Playing It by Heart: Taking Care of Yourself No Matter What

Rating:
Summary: Self-Care Begins Here!
Review: As an Adult Child of an Alcoholic, I found great solace in reading the writings of Melody Beattie many years ago as I began the struggle through the pain and confusion of attempting to understand my childhood and my father. When I read Beattie's books a long time ago and then later focused on her Meditation series for Co-dependency I was amazed how this counselor could speak directly to me as if she lived my life. I was rather naïve not to realize that it was from her own personal struggle with addiction from whence she was writing about. I was shocked and amazed in this work to learn so much of Ms. Beattie's life and inspirations. Furthermore, she gave me an understanding of the addiction purely from the addict's side of the fence. I'm one of the lucky ones, having been able to spiritually connect with my parent before he died of his alcoholism and to bury a lot of old wounds with love at the end of his life. Thanks to Melody I can understand even further the beast of the disease that took my father and robbed me of so many things.

This is a book I will keep at the front of my bookshelf for a long, long time and no doubt refer to it often. I highly recommend this if you're familiar with her books or better yet if you're just considering the possibilities of getting aquatinted with Ms. Beattie. I assure you, you will not be disappointed. This is one of the best books I've ever had the privilege of reading.

Rating:
Summary: Bringing Up Old Wounds
Review: Having benifited so much from Codependents No More, I had expected this book to bring that understanding along even further. Instead, I found that this book was really a recollection from the author's past and a retelling of stories that she has heard. Melody Beattie tells of her abusive childhood and addict days without the context of how those events transformed and led her to her later ground-breaking work on relationships. Thus her stories end up sounding like a confession of old wounds -- making the reader feel like a voyeur instead of a fellow voyager on a quest. I wondered if this book would have been praised as much if it were not written by the same author as Codependents.

Rating:
Summary: Too much history. Where's the advice?
Review: I learned more than I wanted to about Melody's abused childhood and her life as a junkie. She goes into great detail about the crimes she committed and the miserable effects of her addiction. After painting such strong, striking, emotion-filled pictures time after time I expected her to draw some conclusions and parallels that I could use. No such luck. This is a long, tiring autobiography of a painful life, not a source for new elightenment.

Rating:
Summary: Inspiring anecdotes and prescriptive reminders
Review: In Playing It By Heart: Taking Care Of Yourself No Matter What, Melody Beattie (author of Codependent No More) addresses the issues involved with why people who have struggled so hard to shake off controlling dysfunctional behaviors and victimhood fall back into self-destructive, self-diminishing situations and relationships. Through the use of personal essays, inspiring anecdotes, and prescriptive reminders, Beattie reveals how to stop acting out painful obsessions and shows that despite occasional setbacks, recovery is a lifelong opportunity for spiritual growth and a co-dependency free, gratifying, enjoyable life of accomplishments and relationships. Highly recommended for personal self-help, self-improvement reading lists and community library reference collections.

Rating:
Summary: Inspiring Real-life Story
Review: It is amazing to read Melody Beattie's life story of her battle with addiction and destructive behaviors. She leads by example showing what she did to overcome her problems. I was truely amazed by what she went through. This is a wonderful Real life story for anyone struggling with addictions to read.

Rating:
Summary: An incredible story
Review: Melody Beattie has a life story that I would never have imagined from Codependent No More. She has a powerful insight into how and why things happen and Playing It by Heart shows how she has truly "been there." This book was impossible to put down. It is one I would sincerely recommend to anyone who struggles with life, especially when addictions are involved. Her story was very encouraging and I am very glad to have found this book.

Rating:
Summary: Like a big comforting hug
Review: This is the first book I have read by Beattie and it surely deserves 5 stars. I thought it was going to be a self help book but it is better than that it is a story, an autobiography and self help all in one. It is well written, it flows, keeps your interest and really makes you think about the way us humans relate to the world. It is non-blaming and at the same time comforts and supports the reader through their own experiences, past and present.

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Summary: Prostitution, drugs, to fame in codependency research
Review: Wow. When a friend lent me a copy of this book, I had to buy myself one. This is such a terrific addition to literature and I am so enlightened to have read it. I read Codependent No More over and over with a 1980s copy, and I never would have guessed what Ms. Beattie went through to get where she's at today. Prostitution so she could get drugs, rape from drugged stupors, her arm being photographed with all its needle marks and used to show school children the horrors of drug use -- the clinicians certainly never thought she'd amount to anything, but she learned codependency is the root of all addiction.

A wonderful read. It will make you cry! It did me. A lot of people, men and women, will see themselves in her story. It really makes a person appreciate how she knows so much about codependency and is such an authority. Personal experience, that's what she has to share. I love her meditation books, too. Such an inspiration and used in Codependents Anonymous meetings everywhere. Her books should be a must-read for high school students. She can help people before it's too late.

Her humor in the book is especially wonderful because with all she went through, it makes one wonder what she could find to laugh about, and her humor just further brings home what an astounding woman Ms. Beattie is!