An engaging book for readers seeking to reconnect to their inner selves.
Three experienced educators and consultants present a method for achieving inner wisdom, reimagining the ancient ritual of the labyrinth walk.
Labyrinths or pathways have been used as a tool for meditative and spiritual practices for centuries. Boelhower, Miguez and Pearce adapt the concept on paper as a way for readers to reflect on experiences and to visualize future goals. Integrating and balancing mind, body and spirit is key for accessing one’s “inner wisdom,” the authors write, which in turn enables the transfer of knowledge into action, or “practical wisdom.” Chapter 1 discusses the concept of inner wisdom in depth, leading to an insightful discussion of the “odyssey myth,” a theme replayed throughout history. The myth follows a predictable pattern of call, journey and return, and the authors note that the path of adolescence is similar: Teens feel a call to greater independence, journey away from parental influences and finally return home as full-fledged adults. The pattern continues throughout adulthood, assert the authors, and their “Mountain 10” process aims to help readers define and map out their journeys while gaining insight and wisdom. The task of constructing a paper labyrinth helps readers maintain focus as they reflect on the authors’ open-ended questions, such as “What is your vision of the possible?” The book’s large format, meanwhile, helpfully leaves ample space for journaling. However, the authors caution that the inner reflection required to complete the Mountain 10 process may result in feelings of “sadness as you reflect on betrayals, recall losses, or confront the internal demand to let go of hurts”; alternatively, “[e]xhilarating feelings of new possibility and gratitude may wash over you.” The authors scatter motivational quotes in the book’s margins and pepper the text with occasional bits of poetry; some readers may find these helpful as additional reflections, but others may find them distracting. The pages’ bright colors may also make the questions difficult to read. That said, the Mountain 10 process serves as a practical tool that may help readers focus their minds on what their spirits are trying to say.
An engaging book for readers seeking to reconnect to their inner selves.Pub Date: July 9, 2013
ISBN: 978-1481126991
Page Count: 104
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Sept. 30, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Doyle offers another lucid, inspiring chronicle of female empowerment and the rewards of self-awareness and renewal.
More life reflections from the bestselling author on themes of societal captivity and the catharsis of personal freedom.
In her third book, Doyle (Love Warrior, 2016, etc.) begins with a life-changing event. “Four years ago,” she writes, “married to the father of my three children, I fell in love with a woman.” That woman, Abby Wambach, would become her wife. Emblematically arranged into three sections—“Caged,” “Keys,” “Freedom”—the narrative offers, among other elements, vignettes about the soulful author’s girlhood, when she was bulimic and felt like a zoo animal, a “caged girl made for wide-open skies.” She followed the path that seemed right and appropriate based on her Catholic upbringing and adolescent conditioning. After a downward spiral into “drinking, drugging, and purging,” Doyle found sobriety and the authentic self she’d been suppressing. Still, there was trouble: Straining an already troubled marriage was her husband’s infidelity, which eventually led to life-altering choices and the discovery of a love she’d never experienced before. Throughout the book, Doyle remains open and candid, whether she’s admitting to rigging a high school homecoming court election or denouncing the doting perfectionism of “cream cheese parenting,” which is about “giving your children the best of everything.” The author’s fears and concerns are often mirrored by real-world issues: gender roles and bias, white privilege, racism, and religion-fueled homophobia and hypocrisy. Some stories merely skim the surface of larger issues, but Doyle revisits them in later sections and digs deeper, using friends and familial references to personify their impact on her life, both past and present. Shorter pieces, some only a page in length, manage to effectively translate an emotional gut punch, as when Doyle’s therapist called her blooming extramarital lesbian love a “dangerous distraction.” Ultimately, the narrative is an in-depth look at a courageous woman eager to share the wealth of her experiences by embracing vulnerability and reclaiming her inner strength and resiliency.
Doyle offers another lucid, inspiring chronicle of female empowerment and the rewards of self-awareness and renewal.Pub Date: March 10, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-0125-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
PROFILES
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A vibrant, encouraging depiction of a sinister disorder.
A British novelist turns to autobiography to report the manifold symptoms and management of his debilitating disease, depression.
Clever author Haig (The Humans, 2013, etc.) writes brief, episodic vignettes, not of a tranquil life but of an existence of unbearable, unsustainable melancholy. Throughout his story, presented in bits frequently less than a page long (e.g., “Things you think during your 1,000th panic attack”), the author considers phases he describes in turn as Falling, Landing, Rising, Living, and, finally, simply Being with spells of depression. Haig lists markers of his unseen disease, including adolescent angst, pain, continual dread, inability to speak, hypochondria, and insomnia. He describes his frequent panic attacks and near-constant anhedonia, the inability to experience pleasure. Haig also assesses the efficacy of neuroscience, yoga, St. John’s wort, exercise, pharmaceuticals, silence, talking, walking, running, staying put, and working up the courage to do even the most seemingly mundane of tasks, like visiting the village store. Best for the author were reading, writing, and the frequent dispensing of kindnesses and love. He acknowledges particularly his debt to his then-girlfriend, now-wife. After nearly 15 years, Haig is doing better. He appreciates being alive and savors the miracle of existence. His writing is infectious though sometimes facile—and grammarians may be upset with the writer’s occasional confusion of the nominative and objective cases of personal pronouns. Less tidy and more eclectic than William Styron’s equally brief, iconic Darkness Visible, Haig’s book provides unobjectionable advice that will offer some help and succor to those who experience depression and other related illnesses. For families and friends of the afflicted, Haig’s book, like Styron’s, will provide understanding and support.
A vibrant, encouraging depiction of a sinister disorder.Pub Date: Feb. 23, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-14-312872-4
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Penguin
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2015
SEEN & HEARD
Readers Donate Depression Book After Star Suicide
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