The Heart of the Soul : Emotional Awareness

Rating:
Summary: A Guidebook for Traveling Through our Emotional Landscape
Review: "You are a soul that is temporarily utilizing your body." ~Gary Zukav

Is the world changing? Have we suddenly discovered a lack of fulfillment in our materialistic endeavors or have we always felt this way but have only recently decided to talk about it?

I have recently met more Multisensory individuals who believe we have a soul and who are striving for spiritual fulfillment. They see more than a world where we experience pleasure from our five senses. They also seem very aware that there is more to life than the American Dream. I myself have found out about the American Nightmare.

We are looking for a deeper life, a life where people care about one another, where we all feel valuable, safe and loved. Compassionate and wise individuals are heaven to meet and can be teachers who present stunning insight and convincing arguments to lead us to believe in our own ability to find authentic power.

To me, the American Nightmare is reaching the American Dream and realizing it is not everything you hoped for and your life becoming a whirlwind of things to do which just don't satisfy the cravings of your soul. Just because you have the big house, the car, the huge kitchen doesn't mean you will be happy. In fact, having too much can detract from your spiritual goals. Materialism can be a heavy burden for the soul who desires a world of freedom, love and joy.

After downsizing my life so I could spend more time washing my soul with encouraging words, I decided it was time to go back to where I first started on this journey and read another book by Gary Zukav.

I like his idea about viewing life as a school and that has become tightly woven into my own earth experience. If Earth is a School and teachers appear when we need them most, then Gary has been one of my teachers when I most needed the information he has to present to this student of life.

I see Gary Zukav evolving himself as I read each new book. "The Heart of the Soul" is his most organized work to date. Theory and heart are balanced fully. Linda and Gary balance one another fully and together they have created a beautiful work.

While "Seat of the Soul" and "Soul Stories" explained the basic principles, this is specifically a guidebook to the emotional world we experience on a daily basis but might have difficulty categorizing.

This is really a book for everyone who wants to figure out where our emotions come from and where they can take us on our spiritual journey. To grow spiritually and act from a place of authentic power, we often have to step back and observe those emotions that are evolving from fear. This can feel like an ocean is pulling you under and you are fighting to swim to the surface.

Gary almost suggests that we should allow ourselves to enter this ocean of emotions and observe the way the waves are moving until we can control the ocean with our own minds instead of letting the ocean control our bodies and minds.

You start to realize how powerful your mind really is. Instead of running off into life and only seeking your own pleasure, you start to think more about how your actions would cause other people to feel.

You become more aware of your intentions. You wait for your emotions to subside before making rash decisions that could change people's lives. Who has not made a poor decision when in a state of extreme anxiety, fear or anger? Waiting out the tidal waves of pain can leave you resting on a peaceful beach, observing the destruction yet knowing you survived.

Gary focuses on some real-life issues which can make your life hell. These include perfectionism, addiction to drugs and alcohol, overeating, obsessive compulsive behaviors, idol worship, power struggles, searching for salvation, judging others, anger, workaholism and even sexual addiction.

Either you can learn how to avoid the hell through your own personal experience, or you can be made aware of how to avoid painful situations in your life through a deeper awareness of what causes that pain. This book also contains illustrations, diagrams, empowering thoughts and authentic power practices to encourage emotional awareness.

I do not think one person has all the answers, but Gary?s thoughts are definitely pieces of the puzzle I need to make my life more complete. This book would not mean as much to me if I was not already on a spiritual path and had a belief in a God who sent Jesus Christ to take the burden of my sins, provide me genuine salvation for my soul and who can take my actions from stray emotions and toss them into a sea of absolute forgiveness. I am freed from my guilt and can rest in the knowledge of a loving God who put me on this earth to learn how to love. Failing only means I have to try again. God is always willing to forgive. Learning from our past mistakes is just part of life. Not making new mistakes might be very connected to becoming more emotionally aware.

To be interested in spirituality can at times only heighten the tests, create immense spiritual struggles and cause you to analyze your entire life so that you can then start to figure out was is eternally important rather than what is momentarily significant.

You don't always have to act on all your desires or be swayed by all your emotions. This book will teach you how to create a better life for yourself by listening to your emotions who become teachers in themselves or at least are classes you can either pass or take repeatedly through life.

"The Mind of the Soul" by Gary Zukav should be equally intriguing.

Other book to enjoy:

The Rainbow Bridge by Brent N. Hunter
Affirmations for Self Healing by J. Donald Walters

~TheRebeccaReview.com

Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: As I listened to this book I couldn't help but think it was written for ADDers. It offers great exercises to help people become more in tune with thier emotions. I highly suggest this book to all people especially ADDults

Rating:
Summary: Expanding emotional awareness. Excellent material!
Review: Gary presents in his usual clear and penetrating style, the importance of increasing emotional awareness as a necessary part of our spiritual growth and evolution. There is a good degree of depth to this material. A good follow-on to "Seat of the Soul." Gary discusses how our attempts to suppress our underlying pain are at the root of many difficulties we experience and create for ourselves. The audio book gives you a chance to hear Gary's inflections as well as input from Linda. This is worth listening to (and reading). Highly recommended. -- Mark Greenia, author of "Energy Dynamics."

Rating:
Summary: Journey from Your Head to Your Heart
Review: Gary Zukav and Linda Francis did a wonderful job in bringing those who have a hard time feeling and dealing with their emotions a powerful book that will help you journey "from your head to your heart."

This is a great book for people who feel a lot of anger, who try to stay in control, and have difficulty relating to others from the heart center with genuine authenticity. If you tend to run away from your feelings, only to find yourself feeling unloved, or thinking you are unlovable, than this book will help you with the many diagrams and self-help techniques. From sex addiction to drinking too much, to using outward activities to not deal with your emotions, The Heart of the Soul will help you uncover and notice what is blocking you so that you can embrace your truth, and learn how to express it genuinely from the inside out.

(...)

Rating:
Summary: The Heart of the Soul: Emotional Awareness
Review: Gary's book is a great reinforcement for listening to your body and emotions to understand yourself better, and to see where your "escapist" addictions lie. It's a hard reminder to feel yourself in your body, and pay attention to that at all times.

We do so little to really listen to ourselves and what our soul is trying to tell us. This is a great tool to help you remember.

Great follow up to Carolyn Myss's "Spirit of the Anatomy" which talks about the energy centers in our bodies and how they are all coordinated with the "Sacred" sacraments of most religious teachings. Both together will get you paying more attention to yourself, and help you make the changes to be happier and healthier both phisically and emotionally.

Happy Reading!

Rating:
Summary: Would you want to evolve if everyone you cared for did not?
Review: I can remember being a little girl and being extremely confused as to why all of those 'grown-ups' went to church to learn right from wrong. I assumed they were born knowing this, as I was...why did they need reminders?
I know now that I am empathic, and have a robust 'super-ego'. I just realized at 29 that a great majority of the world thinks of themselves before all others. Quite a shock after spending a lifetime assuming the community around me cared as much about me as I did about them! It took losing all my material possessions and needing help from others for the first time for me to realize how things really are.
Gary's books give me hope that maybe there really are some people out there who care/feel for our human family as much as I do.

Rating:
Summary: The world is not perfect
Review: I have read parts of this book and I am somewhat disappointed. The chapter about perfectinism argues that the world is perfect and that all choices will lead to perfect consequences. The book also argues that the root of emotions doesn't lie in the interaction with other people and the situation. In my opinion, it is true that emotions are caused by our energy system, but there is also a reationship with external factors. The theme of this book is that we can only change ourselves, and not external factors, but this is not the truth. Gary's and Linda's work is nice if seen from a pure spiritual perspective, but it is far from the truth from an earthly perspective.

Rating:
Summary: The deaf lead the blind
Review: The basic message is that emotional awareness is a fundamental step on the path to personal power. Our great difficulty lies in the fact that we do not really want to experience our emotions because they are just too hard to take. Zukav and Francis explain how to work with our seven bodily energy centers to identify the source of bodily and emotional pain.

While The Heart of the Soul teaches how to do a quick bodily scan so that blocked emotional energy can be more easily perceived, we are not really told how to work with, change, or transcend our emotions. This is a great frustration for the reader. It's sort of like reading a book that tells the virtures of physical fitness but doesn't tell you how to get fit.

That said, Zukav and Francis do a great service by drawing our attention to emotional weakness. They also link emotional maturity to spiritual growth in a way that makes sense. (The Spiritual Reviewer)

Rating:
Summary: Awareness is not enough
Review: The basic message is that emotional awareness is a fundamental step on the path to personal power. Our great difficulty lies in the fact that we do not really want to experience our emotions because they are just too hard to take. Zukav and Francis explain how to work with our seven bodily energy centers to identify the source of bodily and emotional pain.

While The Heart of the Soul teaches how to do a quick bodily scan so that blocked emotional energy can be more easily perceived, we are not really told how to work with, change, or transcend our emotions. This is a great frustration for the reader. It's sort of like reading a book that tells the virtures of physical fitness but doesn't tell you how to get fit.

That said, Zukav and Francis do a great service by drawing our attention to emotional weakness. They also link emotional maturity to spiritual growth in a way that makes sense. (The Spiritual Reviewer)

Rating:
Summary: Interesting Analogies But Somewhat Repetitive
Review: This book was recommended to me by a friend. I had not read any of the author's works before, but was aware of his notoriety. There are not many ex-Green Beret officers who delve into New Age topics such as the soul, energy chakras, and emotional awareness...;-)

This work is very interesting, and for the most part, entertaining. The theme is that we, not other people, are the cause for our positive and negative emotions. How we deal with those emotions contributes to our state of being. The authors then describe how to become more emotionally aware by isolating our feelings into different "schools." The analogy is that life is the ultimate teacher, and that we have to master one school (emotion) before graduating to the next.

The authors appear to have a sincere desire to help others become more emotionally aware; however, the subject matter becomes somewhat repetitive. They discuss a variety of emotions and life events, but how many times does the reader need to be reminded that your emotions are your own responsibility? Or that you need to be aware of them 24 hours a day? Most readers will not need the gentle yet continual cues. That tone took upon an adult-child quality; however, perhaps that is the author's teaching style.

One of his quotes was especially enlightening. And I paraphrase, "Pain is the flower, but the illness is in the plant." Mr. Zukav and Ms. Francis have provided the reader with a thought-provoking work. How one interprets the contents is another matter.

Thank you for the opportunity to review this book.