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Category: Recommended Reading

Linda-Ann reviews books she recommends to readers. These are ones that have impacted her or that have helped her clients.

Book Review-“Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life”

Book Review-“Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life”

Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life
by Martin Seligman, Ph.D.

Wow! This is another book that I recommend to my clients, participants in my classes, and practically anyone who’s ever experienced depression, pessimism, or difficulty in achieving their dreams. Based on over twenty years worth of research, Dr. Seligman shows how optimism combats depression, improves health, enhances success, and much more. Not a rah-rah book for being positive, it covers the questions about his research and how he came to his conclusions.

There are exercises to test whether you’re optimistic or not, and how depressed you might be. A thought always precedes an emotion, and Dr. Seligman found that pervasive negative thoughts always preceded a person’s depression. He describes how some people “learn” to be helpless, and then don’t try, even when they are assured of success. If you’re a parent, teacher, or have a child in your life, the author explains how children become pessimistic and how it affects their lives. He even addresses the conditions when realistic thinking, not optimism, is best in the situation.

Best of all, this book gives instructions on how to change your thinking from pessimistic to optimistic. You simply have to learn how to change the way you explain the situations of your life to yourself. In other words, change your internal dialogue.

It’s an engrossing and entertaining read, considering that it covers much of his research. But it also gives case histories of people who have changed their lives. I can’t recommend this book highly enough.

~ Linda-Ann Stewart

Book Review-30-Day Mental Diet

Book Review-30-Day Mental Diet

Thirty-Day Mental Diet: The Way to a Better Life
by Willis Kinnear

It’s nice to establish a more positive mental attitude. But it’s sometimes difficult to discipline yourself to keep your thoughts on a higher plane. That’s where this book can help.

The author calls this a “mental diet” because you’re choosing what to put into your mind, just as a food diet relates to what you put into your body.

I’ve followed this “mental diet” for the prescribed time, and I found that my attitude improved, things flowed more smoothly, and I felt much more grounded spiritually. Each day builds on the information of the day before, so your spiritual understanding gets deeper as the month progresses.

Each day begins with an exploration of that day’s idea, followed by some quotes related to the topic. The diet is a meditation related to the idea, and then a short statement encapsulating the meditation. It takes less than ten minutes to read, and it is food for your soul.

This book gives you the focus you need to think more clearly about the Universe and your place in It.

Book Review – “Creating Money: Attracting Abundance”

Book Review – “Creating Money: Attracting Abundance”

Creating Money: Attracting Abundance
by Sanaya Roman and Duane Packer

If you are wanting more abundance, success or to find your life’s work, this book will help you. Abundance, peace and joy is your natural state. By discovering any resistance within yourself, focusing on changing your beliefs, and using the exercises and affirmations in this book, you’ll begin to expand into the abundance that is inherently yours.

Almost every page has an affirmation that reinforces the subject of that section. Just about every chapter has a meditation or exercise that helps in self-discovery, drawing to you what you want, or expanding your concepts.

Beginning with the most basic concept that you are your abundance, it takes you through releasing any blocks to it, addresses the issue of trust and belief in yourself.

It’s one of the most comprehensive books on abundance that I’ve read. You learn that you can create anything that you want to. If you want more abundance in your life, then I highly recommend that you get this book for your personal library.

~ Linda-Ann Stewart

Book Review – Enlightenment for Beginners: Discovering the Dance of the Divine

Book Review – Enlightenment for Beginners: Discovering the Dance of the Divine

Enlightenment for Beginners: Discovering the Dance of the Divine
by Chuck Hillig

This book was originally titled “What Are You Doing In My Universe.” A client mentioned how much he liked this book, and how it was a great primer for anyone seeking enlightenment. I remembered that I’d gotten it years ago, and brought it out to re-read. It takes less than thirty minutes to complete this book, but it’s time well-spent.

The author explains the reason for the game we play with ourselves, why we’ve chosen to forget our true nature. To keep ourselves entertained, we’ve accepted the illusion of separation between the Universe and the individual.

Rather than just philosophically explaining our delusion, this book makes great use of pictures and dots to humorously make the point. By illustrating the basic concept of Oneness, the author makes it clearer than a book of a thousand pages could possibly do.

For all ages, from eight on up, it would be a cute gift for someone learning about spirituality. And it’s a great reminder for everyone of our true nature.

~ Linda-Ann Stewart

Book Review – The Mind/Body Prescription: Healing the Body, Healing the Pain

Book Review – The Mind/Body Prescription: Healing the Body, Healing the Pain

The Mindbody Prescription: Healing the Body, Healing the Pain
by John Sarno

This author was brought to my attention when, within a few months, three people told me of  their experiences with his book, Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection. After reading that book, each one of them had their decade’s long chronic back pain go away.

Intrigued, I got The Mind/Body Prescription: Healing the Body, Healing the Pain, which has a broader scope. It doesn’t deal with just back issues, but all sorts of chronic pain and illnesses, such as fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, allergies, gastrointestinal issues and much more.

Dr. Sarno specializes in rehabilitation medicine. Over the years, he recognized a correlation between repressed emotions and the pain of chronic illnesses. Deal with the emotion and you get healthier. This book explores the psychology, mechanics, and manifestations.

He doesn’t just leave you with his theory and explanation. The last section of the book gives a treatment plan of what you can do to start getting better. When you’ve been dragged down by pain and illness for years, it’s hard to get enough energy to try something new. This book gives you back some of the power that your illness has taken. You have nothing to lose by reading it.

~ Linda-Ann Stewart

Book Review – The Aladdin Factor

Book Review – The Aladdin Factor

The Aladdin Factor
by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen

Learning to ask for what we want is a lesson that most of us need to address. This book helps to identify most of the difficulties we have in asking. Using an allegory concerning Aladdin and his lamp, the authors’ guide you past the obstacles to asking.

They cover areas such as low self-esteem, discovering what to ask for, getting beyond the fear, and even how to ask. There are chapters on where or who to ask for what you want, such as at home, work, or the Universe.

Inspirational stories and testimonials of people climbing out on a limb and asking for what they want fill this book. There are examples of people successfully asking for things I never would have even tried.

This is a book well worth re-reading every year to remind me of the lessons it contains. It stretches the mind to ask for and realize you can accept more of the good of the Universe.

~ Linda-Ann Stewart

Book Review – “The Joy of Meditation”

Book Review – “The Joy of Meditation”

Joy of Meditation
by Jack and Cornelia Addington

This is a wonderful little primer on meditation. In simple, easy to understand language, it covers all aspects of meditation, and clarifies some misunderstandings. This book also covers some of the benefits of meditation, including developing your intuition, healing, and becoming more in tune with the Infinite.

Many books on meditation scare off the beginner by asserting that there’s only one way to practice or stating that you have to keep your mind quiet. There are many different methods to practice meditation, and this book gives directions on how to do many of them. The authors also explain that keeping the mind one-pointed is the goal of a type of meditation, but that it takes much training to achieve.

Whether you’re a beginner to meditation, or someone who needs to rejuvenate your practice with something new, this book will give you guidance and inspiration.

~ Linda Ann Stewart

Book Review-The Miracle of Mind Dynamics

Book Review-The Miracle of Mind Dynamics

The Miracle of Mind Dynamics: Use Your Subconscious Mind to Obtain Complete Control Over Your Destiny
Joseph Murphy

I am a fan of Joseph Murphy and his writings, and have reviewed a couple of his other books before. This one is full of Universal principals and wisdom for every aspect of life. Examining the subjects of health, life and death, luck and good fortune, prayer, and much more, he illustrates each one with an example in someone’s life.

He explains spiritual principles in very basic ways, so that every person who reads this can put them to use in their lives immediately. He touches on the metaphysical perspective of many familiar Biblical and spiritual ideas, such as karma and God’s will.

Although this book doesn’t have quite as many affirmations as some of his other books have, it gives specific instructions on how to use the power of the mind to improve one’s life. A mine of information on how the Universe works and our place in it, it’s a must-have for anyone who yearns to understand more about their relationship to Spirit and Its good.

~ Linda-Ann Stewart

Book Review: Take the Bully by the Horns

Book Review: Take the Bully by the Horns

Take the Bully by the Horns: Stop Unethical, Uncooperative, or Unpleasant People from Running and Ruining Your Life
by Sam Horn

This book is incredible! I recommend it to many of my clients. Full of information, humor, and specific techniques of what to do, it’s essential for anyone who is dealing with a controlling person who comes across as a bully.

I don’t usually like labeling people, but this book addresses more a type of behavior. When a person pushes, takes advantage, and tries to control by intimidation, then they are acting like a bully and need to be responded to as such.

Each chapter is divided into short segments, which makes it much easier to read and absorb. At the end of each chapter, there’s a worksheet to decide how to handle a situation that is similar to the focus of that chapter, and questions to think over. There’s also a summary of the chapter that describes the harmful beliefs a person might have in a difficult situation, as well as the corresponding positive behaviors.

This book validated much of what I’ve come to realize over the years. There are sections on why a bully is the way he/she is, how they manipulate to get their way, what kind of idealistic ideas we might have had that encouraged them, how to stop people-pleasing, how to set and keep boundaries, and much, much more. It even has a chapter on what to tell children who are dealing with bullies at school.

“Take The Bully By The Horns” is also for anyone who lacks self-confidence or has a low self-worth or self-esteem. I’m so glad that I ran across this book and got it when I did. It’s one I don’t lend out of my personal library.

~ Linda-Ann Stewart

Book Review – Controlling People

Book Review – Controlling People

“Controlling People: How to Recognize, Understand and Deal with People Who Try to Control You”
By Patricia Evans

This is a great book for anyone with a controlling person in their life. Patricia Evans has written a couple of other books that I’ve recommended, “The Verbally Abusive Relationship” and “Verbal Abuse Survivor’s Speak Out.” “Controlling People” goes into greater detail of why these people act as they do.

For them, the people close to them are cardboard characters that they project their own thoughts onto. They expect people to agree with them at all times, and to read their thoughts about what they want.

The old “If you loved me, you’d know what I want” is their theme. And if the other person doesn’t agree, or reflect the controlling person’s ideas, then the controlling person feels betrayed and many times will fly into a rage.

Not only does this happen in personal relationships, but it also occurs in society, different cultures, and religions, resulting in bigotry, prejudice, stereotypes, and sometimes death. It all has to do with trying to control others so that they think like the controller, so the controller feels comfortable and safe.

This book was an eye-opener for me in understanding various people I’ve had dealings with. I recommend it to anyone who has a boss, relative, friend or partner who is controlling.