A cleareyed look at how the faithful may transform their lives.
A guide to spiritual development and personal change in the modern era.
Trammell (Outrageous Loving!, 2015, etc.) maintains that every human being on Earth “has the divine potential to consciously experience a life of fulfillment and completeness,” and she likens every life to a transformation. This idea is the keystone of this slim debut: “We are each and every one on a journey,” she writes, “or in process.” In the course of 12 short chapters ranging over many discipline, including history to philosophy and quantum science, Trammell inquires into the ongoing process of personal change. “If we don’t evolve we stagnate and eventually die,” she claims, citing the human ego as the main stumbling block to progress. She references the “New Thought” philosophy and its stance toward organized religion, which views Jesus as foremost a moral teacher, “the great example, rather than the great exception.” However, the beliefs here align quite well with standard post–Vatican II Christianity, in which, as she puts it, “God has given us the ultimate gift of free will. God doesn't judge; God accepts what I believe without prejudice.” She also notes that “we are all made in the image and likeness of God.” For fellow Christians, her energetic and accessible prose will be very inviting, as will her refreshing call to broaden faith into a lifestyle: “A TRUE prayer is how we live our lives,” she insists. “So ask yourself HOW, and then look at the results: what is your life experience? THAT is your prayer!” Her ruminations on the connection of personal self to a greater spiritual oneness become, in the end, a short but tremendously engaging spiritual autobiography. Overall, Trammell convincingly presents herself as a seeker trying to help other seekers, and her theme of ongoing, personal alchemy will appeal to a broad range of modern-day believers.
A cleareyed look at how the faithful may transform their lives.Pub Date: April 25, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4960-3375-8
Page Count: 104
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A great starting point for readers looking to improve their health and a useful supplement for those already pursuing...
A comprehensive guide to improving one’s physical, mental, and spiritual health through better education, motivation, and self-discipline.
A certified personal trainer boasting over a decade of experience in weight loss, nutrition, and strength training, Cavallini, in her debut, champions the need for health care reform. She means this not merely in the political and legal senses—she’s also referring to the lifestyle changes many people attempt, and too often fail, in the pursuit of better health. Emphasizing the erosion of health education, the titular Proactive Health Solution offers a five-level system to help people address the root of these problems, starting with taking responsibility for one’s health and proactively improving it. It then moves on to self-management, including one’s psychological balance and personal self-image, and then to cultivating motivation to pursue healthy goals and develop a program specialized for one’s own needs. The final level is developing the discipline necessary to achieve these goals, using often common-sense solutions of moderation, positive thinking, and time management. The book also addresses mental and spiritual health, encouraging readers to seek professional assistance for depression or anxiety, just as they might employ a personal trainer for their physical health; it also recommends seeking counsel with a higher power. The latter is presented in the book in largely Christian terms but does give passing recognition to a “universal spirit.” Much of the author’s philosophy draws from ideas present in yoga, and the book includes many tips for meditation and visualization as well as some basic exercises with helpful black-and-white photos. Although Cavallini draws on many anecdotes of her own clients’ struggles, readers looking for hard facts won't be disappointed, as the book uses formulas for calculating metabolic rates and monitoring one’s body-mass index; it also charts the benefits of various vitamins. All this information is well-cited, and there’s also a useful index.
A great starting point for readers looking to improve their health and a useful supplement for those already pursuing healthy lifestyles.Pub Date: Feb. 27, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4817-5881-9
Page Count: 342
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Review Posted Online: July 9, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Smashing gnats with a sledgehammer can create some pretty patterns on the page, but it’s a strange form of art.
A cynical, spirited assault on the self-help industry and its eager clients.
Veteran journalist Tiede has a simple thesis: “Self-improvement books are narcotics in ink,” he begins; “you must think, and mess up, for yourself,” he concludes. In between are entertaining eviscerations of the entire pantheon of self-help deities, including Laura Schlessinger (“a moralist, a stiff spine, a hanging judge, a smell fungus, a censor, a hall monitor”), M. Scott Peck, Leo Buscaglia, Jay Carter, Barbara Keesling, Susan Forward, John Bradshaw, Barbara King, Peter McWilliams, Deepak Chopra, Susanna Hoffman (“a wee writer with large knuckles”), and a host of others. Tiede believes these writers offer only poorly written platitudes and palliatives; he counters with a plea for old-fashioned Emersonian self-reliance and a recognition that “the rules of success do not exist, outside common sense, which does not always work.” After demolishing the “success” writers, Tiede dispatches those who focus on relationships, sex, addictions, religion, and a sort of catch-all category: the lonely, old, and fat. Frequently he fires broadsides at baby-boomers (whose values he abhors) and sprinkles throughout much peppery evidence of his impressive education: Alongside the names of the featherweight self-helpers are allusions to and/or quotations from heavyweights Thomas More, George Orwell, James Joyce, Jonathan Swift, Mark Twain, Voltaire, Seneca, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Albert Einstein, and others. Occasionally, in his zeal to point out the nakedness of the self-help emperors, Tiede does not notice his own nudity: He dangles a participle, assigns a work by Godwin (born in 1756) to the early 18th century, claims he saw a Sasquatch, and suggests the Pilgrims (1620) were the first European settlers in North America—apparently forgetting the colonists of Jamestown (1607). Ultimately, predictably, he blames all on the Usual Suspects: the news media, movies, television, celebrity- and youth-worship, and an addiction to pseudo-science (UFOs, astrology, etc.).
Smashing gnats with a sledgehammer can create some pretty patterns on the page, but it’s a strange form of art.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-87113-777-1
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Grove
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2000
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