Emotional Freedom: Liberate Yourself from Negative Emotions and Transform Your Life (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: energy psychiatrist, emotional vampire, third transformation, Emotional Action Step, Los Angeles, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Orloff (Second Sight) offers a superbly written series of psychological strategies for maximizing positive emotions and minimizing toxic ones. A practicing psychiatrist, the author straddles the worlds of mainstream medicine and alternative healing; she regards emotions as a training ground for the soul, and views every victory over fear, anxiety, and resentment as a way to develop your spiritual muscles. As the self is the foundation for emotional freedom, the author discusses how readers can find their emotional type—intellectual, empathic, rock or gusher—and suggests how to find balance. Her tips include avoiding emotional vampires or consulting dreams, which she divides into three types: psychological (where fears and neuroses express themselves), predictive and guidance. The second half of the book tackles the most difficult life challenges: depression, loneliness, anxiety, frustration, rejection, grief, envy and bitterness. Orloff addresses each fully and frankly, using anecdotes from her own life and practice—the death of her mother, her own crippling envy. This insightful and positive book will assist anyone who is suffering in mapping a path out of pain. (Mar.)
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Review

“Our faltering economy has cost many people more than their money: They've lost their peace of mind. Peppered with practical action steps to build healthy emotional habits this book tells how to manage difficult emotions and restore inner calm.”
–USA Today

"A road map for people who are stressed out, discouraged or overwhelmed, or for those who simply want to get to a better place. Orloff, a psychiatrist, offers a step-by-step way to change outlooks, alter behavior and cope with life's challenges."
–Chicago Sun-Times

“Dr. Orloff  has a gift for making psychology lively, relevant, and useful to laypeople, and EMOTIONAL FREEDOM provides an ample menu of highly original action steps to help you work through each emotional state to achieve well−being.”
–Sacramento Bee

“[A]superbly written series of psychological strategies for maximizing positive emotions and minimizing toxic ones….This insightful and positive book will assist anyone who is suffering in mapping a path out of pain.”
–Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"This well-written book is full of good advice for anyone who wants to take more control of his or her emotional life."
–Library Journal

“A must-read for anyone who’s tired of feeling frustrated, lonely, jealous, or emotionally tense. Dr. Orloff shows you how to achieve a lightness of being and feel more positive and peaceful. Highly recommended.”
–Deepak Chopra, M.D., author of Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul

“Spectacular! I endorse this book so heartily because it gives a unique blend of the author’s personal and professional experience to enlighten us, and it’s a totally fascinating read. I recommend it to everyone who wants to overcome sabotaging emot... --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Harmony; First Edition edition (March 3, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307338185
• ISBN-13: 978-0307338181
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (139 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #5,398 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

75 of 80 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Much Needed Now, March 5, 2009

By	Eco-Friendly Feng Shui Designer - See all my reviews

Emotional Freedom: Liberate Yourself from Negative Emotions and Transform Your Life, by Judith Orloff, comes at a perfect time, as most of us are experiencing at least some negative emotions in this economy.

This is a big book--over 400 pages--and is a bit intimidating. However, Orloff encourages us to take our time reading,to take "baby steps."

Orloff defines emotional freedom as: "It means increasing your ability to love by cultivating positive emotions and being able to compassionately witness and transform negative ones, whether yours or anther's."

Orloff is the pioneer of what she calls Energy Psychiatry--blending traditional medicine, intuition, energy and dreams.

She talks about our vital life force energy (or Chi, to the Chinese,) that flows through our body and is intuition. This energy is also all around us--so life force energy is within and without, affecting us.

Part I "Tipping life power of emotional freedom," includes a self assessment test to compare before and after you do the work. She discusses the 4 components of freedom and the roles dreams play in our lives.

Part II "Your tools for liberation," include a practical guide to dealing with the most difficult emotions.

There is a quiz to help you determine what your emotional type is--the intellectual, the empath, the rock, the gusher. She discusses the pros and cons of each and how to find balance within each.

The book includes advice on how to reprogram ourselves to build inner calm by facing anxiety and worry.

As an eco-friendly Feng Shui designer, I really appreciate how she discusses energy and intuition--because both play a large role in my work. Orloff understands that life force energy (as well as negative energy,) surround us. I would recommend reading her book slowly with a book that influenced my practice: the award winning book, HARMONIOUS ENVIRONMENT: BEAUTIFY, DETOXIFY & ENERGIZE YOUR LIFE, YOUR HOME & YOUR PLANET, because it will help you raise the energy in your home which will help alleviate stress and other negative emotions.

I also recommend THE ART OF EXTREME SELF-CARE, because it teaches us to love ourselves--key in Orloff's work, as well.

41 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Gift of Emotional Freedom, March 7, 2009

By	Ann Quasman WomanTalk Live Radio (Baltimore, MD USA) - See all my reviews

If you are one of those people who has your buttons pushed more than you'd care to....this book is for you. If you thought you'd handled your "stuff" because you've talked about it for years, yet - it's still there.....this book is for you. If you're tired of dealing with it...this book is for you. The tail no longer needs to wag the dog.

Dr. Judith Orloff helps us understand how important it is to deal with all of our emotions. No need to ignore them or label them good or bad - just a need to acknowledge them and use them as tools of incredible transformation. Tools that will awaken our intuitive powers if only we pay attention.

Because she shares her own journey so willingly, you'll realize how common our deepest fears and worries are. And, you'll benefit from the numerous practices throughout the book that will help you listen to yourself, feel what's really going on, and open your heart.

Learn how to make the shift...and, let your transformation begin.

64 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unchain my heart, March 3, 2009

By	Julie Neal "The Complete Walt Disney World" (Sanibel Island, Fla.) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

What an important book! So many of us are slaves to irrationality, letting ourselves be led around like sheep by our emotions. To be truly free, a person must have "the power to act, think or feel as one wants without hindrance or restraint." This book has valuable lessons to help you be a master of your emotional domain.

The more you know about your emotional health, the easier it will be for you to control it. If you can put your finger on what triggers your logical, rational brain to take a vacation and put your feelings in control, the better you'll be able to stop it from happening. For example, this book has taught me an important lesson: I'm an empath. No, not poor Agatha from Minority Report. An empath "feels everything, sometimes to an extreme." On the positive side, this means I'm intuitive about other people's thoughts and feelings, which makes it easy to relate to people and make friends. On the downside, I act as an "emotional sponge, absorbing people's negativity." I can be so sensitive to emotions, I feel like "a wire without insulation." I've always thought of it as having no skin; you are laid open and completely vulnerable emotionally. Now that I know I'm an empath, I can understand better how to control these negatives.

Especially helpful are the Emotional Action Steps spread throughout the book. These are boxed segments that contain bulleted strategies you can implement and practice. I also liked the Emotional Vampire Survival Guide, to help you survive those people who suck you dry emotionally.

This wise book is chock full of advice. Much of it is usable immediately. Although it leans toward New Agey spiritualism, the bulk is good old-fashioned common sense articulated in a smartly organized book.

Here's the chapter list:

Introduction. Emotional Freedom: The Secret to Serenity

Part One
1. The Path to Emotional Freedom: Beginning to Learn to Love
2. Four Practical Secrets to Empowering Your Emotional Life
3. Dreams and Sleep: Accessing Revolutionary States of Consciousness
4. From Intellectuals to Empaths: What Is Your Emotional Type?
5. Combating Emotional Vampires: How to Understand and Protect Your Sensitivity

Part Two
6. The First Transformation: Facing Fear, Building Courage
7. The Second Transformation: Facing Frustration and Disappointment, Building Patience
8. The Third Transformation: Facing Loneliness, Building Connection
9. The Fourth Transformation: Facing Anxiety and Worry, Building Inner Calm
10. The Fifth Transformation: Facing Depression, Building Hope
11. The Sixth Transformation: Facing Jealousy and Envy, Building Self-Esteem
12. The Seventh Transformation: Facing Anger, Building Compassion

Afterword. Living in Service to the Heart: The Blessing of Emotional Freedom