The Intimate Enemy: Winning the War Within Yourself

Rating:
Summary: Interesting concept
Review: It is very hard to focus on the now but when I have accomplished it strange things have happened. Once I saw a blue meteor go across the sky and another time I noticed a tiny bird perched on a tree limb staring at me it was a perfectly gorgeous little bird ordinarily I neverr would have seen it.

Rating:
Summary: The Intimate Enemy: Winning the War Within Yourself
Review: Self-development expert Guy Finley and psychologist Ellen Dickstein teamed up to write The Intimate Enemy: Winning the War Within Yourself. Their book is intended for people who are tired of struggling and wish to "sign a peace treaty with life."

Finley and Dickstein explain that "we each have, and operate from, a false nature that is a jumble of our memories, conditioning, and some tempermental qualities." That false self responds to everything that happens to us, and its response is usually negative or defensive. We then find "ourselves caught up in the same kinds of situations again and again, and nothing ever seems to be resolved in a new way."

They call the false self an intimate enemy and say that we are our own worst enemies when it comes to finding true happiness.

Their book devoted to learning how to recognize the intimate enemy and "discover how to rise above our own present psychology."

Our false selves blame events outside ourselves for our unhappiness or see neutral events as threats, with the result that we are contantly battling to control external circumstances. Only when we become aware of the "True Self" within do we learn we are a part of a world of truth and light where all battles are non-existent.

The authors use short stories and examples to show how people misunderstand the world around them. They explain how to become aware of the fallacies the false self continually attempts to foist off as truth, and how to determine what is real and what is deceit. They say that "understanding that we are a multiplicity of selves is critical to recognizing, and ultimately defeating, the intimate enemy."

They emphasize self-study as the primary way of overcoming the false self. Self-study involves rousing ourselves from "psychic slumber" and becoming aware of our thoughts and internal actions. They offer specific tips for achieving greater self-awareness.

The Intimate Enemy is for anyone who wants more from life than a daily battle against unseen enemies.