A Passion For the Possible: A Guide to Realizing Your True Potential [Hardcover]

Jean Houston (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 26, 1997

Heralded and championed by Deepak Chopra and Marianne Williamson, Jean Houston has served as an advisor to President and Hillary Rodham Clinton, and she worked closely with Mary Catherine Bateson in helping Hillary Clinton write It Takes a Village. Now comes her most accessible book yet, the companion to her PBS special.

"Jean Houston eloquently reveals the Essential Self--the guide within us all that can lead us to our higher destiny, expose our purpose for being and manifest all that we can be--if we have the courage to listen."
--James Redfield, author of The Celestine Prophecy

"With elegant simplicity, Jean Houston shows you how to unleash the genius that lies in the depths of your being."
--Deepak Chopra, author of The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success

"Jean Houston teaches the teachers."
--Marianne Williamson

"Jean Houston, like an archaeologist of the human spirit probing the great myths and mysteries, continues to remind us why we are here on this earth now and why we must not take one moment of our lives for granted."
--Armand Assante, actor, star of The Odyssey

"A Passion for the Possible is a guide to expressing our fullest potential as human beings by one of the greatest teachers of this time or indeed of any time. Jean Houston's work is a blessing in the true sense of the word; it encourages hidden potential to germinate and come to fullest flower."
--Joan Borysenko, author of Minding the Body, Mending the Mind

"Jean Houston brings down fire from heaven to empower and inspire individual lives."
--Larry Dossey, M.D., author of Healing Words and Be Careful What You Pray For, You Just Might Get It

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Over the past 30 years Jean Houston has dedicated her life to helping people unleash their creative and spiritual potential. As a result she has worked with some of the greatest cultural and spiritual visionaries of our time, such as Margaret Meade and Joseph Campbell. In A Passion for the Possible, written as a complement to the PBS series by the same name, Houston explains what helps people become creative geniuses. The trick is to fully commit to the four levels of self (sensory, psychological, mythic, and spiritual). Acting as a guide to the interior world, Houston once again inspires readers to embody their true potential.

From Library Journal

Famous not just for her Clinton connection, Houston is a cofounder of the Foundation for Mind Research in Pomona, New York, and has been an author and lecturer in the personal growth movement for over 30 years. In the same vein as Chopra and Breathnach, Houston here expands on the message from her PBS special of the same name. This guide creatively advances readers through four levels of self?the sensory/physical, psychological, mythic/symbolic, and spiritual?via exercise and meditation. There is nothing especially new here, but many of these techniques have been demonstrated in Houston's work with major corporations and the United Nations, and her name recognition earns this work a place in most public libraries.?Lisa S. Wise, Broome Cty. P.L., Binghamton,
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne; 1 edition (August 26, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062515314
• ISBN-13: 978-0062515315
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #343,796 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Inspirational, January 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Passion for the Possible: A Guide to Realizing Your True Potential (Paperback)

Since the page for this book already contains a description of its topics, I'll skip straight to my opinions. I came away from this book feeling inspired to open up to the world around me...and inside me. Many of the techniques in this book are not wholly original so some readers may be disappointed, but the combination of topics and presentation are very effective and powerful. Nevertheless, this is one of those books which cannot be fully realized without doing the exercises. As a result, how much one gets out of it varies according to how much one puts into it. Don't let that scare you though, because the exercises are not difficult and are enjoyable. I wish the book went a little further, though. There were places where the lack of depth left me wishing for more. That issue aside, reading this book is just the right thing to do if you want to wake up to the world around you, gain some self-realization and, most of all, become a little more passionate to the everyday possibilities available as a human being.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Personal Workshop, April 30, 2000

By 

Mitchell R. Alegre (Glenwood, New York) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: A Passion For the Possible: A Guide to Realizing Your True Potential (Hardcover)

This book is an adventure of the imagination. Houston gives us a design for using the imagination as a tool for personal growth. The book is a workshop for personal development. Houston provides the reader with exercises to develop four realms--sensory, psychological, mythic, and spiritual. This is not a book of concepts and theories but of practical exercises for becoming more of who you are meant to be.

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From the Agent, Joe Durepos, October 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Passion for the Possible: A Guide to Realizing Your True Potential (Paperback)

Jean Houston can rightly be called the mother of the human potential movement. She has been everywhere every one else has gone, only she was there first. Sadly, her books have not always served her well, she is too complex and always on the move. Her life is a virtual roadmap of personal transformation and the search for our deepest selves. In this small but potent book she does manage the near impossible and distills a lifetime's worth of teaching into an accessible introductory work. While a book is no substitute for actually studying with this master teacher, A Passion for the Possible serves as an inspiring glimpse into the mind and work of Jean Houston.