Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

This book showed me how to get in touch with my true self. At first reading it made me realize that I needed to take a second look at where I was heading. The author guides one through four sections of personal development , starting by becoming totally aware of everything - - opening up the senses, of smell, of touch, of hearing and listening etc. etc...and it's fun doing the exercises. The next part is looking, at one's life psychologically, and the guidance pertaining to that area of self. When I got to the third section of the book I personally enjoyed the revelation and realization of the part I play in my own life - in being my own heroine, by creating my own myth. And on reaching the fourth part, what a delight to finally acknowledge my true spiritual nature. To me this was a work book of self discovery, very easy to read. I found it to be not only interesting and informative, but also great fun and a pleasure to work with and to grow from, I wanted to share it with everybody I knew ! . Indeed a book which I feel would benefit anyone interested in personal growth..

Maybe its me. Maybe since I ve read everything from Shakti Gawain, to Wayne Dyer to Deepak to Anthony Robbins, Carolyn Myss, Ken Wilbur and Brian Tracy to Abraham Hicks and everything in between, I find this book woefullly redundant: "Find different parts of yourself that need to speak out and let them have their say." I admit I bought this because the title grabbed me and it was [...] thru a re-seller. I tried 3 times to finish it and it just made me sleepy. So did her other book, a Mythic Life. Im finding out as I hit 50 , that the curse of being well read in the self-help and Self Improvement/spirituality niche is that after a few years, everything si just rehashed and repackaged to make the publishers more and more money. Often from the same authors. I cant believe Wayne Dyer and Caroline Myss endorsed the book. In fact, Im beginning to wonder if there is a publishing conspiracy going on where these guys just endorse anything the publisher asks them to or else! Anyway Im throwing my copy out. Wouldnt want some poor soul with a weak heart to buy my copy and drop dead of boredom.

With elegance and playful ease, Jean Houston brings a powerful invitation to become more of what we already are.
This book will open you to new realms of possibility in your personal and inter-personal life.

I found this work quite disappointing, full of vague, overgeneralized ideas so much a part of new age literature.