitting and thinking. Human beings are not capable of deep reflection while we are moving.
  • Don’t waste time worrying about things you cannot control. What does it mean to be spiritually lighter? The moment when you suddenly leave yourself behind.
  • Don’t think of unpleasant things right before bed. A five-minute “bed zazen” before going to sleep. Time to reset your mind.
  • Don’t be troubled by things that have not yet happened. Anxiety is intangible. Where does it actually exist?
  • Simply immerse yourself. The tremendous power of being unfettered. Empty your mind, and do not let it settle anywhere or wander.
  • Do not fear change. Cast off your attachment to the past. There is beauty to be found in change.
  • Cast away the three poisons: greed, anger, and ignorance to being a Zen mind-se into your life. Keep your desires and anger in check and strive to understand the nature of things.
  • Notice the changes of the season. It will inspire you to go on. Herin lies the only truth in the world.

This would make a nice bedside table read to page through occasionally to recall it’s insights. To read it in its entirety, go here.

Until my next post, why not check out my YA novels about mental illness, memoir writing, or even my Native American mystery series on Amazon, or follow me on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Goodreads, LinkedIn, Bookbub , BookSprout, or AllAuthor.

Book review: You Can Heal Your Life by Louise L. Hay

This bestseller contains uplifting and encouraging words to help you change your perception of the world around you. It is a personal action plan to improve your way of thinking. It focuses on specific areas of life that need attention, such as money and self-worth, and assures that with persistence you will achieve success in these areas. This book gives you the motivation to improve your life.

We live in a “yes” universe which always says yes to us no matter what we choose to think or believe. Our thoughts create our future. Whether we think prosperity or poverty, the universe says yes to it, which is why we need to reframe our thinking. We must make conscious efforts always to retain and affirm positivity as our lives end up playing out according to our thoughts.

We want to think and believe that we have the right to be healthy so that health becomes natural to us. There is magic in recognizing our bodies as good friends and knowing that every cell listens to our minds. Our beliefs become our reality. We can decide to be healthy and live extraordinary lives by ensuring our minds are rid of negativity and resentment by releasing all burden from our heart, and thereby ensuring all the organs in our body will function properly.

We can effect change in our lives by following these principles:

  • Nurturing the willingness to let go
  • Controlling the mind
  • Learning how forgiveness of self and others releases us

To break free from our negative mind, we need to substitute faith for fear and build our love for ourselves which contributes greatly to the quality of our lives. We must dissolve every bit of resentment to make way for change. It gives no room for any form of negativity. We must cease negativity and criticism except for our flaws and strengths and making sure to take rewards when necessary. When we practice self-love, life mirrors that love back to us—the gateway to true healing.

The only way to change others is to change ourselves first. Once we change our patterns, we’ll find that people are different, too.

Louise L. Hay

This is a colorful and beautifully designed book that would make the perfect gift for others or staple in your self-help library.

Book review: Rezoom by Susan Peirce Thompson

The Powerful Reframe to End the Crash-and-burn Cycle of Food Addiction

This book explores how food recovery involves a level of self-examination, grit, and vigilance unparalleled in the addiction-recovery landscape. The first element of addiction recovery as far as food recovery is concerned is the Rezoom Reframe. The second is a set of behavioral interventions known as the Rezoom System. Parts Work is the process of getting your whole psych aligned with your weight-loss journey.

The Internal Family Systems model of the psyche is based on the idea that we all have an authentic self, a calm, clear center underneath the storm of our parts. It has eight qualities: calm, confidence, curiosity, creativity, clarity, courage, compassion, and connectedness. Parts of us fall into two categories: wounded parts from childhood and protective parts that look after our wounded parts but also keep them out of view.

The Food Indulger is the part of us that is addicted to food to protect, soothe, and numb ourselves from uncomfortable emotions. Food is the hardest substance to overcome in the addiction-recovery landscape because we need it to survive. A strong Food Controller can get us into better shape, but we won’t have peace until we get our life into balance and get our Food Indulger to calm down.

The old way of thinking about food is all-or-nothing and this leads to perfectionism. The new way of thinking is more gradual and leads to more freedom. The crash-and-burn cycle of food addiction is too destructive, and we need to end it. We need a Rezoom Reframe. The book then goes into Bright Line eating which is a relatively new weight loss program that uses the latest neurological and psychological research to help people who struggle with food addiction to lose weight and keep it off for good. This is the bulk of this book. to get a copy to read in its entirety go here.

Until my next post, why not check out my YA novels about mental illness, memoir writing, novel in verse, or even my Native American mystery series on Amazon, or follow me on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Goodreads, LinkedIn, Bookbub , BookSprout, or AllAuthor.

Book review: What Happened to You by Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Bruce D. Perry

Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing

This book starts out with making sense of the world where it explores the hierarchical organization of the human brain using an upside-down triangle to model four layers (brainstem, diencephalon, limbic, and cortex) representing the basic organization of the brain. Next up is seeking balance where Dr. Perry explores the impact of our early relational experiences on our self-regulation which is based on the Tree of Regulation (regulation, relationship, and reward).

Moving on to how we were loved which explores how what happens to a person as an infant has a profound impact on the capacity to love and be loved which revisits the concept of fight or flight. In the spectrum of trauma, Dr. Perry highlights the four symptom clusters of PTSD which are intrusive, avoidant, individual experiences change mood and thinking, and alteration in arousal and reactivity as the stress-response networks come overactive and overly reactive.

In connecting the dots, Dr. Perry explains that much of human invention and practices are transmissible, including the negative aspects of humankind, certain psychological traits, emotional characteristics, and behavior patterns. With coping to healing Oprah and Dr. Perry explore the manifestation of dissociation as a coping mechanism when stress-response systems are activated. He highlights the five states—calm, alert, alarm, fear, and terror—explaining how dissociation occurs when fight or flight is impossible. Also highlighted are why victims of abuse are usually drawn to situations where they are abused.

In post-traumatic wisdom, they discuss the misconception that children are resilient. He uses the metaphor of a hanger being bent and the inability to be returned to its original shape and the more it is bent and straightened the weak points finally break. They discuss the importance of connectedness in helping us achieve resilience or “bounce back.” Our brains, our biases, our systems explore trauma informed care and how language is getting in the way of progress by turning it into a buzzword. Relational hunger in the modern world focuses on how our world is relationally impoverished and that the disconnection makes us more vulnerable and that our ability to tolerate stressors is diminished because our connectedness is diminishing.

This book, written in interview format features a plethora of stories from both Oprah and Dr. Perry that shouldn’t be missed to get the overall knowledge. They aim at reframing our approach to trauma and understanding how important relational connectedness is in promoting healing. Read the book in its entirety by getting it here.

Until my next post, why not check out my YA novels about mental illness, memoir writing, novel in verse, or even my Native American mystery series on Amazon, or follow me on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Goodreads, LinkedIn, Bookbub , BookSprout, or AllAuthor.

Book review: The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel A. Van der Kolk

Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma

This book is divided into five parts: The origins of trauma, The body’s response to trauma, The effects of childhood trauma, The way trauma affects memory, and Methods for healing trauma. It begins with statistics on why the author considers trauma an epidemic.

The author goes into the exponentially increasing prescriptions for antidepressants and antipsychotics and ponders if it is due to adaptation or disease. He believes the brain-disease model ignores four truths:

  1. Healthy relationships and community are essential for well-being
  2. The path to meaning is through language
  3. We can regulate our physiology through breathing, movement, and touch
  4. We can create safe environments

The author states that if we make adjustments in treatment that respect these four truths, improvements in mental health are a lot better. The book continues by looking inside the brain and its physical changes in response to trauma or the anatomy of survival. In promoting survival, the brain needs to generate internal signals of physiological needs, create a map of the world to direct us where to satisfy our needs, generate the actions necessary to strive for our needs, warn us of threats, and adjust our actions based on the requirements of the moment. The author states that problems develop when these things are inhibited.

In the body-brain connection part of this book, the author goes into lost connection with the body due to things like trauma or molestation and how the person resorts to other means to self-care such as promiscuity, drugs, alcohol, eating disorders, and cutting which show significant disconnection from the body. Healing trauma requires the integrations of sensory experience in order to be able to comfortably live with the natural flow of feelings. Agency, which is the feeling of being in charge, is necessary to heal. Integrating traumatic memories, cognitive behavioral therapy, and desensitization are explored.

In the role of language and trauma the author goes into the process of self-discovery, yourself versus your story, writing to yourself, art, music and dance, the limits of language, dealing with reality and becoming some body that interprets the present without the filters of the past. The part I enjoyed the most is the yoga therapy by numbing the within. Also good was the psychomotor therapy where we go about restructuring inner maps and revising the past to rescript our lives.

At the end of the day, we’re all trying to survive. If we find ourselves in situations where we are unable to escape threats, our bodies tend to develop a physiological imprint, in order to protect us going forward. While it means well, it is detrimental to our normal functioning and social engagement. Trauma treatment is all about taming the physiological imprint but factors like memory, reenactments, dissociation, etc., serve as obstacles in our way. With diligent awareness and patience, we can help others and ourselves live more bearable lives.

Until my next post, why not check out my YA novels about mental illness, memoir writing, novel in verse, or even my Native American mystery series on Amazon, or follow me on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Goodreads, LinkedIn, Bookbub , BookSprout, or AllAuthor.

Book review: The Power of Regret by Daniel Pink

How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward

This book is about why regret helps us to be human and how it makes us better people, perform better, make better judgments, understand things better, about undoing and leaving a trace, and about making every regret count. It goes into self-disclosure by reliving and relieving as well as normalizing and neutralizing your compassion. And in the end, you analyze and strategize.

It revolves around the four core categories of regret: foundation, boldness, moral, and connection. Foundation regrets are where we decide for short-term advantages over long-term payoffs. Typically, they equate to: “If only I’d done the work.” Boldness regrets are of inaction and typically equate to: “If only I’d taken that risk.” However, research reveals that people regret failures to act more intensely than acts they regret. Moral regrets comprise barely 10 percent of regrets in Daniel Pink’s research yet they frequently hurt the most and stay the longest and typically equate to: “If only I’d done the proper thing.” Lastly, connection regrets emerge from relationships that have gone undone or remain incomplete such as when friends lose touch with each other over years or families have a falling out. They typically equate to: “If only I’d reached out.”

I found the book to be interesting and helpful. particularly when broken down into manageable bites of the categories of regret. It definitely made me reflect on my life and my regrets and take some action with the louder regrets tinkering around in my mind. If you want to read this book in its entirety, get it here.

Until my next post, why not check out my YA novels about mental illness, memoir writing, novel in verse, or even my Native American mystery series on Amazon, or follow me on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Goodreads, LinkedIn, Bookbub , BookSprout, or AllAuthor.

Book review: The High 5 Habit by Mel Robbins

Take Control of Your Life with One Simple Habit

This book is all about creating habits to help you recognize your own self-worth. It’s a simple way to improve your life with a single move each morning or throughout the day. The High 5 habit is about getting the much-needed support we all require in life, even when no one else is around to offer that support. But there are times when all we have is ourselves which makes habit of so much more importance.

It does require you to give the book a chance and have an open mind. It can be as easy as looking at yourself in the mirror, giving your reflection a high five, and making sure that you are present in the moment. While this action may not seem like much at first, the book shares how it actually changes the way the brain filters information, so it changes you see the world. This may not be a good book for those not open-minded enough. In order to be life and attitude-changing you need to give it a try.

This book, about learning to be a cheerleader for ourselves, comes to a close with the message that we often rely on something external to amp us up, but we are born with our dreams. We must learn to function as our own light and beacon to what we need and want in life. The journey will not likely be easy or perfect, but then again, change never is in this life.

The book is packed with information, stories, and real-life examples of how this high 5 habit makes a difference. It also shares links, photos, and even a group that will take on the high 5 habit with you for further support. If this sounds like something you’re interested in, then get the book here.

Until my next post, why not check out my YA novels about mental illness, memoir writing, novel in verse, or even my Native American mystery series on Amazon, or follow me on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Goodreads, LinkedIn, Bookbub , BookSprout, or AllAuthor.

Book review: The Mountain is You by Brianna Wiest

Transforming Self-Sabotage Into Self-Mastery

This is a poetic and deeply personal self-help book where the information flows in an elegant and organic way that makes the lessons and life tips less jarring to discuss. Even the book’s disjointed structure makes even the most technical topics easier to discuss. The author starts by differentiating intrusive versus intuitive thoughts and explains the science behind the gut response. The physical effects of trauma and unprocessed emotions also astound which makes it one of the book’s most life-changing insights.

Wiest also tackles relationships and comfort zones and the patterns that are set whether healthy or abusive. This helps one realize that we’re drawn to such people and circumstances because we’re familiar with it and familiarity breeds comfort, even if not conscious about it. The only downside to the book is that the sources were somewhat outdated going back to 2008 when the book was published in 2020 and new discoveries could’ve rendered such studies unreliable. Another drawback is the repetitiveness of insights as opposed to gleaning new ones.

But all in all, this book addresses the problematic mindsets of today, especially about happiness, healing, and relationships. I think this book would be best for young people that are just beginning to define their identity. I appreciated this book’s poetic writing style and informal tone most of all. Get the entire book here.

Until my next post, why not check out my YA novels about mental illness, memoir writing, or even my Native American mystery series on Amazon, or follow me on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Goodreads, LinkedIn, Bookbub , BookSprout, or AllAuthor.