Personal Change Reviews

The War of Art by Stephen Pressfield This is a book by the Guy who wrote the film/book the legend of Bagger vance. This is a really interesting read and it details the journey he is on. He noticed, on the way, how to identify how some people stop themselves from doing what they know they want to do. He uses a label called resistence and he identifies this as the main reason that people do not get want they want. e.g. I want to be a writer, but I cannot bring myself to sit down in front of a typewriter and type, I was reading today's racing post and a former horse Trainer Jenny Pitman, is now a writer and the headline was "Somedays writing feels like I am being asked to do a pile of ironing that I don't want to face" This the author says is resistence, just merely notice it and get your work done. Really great read even though it took me some time to sit down and read it :-) I read it in 2 sittings, mind you a friend who gave it to me said that it would be hard to put it down (and so it proved) Michael Doyle Provocative Therapy by Frank Farrelly In this 'Provocative' month, I want to review 'Provocative Therapy' by Frank Farrelly. Farrelly conveys the essence of his life's work in this book. The only book to have been written dedicated soley to provocative therapy, it is a goldmine of wisdom. Filled with Franks explanations on the origins and devlopment of PT, although written back in the early 1970's, it's teachings are completely up-to-date. Many of the case examples transcribed verbatim from actual recordings are absolutely hilarious and hugely entertaining. As well as this, his unique style of therapy is powerful, effective and significantly provoking. The book reveals a new way of thinking about therapy and counselling and offers an insight about just what can be gotten away with in therapy. The book is revolutionary and it can be seen how it has had a substantial influence of Richard Bandlers method of working with people. I highly recommend this book if you are interested in learning what is possible and what make the difference with the most difficult of cases. Also even without the therapy application, the book is fascinating and hugely funny!!! ANYWAY, The Paradoxical Commandments by Kent M. Keith This great book is full of common sense ideas on how to handle the crazy paradoxical world. It deals with many of the injustices and unfairness of life and explains how to stick with doing the right thing in spite of these problems. It is a fantastic revealing book on living strong in spite of life’s hardships. Definitely well worth a read, especially if life seems a bit crazy at present. Change Your Life in Seven Days by Paul McKenna This excellent book summarises some of the best bits of NLP and self improvement in an easy to read, nicely packaged product. Accompanied by a typically brilliant cd from the top hypnotist Paul McKenna, this is one of the best simple introductions of NLP to the public without actually mentioning it. Instead it’s direct application to your life of the best principles of life changing psychology. Highly recommended. Using your Brain for a Change by Dr Richard Bandler Richard Bandler, co-creator of NLP, authors this book which is one of the best NLP books available if not the best. 'Using your Brain for a Change' is a classic and over the years it loses none of it's relevancy and insights. It is still a remarkeably powerful book. Focusing on Beliefs, Decisions and the way we think, this book is fun to read and Bandlers amazing ability to teach the material unconsciously comes across in every page. Richard presents some of his stories from his work with schizophrenics and from the very first page he has your attention. Some of his amazing adventures transfer quite effortlessly the true attitude behind NLP. With all the NLP books on the market, recommending the best introduction to NLP should be a challenging feat. With this book however it is easy. This is by far simply the best introduction of NLP in the market. You can contact John LaValle at the website www.purenlp.com for a copy. Awaken the Giant Within Tony Robbins Probably one of the greatest self help books ever written. Robbins presents a collection of excellent findings about self improvement (much drawn from NLP). Although typically over-the-top and unneccessarily sentimental sometimes, Awaken the Giant Within has easily enough information to assist you change anything in your life. You'll see it when you Believe it by Wayne Dyer This book, written by a popular self-help author, Wayne Dyer, is a well-written book examining a spiritual approach to life. Rife with concepts such as Oneness, Detachment and the power of Thought, Dyer explains how we are formless beings with a form… a spiritual being having a human experience. He proposes that when we realise we are all one and yet when we detach ourselves from the need to own or control other forms we reach a higher state of consciousness, which is ever blissful. Well written, easy to read and full of clever, intelligent comments, Dyer presents an excellent spiritual book which will give you a different perspective on becoming happier and successful. The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale A classic in the positive thinking field, Peale describes how to become an optimist and explains the steps towards having a positive attitude about life. The only possible downside is that Peale links religion and spirituality with everything which can be an upside or downside depending on the reader. I do suggest you read it as it contains much wisdom and lays the basis for most of the ‘positive thinking’ books around these days. Napkin Notes: The Art of Living by G. Michael Durst This book is a fine book about teaching you how to take more responsibility in your life. It is full of short concise notes of wisdom. The author takes you through different areas of life and with plenty of examples and pictures, his different style is refreshing to read. I recommend this book for anyone interested in learning how to move away from the blame culture or help others do likewise. The Mind Gym by the Mind Gym This great book is full of brilliant and highly usefui psychological suggestions and tips about improving the quality of your life. What makes this book different to most of the books out there is that it takes from quite a lot of psychological research which is all presented in a highly understandable way and it's packed full with things to do to improve how you use your brain. Covering a wide variety of areas in your life, the mind gym is sometghing special in the personal development field. Highly recommended. 'The Nature of Happiness’ by Desmond Morris This is a short, small, interesting book which explores the nature and sources of happiness. Some good thought provoking points, it serves to highlight the main issues in the study that has been conducted into happiness over the centuries. It's worth reading!! 'GET EVERYTHING DONE And Still Have Time to Play.' by Mark Forster This is the first book in a series of three written by Mark Forster and it sets out his techniques of time/life management. It is a great place to start with, in learning how to master and manage your life and time. Mark has written this book with a first hand knowledge of the problems of procrastination and badly organised time. These are his methods that he taught and used himself, to battle with and overcome poor time/life management. In this book he takes the techniques that are commonly taught in other time management books and explains why they don't work and how to begin to use alternatives effectively. The most important message is learning to say no, to too many commitments and techniques to help overcome resistance. There is a lot in this book for a good coach to get their teeth into. I am sure that you will see something in this book that would be of use to you. It is well worth reading and even the most organised will find some pearls. There are some unique methods that seem to work even for us hardened procrastinators hence the review - enjoy. Vincent Mawhinney Allen Carr's No More Worrying (The easy way to a worry free life ).' by Allen Carr Although initially put off by the title of the book as I had enough worrying already, the subtitle attracted me to it. What Allen Carr seems to do in this book, he brings you on a journey through worry and addresses how it seems to appear. He offers 12 golden rules to follow to put a worry free life in front of you to and to step into. I like the easy read and the fact that I read it in one sitting. Some great insights/rules in this book into worry habits and although it may not be a worry free way for life ( investment is 7.45 at easons ) it certainly makes sense to me. One of the things that I noticed was he says No point IN worrying. I wondered did he mean people point inwards when they were worrying How about no point in feeling happier now. Michael Doyle