An articulate exploration of abuse geared toward those looking for nontraditional healing methods.
Weigley presents a guidebook based on alternative healing to help those struggling to overcome the effects of past abuse.
The fourth book in Weigley’s Abuse & Energy series aims to help readers recognize the ways in which abuse—whether physical, emotional, or spiritual—can leave lasting impressions on the soul and provide them with steps that can help them heal. The handbook is divided into three parts; the first tackles the terrible consequences of abuse, largely through stories of the author’s own experiences growing up with an emotionally violent mother. Weigley, a speaker, teacher, and former attorney, describes her ongoing feelings of “fragmentation,” in which she has lost (and subsequently, through a long healing process, regained) pieces of her own energy. Part two presents various strategies that can be used to help the soul heal from abuse, which include embracing one’s own sense of intuition and nourishing one’s “Foundational Energy Needs” by “using the elements of Variety: color, hydration, breath, and the rest” in order to “experience life, not just survival.” The last section alerts readers to the various cognitive and physical changes they may undergo as they heal, such as shifting habits and even itching sensations. Exercises encourage readers to further explore their trauma and to practice the healing remedies discussed. A self-identified “intuitive” (“Some call this clairvoyance, being telepathic, or possessing a sixth sense. I think of it as developing a powerful intuition”), Weigley maintains a compassionate and supportive narrative tone while addressing emotionally painful topics. Those skeptical of alternative healing methods should probably look elsewhere, as many of the author’s examples could be easily explained away by basic science (cuts and bruises that “heal on their own” are posited to be a symptom of emotional healing, for example). Readers open to alternative healing methods will likely find value in her suggestions, especially when it comes to confronting trauma through self-analysis (such as identifying the locations of and reasons behind one’s own personal “safe space”). Weigley ultimately provides a compelling and helpful analysis of the repercussions of abuse.
An articulate exploration of abuse geared toward those looking for nontraditional healing methods.Pub Date: today
ISBN: 9780988499065
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Weigley Publications, Inc
Review Posted Online: May 12, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.
All right, all right, all right: The affable, laconic actor delivers a combination of memoir and self-help book.
“This is an approach book,” writes McConaughey, adding that it contains “philosophies that can be objectively understood, and if you choose, subjectively adopted, by either changing your reality, or changing how you see it. This is a playbook, based on adventures in my life.” Some of those philosophies come in the form of apothegms: “When you can design your own weather, blow in the breeze”; “Simplify, focus, conserve to liberate.” Others come in the form of sometimes rambling stories that never take the shortest route from point A to point B, as when he recounts a dream-spurred, challenging visit to the Malian musician Ali Farka Touré, who offered a significant lesson in how disagreement can be expressed politely and without rancor. Fans of McConaughey will enjoy his memories—which line up squarely with other accounts in Melissa Maerz’s recent oral history, Alright, Alright, Alright—of his debut in Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused, to which he contributed not just that signature phrase, but also a kind of too-cool-for-school hipness that dissolves a bit upon realizing that he’s an older guy on the prowl for teenage girls. McConaughey’s prep to settle into the role of Wooderson involved inhabiting the mind of a dude who digs cars, rock ’n’ roll, and “chicks,” and he ran with it, reminding readers that the film originally had only three scripted scenes for his character. The lesson: “Do one thing well, then another. Once, then once more.” It’s clear that the author is a thoughtful man, even an intellectual of sorts, though without the earnestness of Ethan Hawke or James Franco. Though some of the sentiments are greeting card–ish, this book is entertaining and full of good lessons.
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-13913-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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