The Power of Positive Choices: Adding and Subtracting Your Way to a Great Life [Paperback]

Gail McMeekin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 21, 2001

The Power of Positive Choices teaches you the art of activating positive life choices to create the life you truly want. By subtracting negative choices that deplete your energy and sidetrack you from your goals, you step into a world of possibilities. Positive Choices, carefully selected and added one at a time, act as powerful catalysts to bring you closer to a life that reflects your unique image of joy and meaningfulness. This book teaches you to subtract your personal Serenity Stealers and replace them with Positive Choices that work for you!

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

"The Power of Positive Choices invites the reader on an uplifting journey toward a more authentic and fulfilling life. By showing us how to confront and banish what's holding us back and how to consciously choose what's best in the long run, this book reminds us that we have choices that affect the quality of our lives and helps us create a life in which joy plays a leading role."

-- Patti Breitman, author of How to Say No Without Feeling Guilty

"Gail's new book is a brilliant distillation of the steps we each need to take to make the power of choice work. It is clear, vibrant, go-go juice of a book."

-- Jennifer Louden, author of The Comfort Queen's Guide to Life and The Woman's Comfort Book

"Gail McMeekin lays out the ABC's of having the life you want. Simple and Practical, they cover all the bases and come through on what they promise. I loved reading this book.

-- Victoria Moran, author of Lit from Within and Creating a Charmed Life.

About the Author

Gail McMeekin is a national career and creativity coach as well as a licensed psychotherapist and writer located in Boston. She has over 25 years of experience helping people vision and achieve their personal, professional, and creative goals. She is the author of The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women: A Portable Mentor (Conari Press, 2000) which sold out its first printing in 8 weeks and The Power of Positive Choices (Conari Press, 2001). She also wrote the 90-minute audiocassette workshop-on-tape Positive Choices: From Stress to Serenity which has been featured in Human Resource Executive, Training, The Improper Bostonian and The Lifestyle Book of Tufts Associated Health Plan. Her company, Creative Success, works with individuals and groups to maximize creative self-expression and positive living.

Gail has coached and trained clients in creativity, positive life choices, stress management, positive management strategies, time management, professional development, and women’s issues. She co-created and co-hosted a television series called “Professionals in Transition” and is now a frequent guest of television and radio programs. Her work has been featured in Redbook, The Boston Globe, New Age, Cape Woman, Nevada Woman, National Business Employment Weekly, One Spirit Bookclub, and Women’s Business as well as the Gonyea Online Career Center on AOL.

Product Details

• Paperback: 100 pages
• Publisher: Conari Press (June 21, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573245739
• ISBN-13: 978-1573245739
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #799,685 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Gail McMeekin, L.I.C.S.W. is an executive/career/creativity/positive choices coach and consultant in Boston with clients all over the world. She is the author of The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women and The Power of Positive Choices, both with Conari Press, and several e-books which are available at her website http://www.creativesuccess.com .Gail helps people to activiate their creativity, discover fulfilling work, restore inner peace, and grow their businesses. She also works with budding authors to help them to get their books and articles published, as well as other creative entrepreneurs trying to build successful businesses. Her monthly newsletter called Creative Success just celebrated its 100th issue. Gail is also a watercolor painter and gets inspired to paint, especially during the summers she spends on Cape Cod.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Message from Author Gail McMeekin, July 16, 2001

By 

Gail McMeekin (Author of The Power of Positive Choices and The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Power of Positive Choices: Adding and Subtracting Your Way to a Great Life (Paperback)

I am so thilled that The Power of Positive Choices, which was previously self published, is now available to a wider audience through bookstores and online resources. This book is the culmination of 25 years of work helping people reduce the stress in their lives by learning the art of making Positive Life Choices and subtracting their Serenity Stealers that are robbing them of the joy of living. You can lie on the floor and meditate and take a vacation, but if you return to a job you hate or a crumbling marriage or health problems you are not addressing, you will be locked in your stress response again. The Power of Positive Choices teaches you to break the cycle of self-abuse and "remember" that you are the author of your life story. You alone can determine if your life is a tragedy or a spiritual quest or a heart-warming love story. This book empowers you to make the best possible choices to increase the fulfillment in your life. The model is simple yet potent--you can master it. Bon chance.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Flawed beyond belief!, October 15, 2006

By 

NewYorker (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Power of Positive Choices: Adding and Subtracting Your Way to a Great Life (Paperback)

This book is flawed beyond belief! First of all it assumes you have unlimited financial resources to fulfill all your desires and life ambitions. Case in point: page 39-40, "Tania" wants more from her marriage than her husband is willing/able to give, so what does she do?... she signs up for 2 adult ed. classes, opens a checking account, joins an investment club, selects several mutual funds to begin an investment portfolio. She then decides she can't cook, so after ending her marriage (thus making room for a new partner, who, of course, according to plan, appears), she finds a gourmet take-out restaurant, and buys a condo near it. All this from a woman who, according to the author, "hadn't worked in years, had no interest in money nor any idea what her resources were." Maybe this is where the new boyfriend comes in... maybe he's rich! Nothing from the author explaining where the money came from for all of these luxuries... and believe me you'd have to save for years to afford gourmet take-out, or a condo! Page 23 has you "imagining that you are financially secure and that money is no longer a struggle for you." All well and good... we all dream... but that's not reality... show us how to get the money to do all the things in your book! Page 66-67 has Karl wanting to compose and sell a hit song (gee, don't we all!). Apparently Karl has a very understanding boss, because, since he can't focus on song-writing at home with other family members present, he's able to go into work 2 hours late twice a week so as to have that quiet time to write at home... please tell me where he works... I'd love to have a job like that!! Last, but by no means least, there is "Belle"... page 68-69... who wants to be more physically fit, so she joins several health/exercise clubs, hires a personal trainer who COMES TO HER HOME!!(wow! mega bucks!)... arranges for a vacation trip to the Rockies for her family, and then, of course, leads a walking group every day... hmmm... would this be at 5am before work, or 6pm after work?

If I hadn't gotten this book from the library, I would have dumped it in the trash where it belongs. Save your money! It's quite obvious the author is wealthy and hasn't got a clue what struggles the average person has who doesn't have the money needed to do all the neat stuff in her book! Get a clue people, pull yourselves up by your bootstraps, and get on with your life! You have more inner strength than you know! P.S... Amazon's lowest rating is a "1"... I would have given it a zero.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous!!, May 7, 2001

By 

"lizbeardsley" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Power of Positive Choices: Adding and Subtracting Your Way to a Great Life (Paperback)

The Power of Positive Choices has helped me concentrate on subtracting the serenity stealers from my life (which I never realized I had). I now spend much more time with people that make me happy and doing things that give me joy. It's amazing how this book can help you to reprioritize your goals. I am still working on it but my life becomes more fulfilling each day. Thank you, Gail McMeekin, for this incredible gift!