Customer Reviews

Dark Side of the Light Chasers

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There is a story in Native American history of an Indian chief who one night talking to his tribe tells them there are two dogs inside his mind. One a white dog who is good and courageous, the other a black dog who is vengeful and spiteful.He tells the tribe the dogs are fighting to the death. A brave, not able to wait for the end of the story asks "Which one of them will win." The chief responds "The one I feed."

This book tells us how to feed the white dog. I loved the book. I would also highly recommend the book An Encounter With A Prophet.

Our psychologists and many popular self-help movements have seem absolutely determined to make us permanent victims of our past. We are the way we are because of mom, dad, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, did so and so or did not do so and so, causing us to be the way we are today. This philosophy of blaming others for our own shortcomings has created a whole society of victims. And all of these victims have been going around "confronting" everyone they know for making them the way they are.

Thank God for a refreshing breath of common sense! We are the way we are because we get something out of being the way we are. If we want to change we need to first accept responsibility for being the way we are and then determine what we get out of being that way. This is Debbie Ford's message. Using Ford's techniques along with those suggested by Lewis in his book An Encounter With A Prophet, you will be able to stop being a victim of your past and your present. I strongly recommend both books for those wishing to attain some real lasting peace of mind.

Here's an unpleasant thought, for those of us who try so hard to be nice, spiritual, kind -- we have a dark side, too. Holding on to (hiding) our dark side is what keeps us from moving forward and making significant changes in our lives. Can't: get rid of the excess weight, stop ruining good relationships, getting into bad ones? You just might want to take a look at this book, find that dark side and use it to set you free.

One way to spot the dark side, according to Debbie Ford, in her excellent book, is to pay attention to our over-reactions. If you find yourself getting all worked up when someone accuses you of being something you just KNOW you're not, Ford tells us that that reaction means you're right on top of some important information.

You could go into psychotherapy to try and work it out. Or you could just get this book, and start embracing the darker side. You won't fall apart -- read it, do the exercises. This is a book you can read and follow alone, but it's also an excellent book to work on, or discuss, with a good friend or two.

Don't pass this one by, unless you're perfect!

Although I have heard, from probably a dozen differnet sources, "we are all mirrors of each other" and "what we dislike in another is what we have to work on in ourselves", this book was a giant AHA! and I knew that I had finally "gotten it"! Debbie Ford doesn't have to rely on psychology "jargon" - her clear and simple, unvarnished examples and directions are perfect tools to get you where you want to be in your life. If you take her words to heart, I guarantee your view of yourself will change, and you'll never look at your fellow humans in quite the same way, either. Empowerment!

I've read a lot of self-help books and this is by far the best I've ever read. It's not a book for everyone. Many people are not ready to look at themselves with total honesty. But, as the author explains, "What you can't be with, won't let you be." The things you deny about yourself will keep popping-up in your life, until you finally understand and accept them. As the author say so well "Because when we judge ourselves we automatically judge others. And what we do to others, we also do to ourselves. The world is a mirror of our internal selves. When we can accept ourselves, we automatically accept and forgive others."

The fascinating thing is, usually people that we dislike, are actually mirroring a quality that we are denying about ourselves. We have nearly every positive and negative quality there is, but through painful experiences, we come to deny certain parts of ourselves. We are unaware of how greatly this affects our life, and our interaction with other people.

We are also unaware of how wonderful life can be when we free ourselves. As she says "What you don't own, owns you." and "What you resist, persists." I can't do this book justice in this short review, but if you are ready to look at yourself with total honesty, and really change your life for the better, buy this book!

THE DARK SIDE OF THE LIGHT CHASERS is written with such brutal honesty that if you are not ready to change your life than don't bother with the book. Why? Because it would probably put you off, and that would be a shame because this is an extraordinary book that will surely alter your life as it did mine. Ms. Ford teaches us to deal with our inner demons or shadows as they are called in the book Shadow work as Ms. Ford refers to is the on going process of depolarizing, and balancing to heal the split between the conscious sense of self and the all else we are or could be. We learn that `Dark' doesn't mean only negative, it refers to something out of the light of our conscious awareness.

We know our shadow by many names, dark side, alter ego, the dark twin, the repressed self. I always told myself that I was crazy, I'm not worthy of the nice things that I have, and worst of all I felt unloved. Believe me when I say the hardest thing in the world to do is to look deep inside yourself honestly and for me it all came out in anger, learning to own the anger and then dealing with it so I could change that pattern in myself. When we do that our whole way of thinking changes for the better.

THE DARK SIDE OF THE LIGHT CHASERS is a wonderful self-help book and will show you how to be a whole person if you really want it.

As someone who has suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder for three years I know firsthand how difficult it can be to confront one's 'shadow' side. While the journey back to my 'self' has been arduous and difficult, the journey was worth it. This is because only by facing one's true 'shadows' can one not only find the 'light', but *appreciate* it.

I believe that everyone should read this book. I almost mean that literally. Too often people feel that it is somehow 'inappropriate' to explore the darker sides of their personality. They are taught this by a society of 100's of years which has said this is somehow 'bad' or 'evil'.

It is not. One learns far more from ones mistakes or human frailties than one could ever learn from an easy or lucky success.

I will stop here for I feel that I'm gushing however this book's potential influence should not be underestimated.

Attention self help addicts! When you read this book by Debbie Ford you will come to a point where you will lay the book in your lap & say to yourself, "I think I'm finally getting it." I have read so many self help books that took me so far but lacked the substance that this book gives graciously. "The Dark Side of the Light Chasers" will give you insight on the whole(ness) picture of human nature/cause & effect in a clear and inspiring way. Want to get to know yourself & learn specifically what it is that you need? All you have to do is learn how to read yourself; the answers have been there all along. Before spending hundreds of dollars on therapy or counselling, open your heart & read this phenominal, life changing book.

Our shadow side and its projection onto others has been poorly understood, and all but ignored, by current self-help writers, especially those with a New Age 'white-light' slant. It's easy to find fault with others, it's not so easy to find our own. All that stuff we gripe about in others - it's in us too. We all have our petty, small-minded, nasty, and sometimes downright loathsome, aspects. We may admit to a few foibles, but then we draw a line and say something like, "oh, I could never be like that," or, "at least I'm not as bad as so-and-so." We deny we're capable of being anything other than nice. (Ironically, we're disappointed if people can't find anything to say about us except that we're nice.) If this made us merely hypocritical it wouldn't be a problem, but it makes us feel and behave like victims.

It's not a concept that's easy to grasp, because we do such a thorough job of hiding the ugly bits. Debbie Ford explains it all in a systematic fashion, and the book provides exercises and meditations, but it does require a great deal of honesty. The first step is to find how the qualities we so easily recognize and hate in others manifest in ourselves. The next step is to find the ways these qualities may have unconsciously served us in the past, and then to use them consciously and positively in the future. Our natures do not contain only the blandly cheerful. The aspects we consider dark give us power and can be made to serve us if we claim them as ours. This is not an in-depth book on the subject, and the concepts can be difficult to apply in all situations, but it will give you a basic understanding, and help you to be less judgmental toward others, and yourself. If you've found most of the New Age books relentlessly sweet and nauseating, you'll like this one.

Debbie Ford's The Dark Side of The Light Chasers has some very valuable ideas. I found Debbie's writing to be inspiring in looking at all aspects of myself, including the ones that I thought I needed to hide from others, those being the "dark shadows." By acknowledging or "owning" these preceived unacceptable aspects of myself I became more aware of my true self. In other words, I can act appropriately and not react inappropriately to situation that come up in my life. The concept of "projection" where you recognize a quality in another person as being a trait that you have yourself is an interesating one I had not heard of before reading this book. This concept has enabled me to see my own potential for greatness. I also appreciated the sense that Debbie convened of how in each of us lies a masked solid gold treasure that can be revealed thru awareness.

Another book I highly recommend reading is called 'WORKING ON YOURSELF DOESN'T WORK" by Ariel and Shya Kane. The Kanes present a guide to personal transformation, where becoming aware of yourself in a non judgmental way enables lasting transformation to happen, where your life becomes magnificent.