How to Thrive in Changing Times: Simple Tools to Create True Health,…

Sandra Ingerman is one of the founding members and faculty staff from the Foundation for Shamanic Studies in the US. She is also a psychotherapist. This book seemed to be more along the lines of a new age self-help book with psychoterapy and counseling techniques blended with shamanic or indigenous themes. Not saying that it may not help some, but it still seemed to be a mish-mash of cultures sold as a band-aid for those who find themselves in the middle of the economic cross-fire we see today.

Maybe a future re-read may change my thoughts... ( )

Though I love the topic covered in this book I found I had a hard time getting through it. I never was able to get past the feeling that I needed to devote time to this reading and as a result have been unable to finish this book.

I have picked this book up at least a dozen times hoping I would see the worth of it. I read 'Imagine" in the Introduction and was disgusted by the ‘everything is great and wonderful’ premise. I did not like the book at all. It was the same old-same old of loving and caring and sharing and all will simply work out in the end. I couldn't swallow it. It may be my stage of life, but it seemed so trite to me.

After I finally got over that introduction, I did read the book but only to do this review. It turns out it’s not a bad book. The best thing that Ingerman does to redeem the book is to include the Practice paragraphs. A self help book using the elements is certainly like many others I have read.

I think Ingerman will lose many reader with the 'Imagine' piece in the beginning. Other than that black mark, the book is worth a look. ( )

When I signed up to review this book, I expected that it would help the reader become resilient. But as I read, I quickly realized I was mistaken. Yet I was not disappointed, because as the book's subtitle suggests, it aims to offer "simple tools to create true health, wealth, peace, and joy for yourself and the earth."

I enjoyed several sections. Her discussion on page 40 of "words as seeds" was perhaps my favorite part of this book -- a moving revelation to me.

On page 97, she implies that it's been scientifically proven that gratitude can help the immune system. It's inspiring, although there are no references to any supporting studies.

The "Gratitude Walk" on page 102 involves appreciating the beauty in nature and being thankful for it. It occurred to me that my love of nature photography is my way of appreciating the beauty in nature.

She discusses the practice of transfiguration (transmuting environmental pollution) at the beginning of chapter 7 (pages 134 to 138). She describes experiments in which her group lowered the ph of a toxic base solution, but again cites no references. In another experiment, she describes how the auric field of a peach was improved. Photos of the auric field were produced with a gas discharge visualization (GDV) camera and can be seen on a website.

The book's small size belies its lengthy content. It does this with smaller margins and small font size for the "Practice" text. As well, there's no bibliography or index and a simple one-page Table of Contents.

If read with motivation and an open mind, this will strike you as a inspiring gem of a book. ( )

How to Thrive in Changing Times
by Sandra Ingerman
Published by Red Wheel/Weiser
Copyright 2010

The subtitle for this book is: Simple tools to create true health, wealth, peace, and joy for yourself and the earth. Quite an undertaking in such a small book, you say? I agree, however, it’s the “simple tools” part that should be stressed and which Ingerman masters in this slight, but packed, little manual of self-help.

I became familiar with Ingerman’s work through her book Soul Retrieval: Mending Your Fragmented Self quite a few years ago when I was going through my own “dark night of the soul.” Her approach to the shamanic path is a focused one which helps to simplify what others can make a real muddle. She does indeed, with both books, provide simple tools to move forward when confusion, depression and old perceptions provide obstacles to any movement at all.

Those who have done the work for many years can often use a refresher on getting back to the simplicity offered in How to Thrive. Ingerman offers clear and concise concepts and exercises to bring about balance in what we often perceive as a very off-balance world.

There is nothing new and startling in these concepts, they are as old as the earth itself. It is Ingerman’s presentation that clears away the detritus of skewed perception to open eyes to the simplicity of these concepts.

In the stillness and the silence, the space is created to come upon something totally new. p. 165

That is so simple. We shake our heads, yes, but tell ourselves how difficult it is to find stillness and silence in our daily hustle-bustle lives. Ingerman offers the tools to do so with simple exercises and practices, such as Starting the Day in Gratitude or Replacing Sabotaging Thoughts with Hopeful Ones. Yes, those sound deceptively simple (and goody-goody?). But these are directions on how to change our perceptions and that is NOT a simple thing for us change-hating human beings to do!

But Ingerman challenges us to BE part of the change that so popularly is said to be needed in our world today. And the only way to be part of that change is to change our own individual perceptions.

It is who we become that changes the world, not what we do. p. 93

That, in particular, is a concept that likely is unfamiliar to many and goes against the grain. We often want to do without looking at our intent behind the doing. Does it really matter? Who says? This is probably one of the biggest incongruities of service-oriented organizations. How do we make service and our perceptions congruent?

This little book could bring about much discussion and discovery for those looking for a way to come to that congruency.
http://howlingnsilence.blogspot.com ( )