An advanced contemporary iteration of psychospiritual self-help concepts.
A guide to achieving a life of authenticity and joy by shedding the limitations of one’s past.
In this second edition, Basha introduces herself in a chapter called “Origin Story.” She asserts that she has healed AIDS patients and people with Stage IV cancers through “transmutation.” She relates how a homeopath cured her of the nightmares that had plagued her since she was a little girl. And she explains that her dissertation—she has a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and organizational psychology—was inspired and shaped by the work of Sydney Banks, a psychospiritual thought leader. This is all useful information as it gives readers a clear understanding of the tradition in which she is working. At its core, Basha’s program is grounded in the belief that we create our own reality, an idea that has been around since the New Thought movement of the 19th century and situates this book among such self-help classics as The Power of Positive Thinking (1952)by Norman Vincent Peale, You Can Heal Your Life (1984)by Louise Hay, and The Secret (2006)by Rhonda Byrne. Basha does have her own system and insights. For example, she explains that “analytical thought” is “entirely made up of memory that is stored in the intellect as data.” It’s in “present moment thinking” that “we have access to wisdom, creativity, genius, and an ever-present quiet mind.” Living the now, she writes, allows us to recognize analytical thought as a necessary, but limited, tool. Similarly, choosing to eschew the outer world for a deeper connection with eternal truths, we return to a natural state of ease and happiness. Basha has a dense writing style that will be more accessible to readers already well-versed in “the law of attraction” than other readers. Similarly, her use of capitalization and italics will be familiar to consumers of New Age books and, perhaps, distracting to others. Worth noting: This updated edition ends with a workbook designed to help readers work through what they have just read.
An advanced contemporary iteration of psychospiritual self-help concepts.Pub Date: April 4, 2023
ISBN: 9781647424732
Page Count: 152
Publisher: She Writes Press
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.
A noted actor turns to verse: “Poems are a Saturday in the middle of the week.”
McConaughey, author of the gracefully written memoir Greenlights, has been writing poems since his teens, closing with one “written in an Australian bathtub” that reads just as a poem by an 18-year-old (Rimbaud excepted) should read: “Ignorant minds of the fortunate man / Blind of the fate shaping every land.” McConaughey is fearless in his commitment to the rhyme, no matter how slight the result (“Oops, took a quick peek at the sky before I got my glasses, / now I can’t see shit, sure hope this passes”). And, sad to say, the slight is what is most on display throughout, punctuated by some odd koanlike aperçus: “Eating all we can / at the all-we-can-eat buffet, / gives us a 3.8 education / and a 4.2 GPA.” “Never give up your right to do the next right thing. This is how we find our way home.” “Memory never forgets. Even though we do.” The prayer portion of the program is deeply felt, but it’s just as sentimental; only when he writes of life-changing events—a court appearance to file a restraining order against a stalker, his decision to quit smoking weed—do we catch a glimpse of the effortlessly fluent, effortlessly charming McConaughey as exemplified by the David Wooderson (“alright, alright, alright”) of Dazed and Confused. The rest is mostly a soufflé in verse. McConaughey’s heart is very clearly in the right place, but on the whole the book suggests an old saw: Don’t give up your day job.
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9781984862105
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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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