You Can Heal Your Life

Rating:
Summary: Thank you, Louise!
Review: I really shouldn't even write a review of this book or of Louise Hay, for I am extremely biased. Biased in the fact that she and her writings literally saved my life. People often say that something "completely changed their life" and while it sounds cliche here to say that, it's exactly what happened. I can't begin to describe to you the power of positive affirmations. I literally went from sleeping on someone's livingroom floor and earning just above minimum wage, to owning my own home (7 bedrooms, thank you) and a large steady income. Not to mention health, happiness, an perfect mate, and everything in between. This book is easy to read, easy to follow and a great motivator. Do yourself a favor and buy several copies, because you'll want to give them out as gifts. I just can't say enough about Louise and how she has changed my life and the lives of others. Thank you, Louise--you're a treasure.

Also recommended: A Child Called It, Bark of the Dogwood, A Man Called Dave

Rating:
Summary: DISCOVER THE REAL YOU!
Review: "You Can Heal Your Life" is a beautifully written and illustrated book dealing with self-discovery. It is a stepping stone in finding the real person you are and exploring ways that will lead to a more peaceful and happy life. Often, we are our own worst enemies with imaginary fears of what the future will bring, or we are dwellers of our past mistakes, regrets and misgivings. The importance of discovering and accepting our true self for who we really are, and the search for a more fulfilling life, are explored among the pages of this book.

Some of the words here are very much similar to Buddhist Philosophies. It is a known fact that before we can start anew, we must first rid ourself of all negative emotions and habits, more commonly known in this day and age as, "getting rid of the excess baggage." This is a wonderful self-help book that will lead you on a path of positive thinking and leave the reader with the understanding no one is perfect, we all have faults, but we can still feel good about ourselves.

If you are interested in exploring more fully the world of peace, contentment and happiness, I also recommend reading , "Awakening the Buddha Within" by Lama Surya Das and "Healing Society" by Dr. Seung-Heun Lee. Both are excellent books and a realistic learning adventure in self-discovery.

Rating:
Summary: It's true but oversimplistic and seriously lacking mechanics
Review: The concepts Miss Hay introduces are not new. They are as old as the pyramids of ancient Egypt and as motheaten as my old sneekers. Yet I applaud Louise L. Hay for attempting to help transcend the beingness of man.

That being said, I don't think it is a wild statement to call this book a philosophical disaster. Anyone who is familiar with the works of Riemann, Einstein, Hawking or Kaku will know this universe has a set of certain laws. To bend these laws one has to know them and it is very clearly Hay doesn't have any metaphysical (let alone mathematical) understanding whatsoever.

Yes, one is able to transform or transfigurate the universe in wich he/she lives but this universe has the tendency to play some very nasty tricks on someone who does (remember Aleister Crowley?). To many people are trying to alter the cosmic woof and warp of life at the same time and there are too many vibrations wich fly around our zone of existence. These, and dozens of other problems (like games, gods, choas, order, command) prevent many people to actually be at cause.

Instead of this book I would first suggest to read Stephen Hawkings' "Universe in a nutshell", then Gary Zukav's "Dancing Wu-Li Masters" (and don't read Seat of the Soul!) and finally Aleister Crowley's "Magick Without Tears". But after that read "You can heal your life", then it will be MINDBLOWING!

Then you will be set. You'll be standing on a jumping plateau like THE FOOL on tarotcard zero, you'll be able to do anything you want!

Rating:
Summary: "It's only a thought, and a thought can be changed."
Review: This beautiful book is wonderful! It seems very simplistic that we just need to create affirmations in our life and many problems will dissapear, but it works. While you are affirming, you will realize your limiting beliefs and that is your starting point for changes in your life. Otherwise, affirmations just become wishful thinking. From personal experience, I have been blaming people in my life for my frustrations and anger. As soon as I wrote affirmations for myself that focus on me, I hardly notice the things about other people that were annoying me. Now, I realize that all other people have been acting as my mirrors and I just didn't want to believe the negative things were really part of me too. Louise Hay explains simply in each section how we create our own problems, provides exercises to clear our limiting beliefs, and gives beautiful affirmations to meditate on. I also highly recommend Shakti Gawains, "Creative Visualisation" to help write more personal and specific affirmations for you.

Rating:
Summary: Louise Hay helped save my life.
Review: A friend at my church handed this book to me after a diagnosis of Hodgkin's Disease and encouraged me to read it. He said it had helped him in his life. I didn't know this guy very well and I have not seen him since then. I am embarrassed that I can't even remember his name. However, I will forever be grateful to him. The book helped me find so many truths about the way I had been living my life and the ultimate responsibility that I had in staying healthy. I learned there were many things I could do myself that I had never known I had the power or abiltiy to do. I survived cancer and a long illness recovering from a bone-marrow transplant. I owe my life to wonderful, blessed people like Louise B. Hay. I recommend this book to anyone suffering in any way, in their physical or emotional life.

Rating:
Summary: The beginning of a life changing experience
Review: I'm 26 and I was diagnosed with a spine of an 86 year old. I felt like a victim - "why me", "oh god, if I'm like this now, what will I be like in 10 years, if I'm even alive!", and "look at him, why doesn't he have a back like mine". It's been seven months since I first became sick and for almost that entire period I've felt nothing but pain, anxiety, and isolation.

Fortunately my father has this book and so I ordered my own copy of it as well as the "you can heal your life companion". I just read through this entire book in little over a week and my life has changed already. I was brought up in the new age way of thinking, but this book really took me to a new level. This book is really only the tip of the iceberg however, but she really tells you where to go. Metaphorically speaking, reading this book is like asking for directions - Louise Hay tells you to go south, then go 10 miles, then turn north, from there it's up to you, but she gives you the first few steps. She tells you in this book to read, search, and find other works that will help you on your journey. I've taken this book to heart and have done everything that she has said. She also recommends using alternative healing styles and chiropractic is one of them. I've been seeing one now, and along with Louise's book, I'm feeling better than I have ever since I became so called "sick". She tells you her story in the end of this book, and at first I was thinking, "Why do I need to know her story". Well, read it, and you will find out why I had to finish her story before I put the book down for the night. Read this book if you have an illness. Read this book if you don't feel happy. Read this book if you think you are not getting paid enough at your job. In any situation you are in right now, this book will steer you in the right direction, even if you are only a little off course. Trust me. Read this book. It may change your life... forever!

Rating:
Summary: Buy this book!
Review: A complete eye opener! I was hooked after the first page! A calming approach to a hectic everyday world! Well Done!!

Rating:
Summary: Great Work Book for Self-Healing
Review: This book is a fantastic work book for walking you through the different areas of your life where negative thinking patterns or old beliefs may be lurking, causing less than optimal results in your life or in your health.

It's interesting to see the few negative responses here from those who are not yet ready to assume responsibility for their health. These people take offense at the notion that we cause our own dis-ease -- apparently feeling better about "God" putting it there, or worse, happenstance.

Thankfully we do control our bodies, even when we are unaware, but yes, that does mean we can unknowingly cause problems like breast cancer, arthritis, chronic back problems, and more. Our bodies are mere extensions of our minds, and when we harbor unhealthy attitudes or longstanding feelings of resentment or guilt (for example), these will eventually manifest in the body as dis-ease. However the good news is that we can discover the patterns that caused the dis-ease and change them to positive patterns, re-versing the dis-ease to health! What could be more empowering?

A long time fan of theoretical physics, I find it ironic (albeit predictable) that a few of the negative reviews came from those who quoted a lack of scientific proof or pointed to physical laws as being to the contrary of the notion of self-healing. But science is always playing catch-up to experience. It's always riding behind, trying to explain after the fact. And even much of what it "proves" cannot be explained scientifically at all. Take for example a half-spin particle which requires two complete revolutions to complete a 360 turn! If quantum physics teaches us anything it's that nothing is what it seems. And if it teaches us anything else it's that we know next to nothing about the mechanics of matter and thought. Never mind the relationship between the two. (Though there is that pesky "observation-effects-the-outcome" theory!)

That our thoughts affect the matter that is our body is hardly a surprise, much less a leap of faith -- or science for that matter. It makes perfect sense. Whether proved scientifically or not yet it's a moot point to those who have already proved it in their own lives.

So if the nay Sayers want to continue to rely soley on doctors and avoid all responsibility for their own health because it offends their egos to think they cause their own illness, or because they are waiting for permission or validation by scientists, so be it. Meanwhile, those who are ready to look inside and see what's going on, can change and direct their lives and health starting today. And this book can seriously help you if you are at that junction.

Rating:
Summary: Evill, Stupid, and Cruel
Review: I hesitate to post this review because it disagrees so strongly with the accolades the book has racked up so far. Obviously, many readers greatly appreciate this book and genuinely love Louise L. Hay for writing it.

I picked up the book at the local library on a whim. I was horrified by it. The book struck me as evil, stupid, and cruel.

Evil -- the book states that those who experience ill fortune are responsible for their own ill fortune.

So, all those women in Sudan, who, right now, are being raped and made homeless by invaders. Well, it's their own darn fault, and we don't have to worry about them.

People starving in famines ... children being kidnapped into sex slavery ... people killed in earthquakes, or by disease -- again, it's their own choice, their own fault.

This philosophy is sick and cruel.

It is also stupid. Ms. Hay produces not one iota of evidence to support anything she says.

Yes, readers here claim that Ms. Hay's writings have changed their lives, but if you go to a St. Jude website, you will see an equal number of enthusiastic posts claiming that St. Jude performed miracles that changed lives. If you go to the shrine of a Hindu idol, you will hear testimonials that the Hindu idol changed lives for the better...

In other words, there are numerous people willing to testify to any number of belief systems or modes of behavior.

What separates these testimonials from real evidence?

A little ritual called "The Scientific Method."

Let's take those women in Sudan. If the women in Sudan being terrorized by invaders were to repeat, everyday, some Louise Hay style affirmation, like, oh, say, "My farm is not being invaded today; I am not going to get raped today; my husband will not be murdered before my eyes today," would that deflect the invaders?

I don't think so.

If Hay thinks so, let her travel to people in real need and test her methods out, rather than dispensing her "wisdom" to rich denizens of Malibu.

Hay claims that her own life story is proof of her method. She recounts her life story, and it *disproves* her method.

Hay was negative and her life was miserable. Then, because she was good looking, as she herself reports, she was able to earn a living as a model, and attract a rich husband. Presto changeo, everything in her life got better. Not because she practiced "affirmations," she didn't. But because she was able to market her good looks and marry a well-to-do man.

The low point of this book's inanity is the appendix at the end that claims that diseases are caused by given attitudes, and that if people repeat affirmations, their disease will go away.

So, AIDS is not caused by a virus, but by low self esteem. If people will just think better about themselves, their AIDS will disappear.

No need to worry about condoms, or safe sex, or anything. Just maintain a positive attitude, and condoms aren't necessary.

Such a lie is nothing short of grotesque. No, really, it is murderous.

Hay's brutal insistence on blaming persons not as fortunate as herself for their suffering is one of the most heinous things I've ever encountered in any book.

In reading this book, though, I learned at least one important source for the vicious New Age phrase, "You give yourself breast cancer."

There must be something highly appealing in this book or else it would not have racked up so many positive reviews on Amazon, and Hay would not be the very, very wealthy woman she is today.

What that positive feature is is totally beyond me.

Rating:
Summary: The beginning of a life changing experience
Review: I'm 26 and I was diagnosed with a spine of an 86 year old. I felt like a victim - "why me", "oh god, if I'm like this now, what will I be like in 10 years, if I'm even alive!", and "look at him, why doesn't he have a back like mine". It's been seven months since I first became sick and for almost that entire period I've felt nothing but pain, anxiety, and isolation.

Fortunately my father has this book and so I ordered my own copy of it as well as the "you can heal your life companion". I just read through this entire book in little over a week and my life has changed already. I was brought up in the new age way of thinking, but this book really took me to a new level. This book is really only the tip of the iceberg however, but she really tells you where to go. Metaphorically speaking, reading this book is like asking for directions - Louise Hay tells you to go south, then go 10 miles, then turn north, from there it's up to you, but she gives you the first few steps. She tells you in this book to read, search, and find other works that will help you on your journey. I've taken this book to heart and have done everything that she has said. She also recommends using alternative healing styles and chiropractic is one of them. I've been seeing one now, and along with Louise's book, I'm feeling better than I have ever since I became so called "sick". She tells you her story in the end of this book, and at first I was thinking, "Why do I need to know her story". Well, read it, and you will find out why I had to finish her story before I put the book down for the night. Read this book if you have an illness. Read this book if you don't feel happy. Read this book if you think you are not getting paid enough at your job. In any situation you are in right now, this book will steer you in the right direction, even if you are only a little off course. Trust me. Read this book. It may change your life... forever!