Creating Harmonious Relationships: A Practical Guide to the Power of True Empathy

Rating:
Summary: A spiritual approach to relationships
Review: Andrew LeCompte has written an extremely valuable guide to improving relationships through increased empathy. Well written, well organized and clear, it has the premise that we are spiritual beings who have been programmed to be judgmental. He shows us how to overcome judgmentalism, search for our own and others' feelings and hopes, communicate them and let go of anger and resentment. There are exercises in the book that aid in increasing self awareness and improving our communication with others.

Rating:
Summary: Wow!
Review: I picked up this work walking along a table in a nationally known book chain. A plain looking cover, so unlike all the plethora of self-help books out there with a figure plastered on the front. The content is also different. Unlike books that proclaim "The Ten Best Ways to..." or "The Ten Stupid Things that...", this book offer practical and real help! In this incredible tome, LeCompte pulls together 25 years of study and research into why we behave the way we do, and what we can do about it. His premise is much of our daily actions and reactions are a result of our unconscious, based on our often inaccurate judgments of the event. He manages to cover the work of Freud, and the latest research in unconscious programing in a simple, easy to understand, and practical way! Don't be fooled by the books title; I found this book helped ME out so much personally, and how I began to deal with the complexities in the relationships around me. I am a better person for this work, and you will be as well.

Rating:
Summary: Powerful technique, subtle message
Review: The book is very well written and compelling. If you read it, you will learn how unconscious emotional behaviors can be ruining your relationships. And you will learn how to recognize those unconscious behaviors and replace them with positive, conscious, communication strategies. The method is very simple to understand and very easy to implement. This much I highly recommend.

If you are now, or may become a New Age Christian (A Course In Miracles, or ACIM) that's all you need to know. You can stop reading this review, and read the book. I had heard of ACIM, but I knew nothing about it, nor did I learn anything about it from this book. So what's my problem?

The chapter titled "Forgiveness" advises you to view people as "essentially spirit" because "it can facilitate taking the leap of faith that we make when we deny our perception and guess at the other person's hope." This passage seems to me to label the wrong thing as a leap of faith, which subtly (but I think unintentionally) promotes the author's New Age metaphysics (see "Related Links" in www.lets-talk.org).

I would like to express my feeling using the valuable communication strategy suggested in the book. (This is called the opener)

When I learned that the author concealed his New Age world-view, (the fact)

I felt sad (the feeling)

Because the book was very inspiring and I wanted to believe every word. (the hope)

If you are unhappy in any relationships, intimate or formal, my wish is that you will find happiness by practicing conscious communication. (the request)

This book will tell you how to do it, but you may need to overcome some disappointment first and "separate the wheat from the chaff."