Customer Reviews

Actualizations: You Don't Have to Rehearse to Be Yourself

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I'm not much for self-help books! However, I wish I had found this book years ago. It is universal, timeless, and a "real" handbook for life. I want to give a copy to everyone I know. It's about much more than transforming relationships in the traditional sense. No, it's not another love book or "Women are from Mars and Men are from Venus" kind of book. It's about our relationship with ourself and our life as much as it is about our relationship with lovers, friends, parents, children, or co-workers. Emery in a very simple manner explains how to make our life and our relationships workable. He highlights ideas, perceptions, and self images that don't work for us (any of us) and explains where they came from. He explains the mechanics of it in a way that makes it easy to execute. This is a very simple book, easy to read, and one that I will read many times. It will be the first gift I give to anyone I have a romantic relationship with in the future.

I have have owned many copies of this book because I give them away or people just walk off with them! I have been rereading it for fifteen years and always find new inspiration.

It is wonderful to know that such wisdom is at our fingertips and I just wish we could all read the same book--as in "You Don't Have to Rehearse to Be Yourself."

Whether you are looking for inspiration or trying to communicate with your loved ones better or looking for more success in life, this is definitely the book to read.

It's a classic.

About 30 years ago my then 20-yr-old son attended Stewrt Emery's 4-day workshop in San Francisco. It dramatically changed his life - forever!
The Actualizations book is the workshop in written form. Through the years I have given the book to several people with the same amazing results. I recently gave a copy to my married adult niece. After just starting it, this is what she wrote to me: "This book was written just for me. It is as if it were written directly to me from the writer. How does he know all these things that he knows?" Whatever the circumstances of one's life, this book applies.

I spent several years being a confirmed self-help junkie. I read everything I could get my hands on, went to seminars and was a passionate seeker. When I finished this book, I remember thinking, "I don't have to ever read another self-help book." Of course, I have read many others, but ACTUALIZATIONS remains my all-time favorite. It's profoundly full of memorable ideas and insights. You may find yourself quoting it to your friends. Quite simply, Stewart Emery is one of the best teachers I've ever encountered.

When you write something that is still read and referred to after 30 years, it is a sign of something great inside. I hated this book and I love this book. Sometimes in the same minute. It is very confronting as it forces you beyond your own rationalisation to be truthful to yourself. I have thrown the book across the room, only to go pick it up and underline or highlight the point being presented. If you are searching for a realistic and truthful picture of relationships, then this a good book for you. It is only as good as you are in accepting the way things are in the world.

If you are human :) this book is an essential item ! It was cheap and it shipped quickly. I am very satisfied with this purchase.

I had to write this review because there were nothing but glowing reviews when I purchased the book. This book is OLD. I think it was written in 1977 and it reads that way. The author uses a lot of hippie terminology. It just gave me the feeling that it was really out of date. I am admittedly a self-help book junkie, so I feel embarrassingly qualified to review the thing. A lot of his concepts seem "new age". Don't get me wrong there is nothing wrong with that, it's just that over the last few decades writers seem to have become more and more adept at sharing this kind of knowledge without sounding hokey. Do your self a favor, buy something written in the last couple years. If there are any ideas worth keeping, rest assured, your favorite contemporary author has borrowed it and made it easier to understand.