Review: Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramahansa Yogananda

Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I found this book fascinating. Yognanda's way of writing is warm and easy to read, despite being written in 1946. The text much more accessible than I had imagined. The topic itself, and how you receive it is all down to what you choose to believe and understand from it.

As an agnostic I found it was able to teach me a little bit about religion that I would normally shun, especially bible related information. Yogananda actually explained some of the religious concepts in the Christian faith and the bible, explaining where they have been misinterpreted and the truth of them. He made them more digestible as he explained a lot of the science and backed it up with sources and evidence, even from that period of time. For me personally, a believer in the concept of us all being one energy and made of atoms that vibrate, and after having read and understood those concepts before reading this book, a lot of the 'miracles' made a lot of sense - and he explained them in the same terms that I already understood.

Having spent time meditating off and on, it wasn't an impossible concept, but I did wonder where the idea of Yoga exercises come from as that doesn't seem to be a part of the teaching as it is never mentioned in this book.

A few things that I still struggled with were:
1) the concept of God, a single being that created all that we live in, and the idolisation of that being; it was never explained fully, other than in 'we are Gods dream', which didn't really explain much.
2) how spending 16 hours a day or more in a trance-like state actually helps or serves anyone; I am not sure where the 'being of service' concept comes from; being off in another consciousness or plane of existence (a concept I could accept) means you are not living this life you have been assigned, and showing others how to do the same doesn't really help the world we are living in - though the world is dismissed as just being a delusional chaos that distracts us according to Yogananda - and in 2024 it definitely suits that description.
3) why do people that do this deserve idolisation from others and special respect from other world leaders? I can understand the fascination but not the kissing of the feet.

I also wondered, as it's mentioned many times in the many miracles described, that if these yogis/swamis/saints can all see the future or someone's personal life path, exact events and outcomes in the future like a psychic, and can choose to intervene or not, does that mean that nothing any human being does is actually choice or 'free will' but in fact every single thing is 'fated'? And how then does that work in the concept of breaking free of karma and working it out on a human level to enable you to reach the cosmic levels of consciousness to bring you close to 'God' the single creator?

So although I found this book fascinating, helping me understand many things and religious concepts, it hasn't changed my stance, though it was thought provoking and something I will ruminate on a lot in the years to come.

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Review: The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman

The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love That Lasts by Gary Chapman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'd heard of Gary Chapman a few times, and thought I'd give this a go. I have read about Love Strategies in Tony Robbins book, Unlimited Power, but not in such a simplistic, relationship focus way.

Gary easily explains the five different love languages, using examples from couples he's known and worked with, and at the end of each of them, explains how to use them even if this is not one of your own strategies. At the back of the book is a his & her quiz to learn your own love strategy - mine wasn't what I thought it was when reading the book.

This book make me feel it was possible for me to rekindle my marriage in an easy, simple, seamless way, working on one thing a week or month, and gave me the confidence to also share it with my husband in the hope we can recreate a relationship which has turned cold.

I would definitely recommend it to anyone struggling, or even if you are not, as it is a good way to liven up your relationship or marriage.

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Kill The Goblins reviews

I was blown away by some of the reviews that Kill The Goblins has recived. I'm so glad that it is being recieved so well by those within the industry. 

Review: No Excuses, Brian Tracy

No Excuses!: The Power of Self-Discipline by Brian Tracy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I spent my time reading this, my first book from Brian Tracy, and I took a lot from it. Each chapter offers something, even though sometimes they follow a more 'sales' orientated pitch.

There are actions and questions at the end of every chapter which really help you focus, and Tracy drives home the need for self discipline and how to go about it through three overall themes: personal, work and lifestyle. And how you apply self discipline to several aspects within them, laying out a perspective and action to take.

This was very much the book I was looking for to help train myself into getting more out of my day to day life. I'll definitely be dipping back into it.

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Review: Quest for Love: Memoir of a Child Sex Slave, by Anneke Lucas

Quest for Love: Memoir of a Child Sex Slave by Anneke Lucas
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I finished this book in a week, which is super fast for me. It was as compelling as it was disturbing and I'm still struggling to put into words my thoughts about it.

Reading through reviews I see people victim blaming and just disbelieving this account, and I can understand why they might, because it is a lot to take on, and in such great detail. But as someone from a traumatic childhood - though nothing on this scale - your ability to recall the very visceral details of a moment of abuse stays with you a lifetime. Although Anneke had help and support to accomplish this complete recall and her feelings about it.

I live in the Netherlands and to think much of this was perpetrated by a Prime Minister just over the border in Belgium, and that a case (Dutroux) was covered up by an investigation team to placate a network that undertakes pedophilia, torture and murder on this scale, is sickening. Since the Jeffrey Epstein case, and people like Prince Andrew being involved, this book allows you to see how it is possible. It seems that money and power really can allow you to do anything.

Anneke Lucas recounts a certain time period of the abuse, and alludes to 'training' she had. I would have been interested to know more about that and who was involved, but I also appreciate that there comes a point where you can't keep going over such horrific events. Plus it makes me wonder if it will make her a target again.

This book is not for the faint-hearted and would trigger anyone with sexual abuse in their history. It is not an easy read, especially with some of the detail, and I felt devastated, frustrated, angry and disgusted throughout the entire reading. But the one who I reserve the majority of my anger for was her narcissistic mother. She was utterly disgusting and without any remorse for her treatment of her daughter. I really would have liked to have seen justice done with her. I myself had a narcissistic mother and it made me wonder if she had had access to such a place would she have taken us there, but no matter how difficult and jealous she would get, I do believe that morally she was not that corrupt.

I'm so grateful Anneke was able to get out of it alive, and I felt a strange sense of serendipity when she mentioned during her near-death experience having visions of Paramahansa Yogananda, because I bought his book, Autobiography of a Yogi, just last year, and it's currently on my tbr pile.

I also loved her words about healing:

"Healing breaks our heart so that love can enter. Healing from trauma is to feel suppressed feelings so that we can expand and feel everything. It means to go inward, to connect with our own truth and so connect with greater truth, so that we can know what we know with certainty, because we can feel it, because we are in touch with our true selves."

And her words about our current corrupt power systems, couldn't be truer:

"The psychopaths who attempt to rule the world have no access to their inner selves, and are trying to know themselves only through outward means, through status and control, needing to feel superior in order to feel worthy."

"Even as we steadily move into a more enlightened era, the slaves to power, bound to earth and its riches, are fighting tooth and nail to protect their lies and way of life, which is creating the turbulence we are experiencing today."

This is not my first reading on such a topic, so I had an idea of what I was going into before reading. Just as Anneke is not the only person trying to shed light on these horrific goings-on. You need to be mentally prepared, because they will give you a mental hangover which is hard to shake, and may never leave you - unless, like some of the other reviewers, you just choose to disbelieve it all.

Thank you Anneke for sharing this with us. I admire you strength and your courage.


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Review: Own Your Energy, by Alla Svirinskaya

Own Your Energy: Develop Immunity to Toxic Energy and Preserve Your Authentic Life Force by Alla Svirinskaya
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book has a lot to process, and was an unnecessarily long read. There are loads of actionable meditations and energy processes but only later in the book. It is a book that will be useful to dip into for help with different aspects. But what I hadn't expected was for this book to turn into a self-help book.

The author went into great detail about all sorts of mental health aspects and kept promising that later she would talk about the energy, but really later were just exercies. I know that these things influence your energy but I felt it was a diversion from the point of the book, and went on for far too long. I considered that I might feel that way because I read a lot of self help and already knew most of it, but it took up the majority of the book. I felt it gave less focus on the actual creation of the energy or aura itself, and was a self help book disguised as a book about owning your energy. However, there were interesting elements.

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Review: Psycho-Cybernetics (Updated and Expanded) by Maxwell Maltz

Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It took me some time to read this as there is a lot to process. For a book dated from 1960 it had a great deal of value to impart about how to change your thinking and outlook.

The author was a plastic surgeon and realised that when some of his patients had their looks completely transformed, they still weren't happy with themselves, while others changed completely along with their looks. He turned to his psychologist and scientists friends, and realised that much like a computer or machine, the human brain works based off the self-image we hold inside our mind. What we think and believe about ourself will dictate our perspective, and also our success in life. How we can hypnotise ourselves with our beliefs and how to undo that.

This is the kind of book that takes several reads to full grasp all that is on offer. Maltz also quotes many other insights from doctors and scientist which I found interesting.

The only downfall to this book is the continual reference to religion: Jesus, God, and Bible quotes. As someone who isn't religious or believe in the human concept of God, I found this an unnecessary interruption to a narrative that stood on its own without needing any mention of 'being God's children'. Though there were times when he disagreed with some of what is preached in religion and the bible, and what he believed Jesus meant. These additions are not excessive, but are more like occasional asides, and don't overshadow the main narrative, but if you don't like to read any such referencing, you might want to skip it.

Towards the end, I felt the content became a bit repetitive with constant references to other people's experiences, which I felt didn't really add anything to the inital text.

Overall I thought it had a lot to offer and there are parts I will definitely be accessing again - especially the first 8 chapters.

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Review: The Science of Getting Rich, by Wallace D Wattles

The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I listened to the audio version of this and have to remind myself that in 1910 when this was published, it was a whole new concept. Now of course it is everywhere in the self-help, personal development world, which has been highjacked by spirituality. And this book sees the same cross over as he uses his religious beliefs and quotes the bible continually to support what he is saying.

And what is he saying? The Law of Attraction. If you hold something in your mind you draw it to you. And the concept of setting an intention: Stay focused on what you want and work towards it, but just sort of reiterated in multiple ways. And really The Law of Attraction and The Secret were born from the 'New Thought Movement' which Wallace Wattles was part of. And it was brought back a century later by the creator of The Secret talking with Oprah Winfrey. Like and Like attract. The same people, putting out the same things, with one intention, to make money. There is now an entire industry about packaging this same concept, in both books, websites, podcasts. I could list name up on name. Oprah was one of them first to bring it to a wider audience in our current time.

I don't disbelieve the concept: if you stay focused and moving forward to what you want to achieve, of course you will achieve it. You have to take action by keeping it in the front of your mind and take physical steps towards it every day. It's quite logical. It is not specifically religous, or some special ordained action that only special people do. It's like doing the laundry. If you want to see the end of that pile of laundry, you have to take action and put a load in the machine, then dry it and then iron and fold it. Then it is done. Rinse and repeat in all aspects of your life.

In also talks about not spending too much time thinking about the past or colouring the future with thoughts of the past. And the laundry analogy works again: You can stand and look at your laundry and lament past times when you should have done it earlier, and find it a harder task that you didn't do it sooner, but if you want it done you still need to take action in the now.

It was interested to hear the dated origination of a lot of today's thinking, but there are more up-to-date books out that would be more helpful.

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Happy one year anniversary to Kill The Goblins! 🥳

It's already been a year since the release of  my first non-fiction book: Kill The Goblins! Time just flies. And to celebrate, I have put the ebook on sale for $0.99/£0.99!

I've received some wonderful reviews for this book, and I hope to get it into more hands and help a lot more people with it.

And I have two future books planned to create a kind of series: Kill The Rage, How to stop feeling angry all the time. And Kill The Fear, How to rid yourself of feeling anxious all the time. 

These books might not be for everyone, but they doesn't contain any spiritual woo or self-help jargon - in fact I write them for people that shun self-help! So if you think you might find it helpful pick up a copy.

 

Miranda K, a veteran of trauma recovery, provides in-the-moment practical strategies to combat unwanted, destructive thoughts.

Are you aware of the things you say to yourself? Are they friendly or mean? Do you have a busy head, full of lots of thoughts that leave you confused or overwhelmed? Do you find yourself arguing with the thoughts in your head, trying to get them to stop?

Kill The Goblins provides more than 15 ways to deal with those thoughts. Each one provides a simple action you can take as soon as you’ve finished reading. You can also take an in-depth look at potential root causes, and learn how to change the way you think and feel to gain inner balance and security on a daily basis.

Designed to either be read in from cover to cover, or dipped into for quite easy in-the-moment solutions, Kill The Goblins is for everyone. No spiritual woo, no self help jargon, just practical strategies for every-day use. Equip yourself with the tools to kill the stream of negative thoughts in your head that stop you from pursuing your dreams, and distract you from living the life you want.

“I found this book easy to read and informative. Miranda’s sharing of personal life and mental health experiences and revelations make it feel as if you are having coffee and chatting with a wise friend who learned her lessons in the trenches. This book is packed with practical, concrete methods to help you change your thinking, master your mind, and get to the root causes.” - Debbie Hampton, The Best Brain Possible