The Secret of Letting Go

Rating:
Summary: Gentle Introduction to Timeless Principles...
Review: "The Secret of Letting Go" is a gentle introduction to mysticism, nonduality or "The Perennial Philosophy." Finley is an expert at avoiding confusing terminology and new-age pap and gently introducing timeless and true spiritual principles to the beginner. Yet it is not without value to those who have had some experience with the nondual perspective. Of all Finley's books, this is probably the best.

Rating:
Summary: The Secret of Letting Go
Review: Guy Finley filled his book, The Secret of Letting Go, with examples and stories that illustrate his concepts of how to let go of all the emotional baggage that drags down our spirits and often makes life a painful journey.

Finley says that we "don't need strength to let go of something. What you really need is understanding; and that's how this book will help you accomplish your lifelong dreams of being truly strong and independent." He explains that our inner selves are like hot air balloons, always trying to soar, and we hold them down by not letting go of the "angry attitudes, wasteful wishes, [and] harmful habits" that offer false promises of strength.

The book includes nine chapters, with titles like "How to Defeat What's Defeating You" and "Dare to Let Go and Live As You Please." Finley starts most chapters with a story, then uses the story to help explain his general philosophy. Further explanations are offered in the form of specific questions and answers, some of which are drawn from workshops he has conducted. Each chapter contains a list "special insights" to help readers apply what they have learned to their own lives.

Readers are also given questions that will help them understand the messages their inner selves have for them.

In his forward to the book, Desi Arnaz, Jr. writes that "Guy Finley takes the Wisdom of the Ages and uses it to gently coach his readers to heal the places in their own minds where psychological problems originate." He adds that "It equips a human being with an entirely different set of qualities that transforms stress to serenity, anxiety to assurance, and doubt to decisiveness."

Finley emphasizes throughout the book that we are not what we think we are, that we are in reality someone far greater than we have so far imagined. The answers to what keeps us holding on to self-defeating attitudes lie within us. The Secret of Letting Go is for everyone interested in understanding how they can free themselves from all that keeps their lives tethered in unhappiness and defeat.

Rating:
Summary: A Life Changer!
Review: I thought this was an amazing book. Here we are running around this planet looking to satisfy some kind of constant disatisfaction that we all have and Guy shows us how to instantly dissolve all of our inner discontent. He shows us to the path of instant peace. Most other self-help materials try this round-about approach to happiness but it's just more confusing and frustrating. Guy's techniques are very straight-forward and instantly usable through his no b.s. approach. If you're looking to finally get rid of that internal nagging that you should be doing something, you should be trying to get something, or that you're just plain miserable...Get this book and it will change everything...Instantly!

Rating:
Summary: A new relationship with yourself
Review: There are a number of books and courses around that deal with 'letting go' in the sense of emotional releasing. This book isn't one of them. It is a unique and full-blooded assault on your habitual thought patterns and preconceptions of yourself and the world. I would say it is unique because, although Guy Finley acknowledges the wise words of others, there is never a sense that the presentation piggybacks on the work of others in any way. Instead, the book argues its own case in a series of truth tales, analogies, dialogues, bulleted insights, explanations and devilishly teasing questions like: if I am thinking what I want to think, why is it hurting me to think it?

I confess it took me quite a long time to work through this book. It is so thought provoking that I could only take it in short pieces in order to absorb it. But it was well worth the effort. When I open it at random now, there isn't a single page that doesn't offer a profound truth that is worth reading and absorbing all over again. In fact that's exactly what the author suggests: to pick out ideas and work with them. I do, and perhaps the biggest recommendation is that, every time I do, I am tempted to start reading the book all over again.

To summarise, this book is not just a 'how to' manual for letting go, it is about deeply understanding the need for such a process. Read it and be provoked into a new relationship with yourself!

Rating:
Summary: A new relationship with yourself
Review: There are a number of books and courses around that deal with `letting go' in the sense of emotional releasing. This book isn't one of them. It is a unique and full-blooded assault on your habitual thought patterns and preconceptions of yourself and the world. I would say it is unique because, although Guy Finley acknowledges the wise words of others, there is never a sense that the presentation piggybacks on the work of others in any way. Instead, the book argues its own case in a series of truth tales, analogies, dialogues, bulleted insights, explanations and devilishly teasing questions like: if I am thinking what I want to think, why is it hurting me to think it?

I confess it took me quite a long time to work through this book. It is so thought provoking that I could only take it in short pieces in order to absorb it. But it was well worth the effort. When I open it at random now, there isn't a single page that doesn't offer a profound truth that is worth reading and absorbing all over again. In fact that's exactly what the author suggests: to pick out ideas and work with them. I do, and perhaps the biggest recommendation is that, every time I do, I am tempted to start reading the book all over again.

To summarise, this book is not just a `how to' manual for letting go, it is about deeply understanding the need for such a process. Read it and be provoked into a new relationship with yourself!

Rating:
Summary: Wordy yes....useful yes
Review: This book is one of many I've read that is based on the Zen principle of seeing our attitudes and projections clearly. "Letting GO" does go on for far too long about the topics discussed. And it won't tell you how to change your life in ways that are objective...How to tell your boss you want a raise isn't covered, nor is how to know when to cut your romantic ties. What it does tell you is how to rest a lot easier in your own skin. The lengthy approah allows for a bit of introspection to take place. This will frustrate the person who expects to be cured of their insecurities just by reading the pages and repeating their jargon to the right people. It is however more accessable for the average person who would rather contemplate a simple fable than a Zen Koan. Buy the book and read it slowly. Living each chapter is harder than it looks but an intriguing exercise in observing how you really live your life. If you like the book's basic premise but would like to move up to something that engages the intellect a little more, try Pema Chodron's "When Things Fall Apart".

Rating:
Summary: Alcoholics/Codependents
Review: This book should be required reading at AA/NA/Al-Anon/CoDA. Contains the same "secrets" of living healthy you'll learn there but in a more generalized way.

Rating:
Summary: A Life Changer!
Review: To be honest with you, I didn't really understand the parable in the beginning and the book really didn't stick through all of the cobwebs upstairs (maybe too much salt water), so I had to re-read it again. But I wouldn't hesitate to suggest it for reading, because I think that just the premise will be re-assuring to those in any barefooted search for truth or escape from fear or whatever it is that's tripping your lights man. He has a very crystal clear vision and that's why I am currently re-reading it. I suggest you read it a few times until it sinks in. Big Guy's got it going on man. also has a web-site and gathering in Oregon. BY-JOVEY, THIS MAN IS ON A POSITIVE MISSION.