Have you ever felt that the world was against you? That God is watching your every move and recording it to determine how much to punish you when your life is over? Have you ever had the sickening feeling that there's not enough time, not enough money, and not enough things to go around?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, then this book just might be the thing you're looking for.
Set in a Q and A format, The truth about you from Mary Bauer (whom i've had the pleasure of talking with), sets out to explain life in a spiritual, non-religious persepective in a way that everyone can use in thier day to day life. There are almost no religious overtones in this book, meaning that people of any faith, from Buddhist to Hindu to Jewish can pick it up and read it without the feeling of being pressured into joining a faith.
As a spiritual seeker for five years, this book instantly rang true with me. Going through it's pages, I encountered page after page after page of material that instantly seemed familiar to me, as if I was remembering something I had long since forgotten. As the author's description on the back cover says, "Her purpose is to help others remember who they really are." and I must say that she sure helped me out with this book.
There are several sections in this book, each touching upon several different categories such as God, Life, your childhood, and relationships. Each section has statements such as: "Life isn't fair" or "God commands you to do his will.", which are then thoughouly explored and debunked. For example, the myth about God commanding you to do his will is debunked in this fashion: The infinate (God) is completely self-sufficent and needs nothing because it is everything and thus needs nothing. Suffering, pain, and misery are not God's will, but rather, the result of choices that we are making. The infinate is a part of you, does not impose it's will on you, and empowers you to live the highest vision of who you want to be.
This process continues with many other myths and prevaliant ideas in our culture today, and is done so well that I was kept awake until one AM in the morning on the day of a big math test (a testamet to how this is engaging reading). Each section of this book is fun to read and quite mind blowing if you are open to the concepts presented.
The biggest message of this book is on the power of thoughts. The most constant message of this book is "Your thoughts shape your reality". Everything you think reflects in your life. If you think that you are miserable, then you just may find yourself being miserable and unhappy in life. Likewise, if you think "Hey, i'm happy! I'm going to feel great today!", then you just may find that happening. The phrase "I am..." is incredibly powerful.
After reading the passages on thoughts, I decided to try to change my thinking to a more positive outlook with a lot of "I am..." statements. Much to my delight, doing so has had a very noticiable impact on my day to day life. Thinking "I am happy!" and "I am not affected by fear" is actually helping me out in day to day life. This book has definitly helped me realize how powerful my thoughts are, and how I can harness thier power to make my life more enjoyable and fufilling.
Though I have yet to try it out, one can also harness the power of thoughts to help ward off disease, get more money, and find more time to do things. I do admit that while it sounds like a hokey gimmick, the book does point out that the universe is like a mirror. It simply gives you what you want (if you think you are miserable, the universe may just help you be miserable).
Overall, I found 95% of this book to be enlightening, helpful, and chock full of spiritual wisdom. The only thing I questioned was how thoughts can help ward off diseases. For example, if I walked into the Chernobyl reactor thinking "I will not be harmed" over and over again, would I not be affected? Likewise, if it is my time to die (we all chose how we would die before we came to earth) via disesase, would my thoughts help or hinder that process? It's a small issue, but it's not big enough to hinder the book.
Overall, this book works best for those who take a spiritual approach to life and want some very useful tips on how to go through it. It's also very good at helping one realize that your thoughts are incredibly powerful at shaping your life, and I can attest that by using some of the suggestions here, my life has begun to change for the better ("I am full of God right now"). Highly recommended.
The Truth About You: Things You Don't Know You Know by Mary M. Bauer is a thoroughly "reader friendly" book debunking more than 50 "truisms" that keep us from finding success and happiness in our daily lives through choices impaired by emotion, financial, or physical pain. Carefully examining such "common wisdom" assumptions as "stress will kill you", "things happen for a reason", life is bigger than we are", Bauer reveals that whether such beliefs are accurate or not, we can, by utilizing the powerful tools we are born with, find our own reality and realize our own potential, including overcoming the inevitable misfortunes of our lives caused by man-made ills such as crime or hatred, or natural disasters such as hurricanes or illness. The Truth About You is an enthusiastically recommended addition to self-help reading lists and community library self-improvement reference collections.
