laura_loredana's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
5.0
ryancrasta's review against another edition
4.0
I picked up this book because I was curious to learn more about basic emotional patterns and see how I could use these insights in tandem with my lessons in therapy. I finished this book feeling like I have a fundamentally better understanding of myself and an ability to more deeply empathize with others.
The lucid explanations along with the author’s many client examples constantly put me in reflective moods. By the end of each chapter, I felt like I was confronting the hard truths about who I am and why I might be that way. It’s weirdly therapeutic.
One of my favourite quotes:
“[Changing an emotional pattern] is very different from mere intellectual understanding—it involves the emotional brain. It takes much persistent practice, cultivation of the ability to bring awareness to what had been unconscious behavior, and sustained effort to try out the new way of thinking and acting despite its initial awkwardness and relapses into old habit.”
Since I was targeted in what I wanted from this book, I did find Part I & IV a bit verbose. I found myself skimming past these sections. If you are interested in attachment theory and the conversations that Brene Brown has on shame, this might be up your alley of interests.
The lucid explanations along with the author’s many client examples constantly put me in reflective moods. By the end of each chapter, I felt like I was confronting the hard truths about who I am and why I might be that way. It’s weirdly therapeutic.
One of my favourite quotes:
“[Changing an emotional pattern] is very different from mere intellectual understanding—it involves the emotional brain. It takes much persistent practice, cultivation of the ability to bring awareness to what had been unconscious behavior, and sustained effort to try out the new way of thinking and acting despite its initial awkwardness and relapses into old habit.”
Since I was targeted in what I wanted from this book, I did find Part I & IV a bit verbose. I found myself skimming past these sections. If you are interested in attachment theory and the conversations that Brene Brown has on shame, this might be up your alley of interests.
katehyde's review against another edition
There were some really great ideas, but they were repeated over and over through case studies (none of which actually prove that the ideas presented are helpful, since they’re cherry-picked, individual stories). Not a lot of info was given on the “schemas,” other than labeling them in the case studies (maybe the hope is that the reader will recognize themself in a particular story?). I found myself dreading picking up this book and feeling like I wasn’t actually learning anything, so I gave up!
thevillageacademic's review against another edition
5.0
this book has definitely left a mark in my life. i might even say that it has changed some aspects of me.
rationes_seminales's review against another edition
3.0
(3.5/5) The book is good, it has a detailed explanation about some behavior patterns and how to deal with emotions, it offers interesting and good alternatives. However, I think that sometimes she turns the same ideas around and the book could have lasted half as long. I like the information she gives about Buddhism and non-remain at the end. I think it's a very real thing.
esqzme's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed this book and its discussions on maladaptive schemas and the integration of mindfulness principles in catching and choosing different responses once our schema(s) have been triggered. I chose this book because it was referenced in Jon Kabat Zinn's Full Catastrophe Living. I am making my way through the books he referenced, and this was the first one on my list. I was intrigued that Goleman is married to Daniel Goleman (the person who identified and studied Emotional Intelligence and wrote a groundbreaking book about it years ago). I wish she spent more pages discussing the spiritual aspect and the alchemy, which only got the last chapter of the book, however I did enjoy the empowerment resulting from the revelation that we can choose different responses even when triggered to embark on these emotionally habitual patterns of behavior.
coycaw's review against another edition
5.0
An excellent synthesis of Buddhist practices and cognitive psychology.
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