Customer Reviews

Ending the Struggle against Yourself (Inner Work Books)

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Taubman has created a great workbook to help uncover the inner negativity and battles we carry around. It isn't a great read. The benefits come from doing the assigned exercises. Going through the book is a long-term project (it took me more than six months), but it's worth sticking it out. This isn't a self-help fad-of-the-month title; it is a guide to a difficult and immensely rewarding journey of self-discovery.

If you are one that has struggled with self confidence issues and have always looked for acceptance/approval from other people or you find yourself alienated from others because you are unhappy, then this book is for you. I have bought many self help books and will admit to being a skeptic before I read the book. However, once I started doing the exercises and keeping a journal, I immediately began to learn more about myself and discovered why I have struggled with self confidence for so long. There are great exercises here that help you look back at specific events in your childhood and perhaps discover the root of your confidence issues. I was also glad to find that the author does not assume everyone that has confidence problems grew up in an environment with alcohol or physical abuse. He uses all kinds of examples that can help anyone consult their past for potential causes regardless of your background. This is a guide you can refer to over and over again.

I have found this book to be of lasting value and have returned to it time and again in the last five or six years when I get stuck. My first encounter with this book resulted in spending many hours over several months going through the material. Doing the exercises in this book and sticking with it for many months resulted in many positive changes in my life. I have read and looked at a lot of self-help books and find them lacking in depth or ability to effect change. Not this book. I recommend it highly.

I am just about to complete this book and I can unequivocally say that it has had an absolutely huge impact on my life. I have grown in confidence and boosting my confidence was the reason for buying the book. Along with this, I have become far less self critical which is a key to becoming at ease with yourself. I dont judge people as much as I used to, and I now understand that dealing with insecurities can improve your life tremendously. I could list many more benefits but I will keep it to the above. There is a lot of writing to do and at times you will feel like you are back at school, however dont rush, if the book takes a year to get through, be content in that the benefits will last a lifetime.

Stan's book takes a different approach in self help. The approach recognizes inner experiences and puts words to them in a unique way. Stan's wording of those innner experiences awakens something within that stirs slightly when reading. The gift is that whatever stirs continues to process and gain momentum when the book has been put away. There is a sacredness about that process. One of the outcomes from initiating that process is that the self recognizes it and gives thanks. The "thanks" manifest in an ease of being. When reading his book I was awed at the commonality of the lack of integrity and confidence across people. It was as if those issues were taken "out of the closet." This is not a book of directions to find answers. This is a book that serves as a catalyst for a process that results in being really satisfied with your self, no matter what consequences may result from external events. I have recommended this book to family, friends, colleagues, and clients. It is an amazingly "invisible" process that happens by simply reading. I feel content and happy in a way I'd previously only wished for. I've lost the anxiety worrying about what others might think or respond. I've lost the anxiety that came from trying to "fit in" or be the "right way" and gained an ease of being. It may sound trite, yet it is true, The Struggle is over.

Although I cannot say that I have struggled against myself to much, but this book gives accurate information regarding the process of understanding who we are as individuals. It has aided me in developing the strength of character and of self which is necessary to be a good and competent human being. It is my firm belief that the exercises which Stan Taubman suggests if practiced can teach anyone who is open to explore there own sense of themselves to overcome there own personal challenges in many ways. I am currenlty a therapist for a level 14 residential Tx facility for adloescent boys with emotional disturbances, and have developed a therapy group in which I have used principles from this book. It has allowed the clients to develop greater insight and taught them how to be more self-reflective which is a necessary component to sound mental health. Sincerely, Jared Gerber, MSW

Stan Taubman has written an excellent book here on developing deep confidence. His thesis is that one already has confidence and does not need to change the way they think to gain it. A person who has lost confidence needs to be self accepting and basically embrace all that they are. By accepting ones' own self with all its beauty and imperfections, the person realizes that they need to be truer to themselves. By being truer to ones'self, the person tends to put themselves down less with subtle belittling lies about who and what they truly are. Self acceptance and self confidence go hand in hand. The book is great because many congnitive therapy self help books tend to imply and tell us that we need to change the way we think. Many authors say: "You are what you think!" But to change one's way of thinking is one thing; to change the person you truly are is quite another.

I thought this book was beautifully written. It truly grabbed my attention with the vivid imagery that is used to exemplify the central concepts. I learned a lot and encourage others to embark on this fascinating journey of self-discovery and growth.

The basis of this book is that you shouldn't believe you are fundamentally flawed, but then makes you more aware of your flaws by pointing out incorrect thinking. The author uses too much jargon and spends too much time trying to explain the meaning of the jargon. The supplementary exercises seemed unnecessary and overexplained. This book made me feel frustrated and worse about myself! The premise of the book: accept yourself - flaws and all. The end result of the book: identify your flaws.

I took this book out of my local library to see if it was really worth purchasing. Im only on page 39 and this is the best resource on confidence that I've ever come across. The exercises in this book have really helped me to begin the process of self acceptance. This book is the real deal and I absolutely encourage you to buy it. Im suprised that a self-help book could really be so life changing. Ive read all of the big self help authors, such as Tony Robbins, but this book is beyond the tricks and techniques in other self-help books that tend to fall by the way side over time. Doing the exercises in this book is essentially like going to a therapist and digging deep into the thoughts, emotions, and your own personal experiences. I know this will be a long process, but this book is a really great tool and resource.