TIME TO FORGIVE AND FORGET

A life coach shares advice for success by presenting a story of fictional spa-goers with myriad personal problems.

Professional consultant Kelleher-Flight (Creating a Functional Board, 2013) has gathered an abundance of tools to help people find happiness and fulfillment. In this self-help book, she shares them through an account of a fictional life coach who’s booked a one-week spa retreat in Thailand. Although the accommodations are superb and grant her the serenity she seeks, the tranquility is soon disturbed by the emotional turmoil of other clients. Each day she overhears pairs or groups of women discussing personal problems that are all too common: the inability to connect with others, marital distress, low self-esteem, the inability to live up to perceived expectations, parental neglect, and sexual assault. After each agitating conversation, the narrator retreats into self-reflection and writes down her thoughts about how she would help these women if they were her own clients. This book is pleasantly easy to get through, both due to its brevity and its clear, predictable organization. In addition to the conflict and resolution in each chapter, the author details concrete lessons and offers introspective questions. The author’s approach of exploring real-life problems in a fictional spa retreat is clever and effective, although sometimes the dialogue seems forced and static. It would have helped if the conversations had been padded with more commentary about vocal expression, body language, ambience, and so on. The issues that Kelleher-Flight presents in this book, though, are extremely relevant and relatable, especially to women, and her suggestions are succinct, articulate, and convincing.

A creative format sets this self-help work apart as the author addresses very real issues with compelling, practical solutions.