A valuable work on the concept of the Law of Attraction.
Racz and Childress use wit and wisdom to guide readers on how to live their best lives.
The authors, who say that they channel “The Emissarians,” draw much of their philosophical approach from Stephen R. Covey’s 1989 bestseller, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. They assert that its principles are a logical extension of the well-known Law of Attraction, which, in part, emphasizes the power of positive thinking to bring positive elements into one’s life. Racz and Childress outline this perspective over the course of 16 chapters, each of which lays out a strategy for systematizing the Law of Attraction and understanding how it works in practice. For example, Chapter 3 offers methods for mental clarity and includes four questions to help one direct mental energy: “What?” (or rather, “What’s your Goal?”); “Why?” (“What are the values and emotions behind your why?”); “How?” (“What will you do in a situation to achieve the goal?”); and “How will I know it was successful?” Chapter 11 draws a distinction between the Law of Attraction concept of “manifesting” and that of “conscious creation,” in which “Clarity, Consistency, Belief, and Action” allow people to become co-creators of their lives. The authors assert that readers can use these strategies to bring about lasting change in their relationships, their environments, and in themselves. Overall, this is an excellent contribution to the Law of Attraction canon. Racz, a life coach, and Childress, a professional ghostwriter and Racz’s student, use straightforward prose, repetition, and thorough explanation to clarify an often confusing topic. Intriguingly, Racz outlines concepts in each chapter before Childress provides real-world context for them; she discusses her personal successes and struggles as well as the impact of Racz’s teachings in her life. This adds a sense of humanity and depth to the work as a whole. Even readers who don’t believe in the Law of Attraction will still find useful wisdom here, as when Racz expounds on the nature of success: “Think about having a mission statement that’s entirely within your control….My success is knowing I’ve been consistent. Think about what that would look like for you.” Such moments will likely resonate with a wide audience.
A valuable work on the concept of the Law of Attraction.Pub Date: Feb. 3, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-982242-43-5
Page Count: 212
Publisher: BalboaPress
Review Posted Online: Aug. 7, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
A very welcome instance of philosophy that can help readers live a good life.
A teacher and scholar of Buddhism offers a formally varied account of the available rewards of solitude.
“As Mother Ayahuasca takes me in her arms, I realize that last night I vomited up my attachment to Buddhism. In passing out, I died. In coming to, I was, so to speak, reborn. I no longer have to fight these battles, I repeat to myself. I am no longer a combatant in the dharma wars. It feels as if the course of my life has shifted onto another vector, like a train shunted off its familiar track onto a new trajectory.” Readers of Batchelor’s previous books (Secular Buddhism: Imagining the Dharma in an Uncertain World, 2017, etc.) will recognize in this passage the culmination of his decadeslong shift away from the religious commitments of Buddhism toward an ecumenical and homegrown philosophy of life. Writing in a variety of modes—memoir, history, collage, essay, biography, and meditation instruction—the author doesn’t argue for his approach to solitude as much as offer it for contemplation. Essentially, Batchelor implies that if you read what Buddha said here and what Montaigne said there, and if you consider something the author has noticed, and if you reflect on your own experience, you have the possibility to improve the quality of your life. For introspective readers, it’s easy to hear in this approach a direct response to Pascal’s claim that “all of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” Batchelor wants to relieve us of this inability by offering his example of how to do just that. “Solitude is an art. Mental training is needed to refine and stabilize it,” he writes. “When you practice solitude, you dedicate yourself to the care of the soul.” Whatever a soul is, the author goes a long way toward soothing it.
A very welcome instance of philosophy that can help readers live a good life.Pub Date: Feb. 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-300-25093-0
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Yale Univ.
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
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