A compelling and comprehensible argument for pursuing individual change for collective betterment.
Heydlauff presents a self-help guide that embraces spiritual concepts of self-improvement.
Our world often seems chaotic and divided, with politics and social media keeping people fighting with or disconnected from one another, according to the author. However, Heydlauff aims to offer hope with seven universal principles that she believes will lead humankind into a “Renaissance of Joy” and “Era of Connection.” She asserts, for example, that people are encoded to be spiritual, that they’re all joined with a higher power and with the universe (even if they don’t realize it), and that they share great commonality. Ultimately, she states that if everyone makes positive changes on an individual level, it can alter the entire world’s negative trajectory. Her suggestions for self-improvement include finding one’s own version of joy, engaging in creative activities, meditating, making a plan for each day, recognizing that everyone is special and has a part to play in the world, and living solely in the present. Unlike many self-help authors, Heydlauff includes few personal anecdotes about herself or others. Instead, her text functions more as a call to action, urging readers to realize only they can change an out-of-balance planet. Repetition is one technique she uses to effectively hammer home her theme; variations of “You are a spiritual being having a human experience” and “We are 100% connected to God and the universe 100% of the time” appear regularly. She also encourages reader engagement by, for example, transforming words such as regenerate, respect, flow, and clarity into acrostics with the letter y in clarity standing for “You can do it” and the f in flow for “Freedom from boundaries.” Bullet-pointed lists also simplify complex ideas. The text’s sometimes-businesslike tone may leave some readers cold, but it still efficiently delivers its message.
A compelling and comprehensible argument for pursuing individual change for collective betterment.Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2022
ISBN: 9780998334769
Page Count: 221
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: March 21, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
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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