AWAKEN TO YOUR TRUE SELF

An unflinching self-help guide urges readers to actively guide their own stories.

Daniel, the director of the Center for Cinesomatic Development, wants readers to acknowledge that they are stuck. The software entrepreneur and author doesn’t mean physically; rather, he believes that life’s experiences are shaped, even burdened, by the mythologies and excuses we create for ourselves: “Your story is a filter of perception itself. It distorts what you see because you’re looking through the world through the lens of the story. All the problems you see are seen through the beliefs of your story.” His intention here is to help readers rewrite their scripts. There is no coddling; Daniel lays out in 18 chapters split into two parts—“How You Got Here” and “Moving Forward”—several methods for not only changing bad habits, but also for serious self-examination. He uses psychology, spirituality, and even mathematics to force readers to confront various mental obstacles—narcissism, self-delusion, etc. There are refreshing suggestions that challenge self-help tropes and include ways to counter the darker side of self-love and to rethink the value of failure. Daniel encourages annual rereadings of the book, which is useful; at 400 packed pages, it may require some note taking. The weakest aspects of the book are Daniel’s own anecdotes of victimhood and self-growth, which don’t read as inspirational: Daniel, a White, cisgender, straight man, was bullied for having warts on his fingers as a child, and, for a while, smiling fully made him “feel gay.” Readers of marginalized identities who face structural or systemic obstacles may not always agree with his rationale nor escape their suffering as easily as he suggests.

A thorough, sometimes overoptimistic tool kit for overcoming self-sabotage.