IT'S TIME TO BELIEVE IN YOURSELF

A devotional offers daily lessons in practicing positivity and cultivating self-love.

In 2021, OBrien was inspired to start a Facebook group called “It’s Time to Believe in Yourself.” Now, that band is more than 45,000 members strong, and the author has turned what she has learned through facilitating the group into this devotional, a guide “to a new perspective and a new way of living.” Many of its underlying concepts will be familiar to self-help fans—especially those who read manuals designed and packaged for women. The author delivers the now-conventional dictum that we cannot take care of others until we take care of ourselves. Yet most of the guidance presented here focuses more on the self and not so much on the others. This may be precisely what some readers need to hear, but those interested in systemic, communal change—rather than personal transformation—may long for something more. OBrien does encourage readers to work on their relationships with God—also referred to as “source energy” and “my higher self”—but, again, this is more about increasing their own happiness than serving a greater good. “Make God your partner in life,” she writes. “Go on a journey together and create an amazing and beautiful life in alignment with love.” One fundamental premise of this book, which features paintings by the author, is that individuals create their own realities. This idea comes from the New Thought movement of the 19th century and is likely familiar to some readers from such self-help classics as The Power of Positive Thinking, You Can Heal Your Life, and The Secret. This is a powerful concept and—clearly—one that resonates with people eager to take control of their own destinies. OBrien’s writing style is clear and unadorned, and, although each entry is brief, they all contain plenty to think about. The myriad reflections are in the spirit of Simple Abundance(1995) by Sarah Ban Breathnach.

A useful, thought-provoking but familiar collection of meditations.