Review: Let Them, by Mel Robbins

The Let Them Theory: A Life-Changing Tool That Millions of People Can't Stop Talking About by Mel Robbins
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I do follow Mel Robbins, have done for about a year or so. She's all over instagram with shorts, and has a podcasts and does some interesting interviews. I prefer her when she interviews, because on her own she rambles - much like this book.

I'm seeing in other reviews people saying she stole this theory or concept from a poem - a poem titled Let Them by Cassie Phillips - and hasn't had the decency to credit it, probably because she'd have to pay for it out of the amazing amount of money she has made off this book.

And this is the thing I see time and time again from those in the 'Personal Development' and 'Self Help' industry - and it is an industry, many of them saying the same thing again and again just repackaging it - when someone who already has a huge platform decides to write a book. Though this is not Mel Robbins' first book, this one has landed her in a way she wasn't before. Probably because she now has a HUGE PR team who can push this book. It's a Hay House published book too, and thus why she then gets an endorsement from Oprah, a show host who has managed to become a guru to these people, though all she ever did was interview people, people who were vulnerable and needed help.

It's a money-making scheme and a successful one, thanks to the internet and social media.

As for the book. It is a lot of ramble, and I skimmed a lot of it as it is regurgating much of what she says on her own platform and using endless examples from her life and her families lives. It goes over some interesting approaches to dealing with friendships and comparison to others, but it's a big book for such a small concept really: Let people do what they are going to do, and allow yourself to not feel you have to keep up.

I didn't hate the book, but there are others I would recommend instead of it, that are more constructive and less rambly for people who genuinely struggle.

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Review: Proof of Heaven, by Eben Alexander.

Proof Of Heaven Neurosurgeons Journey by Eben Alexander
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's always difficult to review a book that is someone's lived experience. I had watched an interview with Eben Alexander and was intrigued enough to buy his book. It made for an interesting read, especially after reading An Autobiography of a Yogi. There were things that aligned.

But mostly I felt that for the author this was a spiritual awakening, and felt that it was also a sort of autobiography. I expected a more clinical analysis of what he had experienced, but he was much taken with the spiritual side of his experience, and by the end I felt there was a religious bent to it.

I am always fascinated how they come up with the concept of God, this one creator, when that didn't seem to be expressly part of his experience. It's never fully explained. What actually changed his mind? What actually happened in the event when he was on the other side that iterated this concept? Why does there always have to be the idea of this one single being that created everything? Why couldn't the experience just be of another existence on another plane and other beings welcoming him in?

These are the questions I ponder on after having read it, and although I do have two other books by him - as I bought them as a collection of three - I am worried it is just going to spew religious concepts. From someone who was a non-believer of such things before this experience, I found it all a bit too easy for this sudden change of heart. And the concept of helping others by writing this book, I don't see that, although as I haven't had this experience it has no direct relation.

Interesting, but my sceptism is still intact - not so much about the experience, as I absolutely believe there is something 'on the other side', but the turning to the religious concepts.

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Review: Be Useful by Arnold Schwarzenegger

Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life by Arnold Schwarzenegger
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'm a fan of Arnold Schwarzenegger, and have been for some time, being a subscriber to his Daily Pump newsletter and enjoying the helpful health and mental health tips and advice. This book sort of combines that with his life story.

Arnold uses the events in his life to highlight how to take control of your own life and push through. How to be inspired and how to follow your inspiration. How to go about getting excited about your life and getting disciplined.

His voice and manner of speaking comes through clearly in this book, and there was so much to absorb. If you find him inspiring it's definitely worth a read.

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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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