A set of thoughtful, manageable destressing techniques that’s presented in a refreshingly straightforward manner.
Psychologist Bullis presents a concise handbook about maximizing coping skills in situations that cause anxiety.
The author, who has 25 years of experience as a therapist, uses composite and anonymized case studies to lay out how the elements of a well-known cycle—wanting to feel in control, being unable to do so, becoming morestressed, and again desiring control—can be interrupted. He presents suitable actions one can take, successfully illustrating how one can manage overwhelming anxiety and confounding obstacles. Each of the chapters features a story highlighting one person’s specific difficulties, followed by their learning process as they address them; these skills are the focus of exercises at the end of each chapter. Techniques are broken down into easy, manageable steps, which is particularly helpful in potentially confusing situations. Bullis’ advice and activities will be useful to those dealing with daily stresses, as well as with major events, such as illness, disability, or job loss. The book’s simple emphasis is on creating a plan and following through on implementing it. Some sections feel more perfunctory than others; every reader has already heard the dictum that “life is a journey,” for instance. For the most part, though, the author avoids clichés and instead provides useful assertions, such as “In the end we want to live a life with the fewest regrets possible and to feel we have fulfilled our true potential.” The book provides practical tips and effective exercises; one can read the first half for action-oriented help and the second half for more context about grief, adaptation, hope, and persistence. Overall, it’s likely to be a solid resource for its target audience; families facing major life changes, in particular, will appreciate its logic and wisdom.
A set of thoughtful, manageable destressing techniques that’s presented in a refreshingly straightforward manner.Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-1982279295
Page Count: 172
Publisher: BalboaPress
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...
A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
PERSPECTIVES
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.
The late actor offers a gentle guide for living with more purpose, love, and joy.
Mixing poetry, prescriptive challenges, and elements of memoir, Heche (1969-2022) delivers a narrative that is more encouraging workbook than life story. The author wants to share what she has discovered over the course of a life filled with abuse, advocacy, and uncanny turning points. Her greatest discovery? Love. “Open yourself up to love and transform kindness from a feeling you extend to those around you to actions that you perform for them,” she writes. “Only by caring can we open ourselves up to the universe, and only by opening up to the universe can we fully experience all the wonders that it holds, the greatest of which is love.” Throughout the occasionally overwrought text, Heche is heavy on the concept of care. She wants us to experience joy as she does, and she provides a road map for how to get there. Instead of slinking away from Hollywood and the ridicule that she endured there, Heche found the good and hung on, with Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford starring as particularly shining knights in her story. Some readers may dismiss this material as vapid Hollywood stuff, but Heche’s perspective is an empathetic blend of Buddhism (minimize suffering), dialectical behavioral therapy (tolerating distress), Christianity (do unto others), and pre-Socratic philosophy (sufficient reason). “You’re not out to change the whole world, but to increase the levels of love and kindness in the world, drop by drop,” she writes. “Over time, these actions wear away the coldness, hate, and indifference around us as surely as water slowly wearing away stone.” Readers grieving her loss will take solace knowing that she lived her love-filled life on her own terms. Heche’s business and podcast partner, Heather Duffy, writes the epilogue, closing the book on a life well lived.
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2023
ISBN: 9781627783316
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Viva Editions
Review Posted Online: Feb. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
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