An earnest, comprehensive, if somewhat hazy, guide to the principles and practices of inner calming.
A manual offers a blueprint for liberating people through a deeper understanding of their inner selves.
In a prolonged and detailed call for his readers to experience the freedom of becoming the best versions of themselves, Nicholson seeks to take some of the core meditation and self-examination practices of Buddhism and distill them into descriptions of self-calming and interior focus methods. If practiced faithfully, the techniques will empower every reader to be “both a gentle caretaker of and a fierce advocate for the being you are.” The author begins his gradual approach with the basics of the human body, fundamental concerns like posture, breath control, and mass distribution, then moves on to more advanced conceptual matters, such as how to tame distraction during meditation. “If your eyes are looking at something with any sense of visual recognition—the floor in front of you, for instance,” he writes, “no matter how disengaged you may be in that looking, your attention is at best divided between the object of concentration and the looking at the floor.” Nicholson confesses to being aware of his position as a Westerner writing about these Eastern practices and mentions that “the only conscionable stance I can adopt is an ironic one.” The bulk of the guide is written with a palpable sincerity. As in many Eastern meditation books, that quality becomes a much-needed refuge from the element of obscurity that enters this account early on. “Once you can bring the object of concentration into a stable flow of momentariness, momentary events eventing,” goes one passage, “you will have come to an excellent place from which to consolidate everything you have experienced in practice so far.” Still, this thoughtful book will appeal to readers who are already adept at meditation and seek further insights.
An earnest, comprehensive, if somewhat hazy, guide to the principles and practices of inner calming.Pub Date: Jan. 21, 2022
ISBN: 9781777916107
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2022
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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