This fast-paced, upbeat call for concentrating on the positive should appeal to manifesting fans.
A writer looks at using the power of focus to manifest benefits in daily life.
The central conceit of Brennan’s slim nonfiction book is the idea of employing passion and focus as fertilizer in order to prime the soil of daily life to grow the qualities each person wants. “Simply by being aware of where we place our focus, we can contribute to the reality we are growing,” she writes, “which is why focus is fertiliser.” A key to priming this process is shifting the need for external validation to internal confirmation and concentrating on the specific object in mind, then determining whether the focus involved is positive or negative. Finally, readers should examine the direction of the focus: Is it internal or external? Brennan advocates marshaling internal processes of attention, presence, and appreciation in order to build the concentration required to create this personal fertilizer. “If we focus on the object of our task—our success,” she writes, “we can demonstrate our passion and effectiveness, and others will believe our intentions.” The main problem Brennan addresses throughout is the risk of a disconnection between the inner self and the outer realities—hence, the vital need for focus. “If we are not connected to our self and the moment,” she writes, “we are not able to access our highest potential, which includes creativity, resourcefulness, and resilience.” The narrative the author presents is compassionate and warmly autobiographical; she stresses that it’s never been more important to be in the present moment than in the midst of Covid-19 and all its accompanying tensions. Readers unfamiliar with the whole subculture of “manifesting” will find some of Brennan’s assertions bewildering, as when she asserts that “the human brain does not understand the difference between positive and negative” or when she echoes the sentiment that “our experiences are the results of our thoughts and feelings.” But manifesting aficionados will find the author good company.
This fast-paced, upbeat call for concentrating on the positive should appeal to manifesting fans.Pub Date: Jan. 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5043-2406-9
Page Count: 100
Publisher: BalboaPressAU
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Some of Avant’s mantras are overstated, but her book is magnanimous, inspiring, and relentlessly optimistic.
Memories and life lessons inspired by the author’s mother, who was murdered in 2021.
“Neither my mother nor I knew that her last text to me would be the words ‘Think you’ll be happy,’ ” Avant writes, "but it is fitting that she left me with a mantra for resiliency.” The author, a filmmaker and former U.S. Ambassador to the Bahamas, begins her first book on the night she learned her mother, Jacqueline Avant, had been fatally shot during a home invasion. “One of my first thoughts,” she writes, “was, ‘Oh God, please don’t let me hate this man. Give me the strength not to hate him.’ ” Daughter of Clarence Avant, known as the “Black Godfather” due to his work as a pioneering music executive, the author describes growing up “in a house that had a revolving door of famous people,” from Ella Fitzgerald to Muhammad Ali. “I don’t take for granted anything I have achieved in my life as a Black American woman,” writes Avant. “And I recognize my unique upbringing…..I was taught to honor our past and pay forward our fruits.” The book, which is occasionally repetitive, includes tributes to her mother from figures like Oprah Winfrey and Bill Clinton, but the narrative core is the author’s direct, faith-based, unwaveringly positive messages to readers—e.g., “I don’t want to carry the sadness and anger I have toward the man who did this to my mother…so I’m worshiping God amid the worst storm imaginable”; "Success and feeling good are contagious. I’m all about positive contagious vibrations!” Avant frequently quotes Bible verses, and the bulk of the text reflects the spirit of her daily prayer “that everything is in divine order.” Imploring readers to practice proactive behavior, she writes, “We have to always find the blessing, to be the blessing.”
Some of Avant’s mantras are overstated, but her book is magnanimous, inspiring, and relentlessly optimistic.Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2023
ISBN: 9780063304413
Page Count: 288
Publisher: HarperOne
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
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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