4 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
In a world where negativity is everywhere, often even in our own minds, self-help books are everywhere. There are so many that you could probably build a whole town out of them using just a single copy of each title! Okay, yeah, I may be exaggerating a bit, but with so many self-help books out there, how do you decide which one is for you?
For me, there are three important things a good self-help books needs: information, encouragement, and genuineness (yes, that's really a word!). No self-help book is even worth cracking open if it doesn't give you new information no matter how good it makes you feel, and the last thing anyone needs is a book reminding them of what a failure they are when they're looking to be uplifted. And even if a book does make you feel good and gives you new information, you'll never be encouraged to try any of the things recommended if the author isn't someone genuine, someone you can relate to and who really seems like they're writing the book to reach out to you rather than to try to make a quick buck.
I'm very happy to say that GOLD: How To Go From Lost To Found, Awaken Your Inner Power, And Discover Your Midas Touch by Vicki Lynn King gets high marks in all three subjects. Vicki's writing is incredibly friendly, and it blends Christian beliefs and ideals with lessons about setting goals, positivity, visualization, and the laws of attraction and vibration. There may be some that don't believe in some of these things, whether you're not Christian or don't believe in the ability to get what you want through visualizing it, but Vicki is never pushy about her beliefs at all and has all sorts of proof, both personal and from professional studies,
Vicki begins by describing a bit of her own past, and then goes into relating her own personal experiences with the lessons she's teaching. Two of her life experiences are especially relatable: when she was following her dream of being a singer and when she dove into being self-employed as an insurance saleswoman. In both of these endeavors she faced hardship and could've easily given up, but she stuck with it, powered through the tough times, and ended up being greatly successful. Vicki may believe in the power of visualization, but that doesn't mean just sitting around imagining what you want and not working your butt off for it!
The book flows from point to point rather than chronologically, and the 160-ish pages flew by once I started reading. I'm a huge lover of lists and setting goals, so those sections may not have held any new information, but they still managed to reinforce their importance. She also makes some incredible points, such as a study in which three groups of people tried to make as many free throws as they could. After that, they had the first group practice daily for an hour, the second group visualized themselves making free throws and the third group did nothing. Surprisingly, while the first group improved by 24%, the group that visualized and didn't even practice at all improved by 23%! She also made the point that scientists say 70% of our thoughts are negative, and as such the majority of people "have what some people call ANTS, Automatic Negative Thoughts". which is rather enlightening! If you think negatively 70% of the time, unless you specifically choose to think positively, every thought you have is more likely to be negative than positive. Positivity is literally something you have to choose!I did not choose to move forward until the pain of my present state became greater than the pain I would go through if I chose change and growth.
I really enjoyed spending time reading Vicki's writing, and she's easily one of the most genuine authors I've ever read. Despite my best efforts I couldn't find a single grammatical error, and I only found a single minor negative thing: in the chapter about tapping and Qigong, she doesn't really go into detail about how they work. She links to more information and mentions other authors and pioneers in the fields, but I really wanted more information in the book itself, or for this to be put into a separate appendix or something. It's still incredibly easy for me to give this book 4 out of 4 stars, and just as easy for me to recommend it to anyone who wants to improve their life and become more positive, especially those who are willing to put the work into it. This is a great starting point for beginning a much more intentional, less passive life.
******
GOLD
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like CataclysmicKnight's review? Post a comment saying so!