An informative, empowering guide to mental and spiritual discontents.
A sophisticated theory of the mind underpins a compendium of New Age therapies, from acupressure to essential oils, in this wide-ranging self-help work.
McClellan, an integrative health practitioner, advances a “Mind Matrix Model” with three components: the “Vital Self” of physical energy, toggling between hyperarousal and collapse; the emotional and relational “Heart Self” that varies between closed-off introversion and extroverted connection; and the mental “Head Self” that oscillates between analytic rationalism and holistic intuition. The interplay of selves makes the mind fluctuate between positive, well-regulated states and negative, dysregulated states, per the author. He analyzes the roots of negative states in knee-jerk emotional and behavioral scripts—he calls these negative scripts “Sentries” for their role in overprotecting the psyche against old traumas—and in repetitive mental “Loops” that can be broken up by “Overrides” that nudge the mind into healthier patterns. McClellan applies his framework to many mental issues, from anxiety and depression to narcissism, and discusses a variety of remedies for them, including meditation, nutritional supplements—he’s big on magnesium, “The Mineral of Calm”—and positive self-affirmations (“Say quietly to yourself: I am safe / I am well / I am grounded in my body”). The author especially focuses on acupressure (he presents charts of meridians and pressure points), essential oils (ylang-ylang oil, he notes, “Softens rigidity and emotional suppression”), and homeopathy (he recommends the homeopathic formula Pulsatilla 30c “For gentle, shy individuals who crave connection but fear rejection”). McClellan grounds his ideas in lucid discussions of brain science and psychotherapy as well as traditional Chinese medicine, Eastern philosophy, and beguiling Buddhist parables. The author mixes straightforward practical tips—“instead of writing the whole email, Open the email draft and type ‘Hi,’” he suggests in a chapter on overcoming procrastination—with incisive, richly nuanced discussions of psychology and character. Readers will find many shrewd insights into their own mental roadblocks here, along with clear maps for getting past them.
An informative, empowering guide to mental and spiritual discontents.Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2025
ISBN: 9798998788406
Page Count: 494
Publisher: Finger Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2026
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 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
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