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65 of 65 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good book - explains some ideas in cognative therapy well, May 7, 2002
This review is from: Prisoners of Belief: Exposing and Changing Beliefs That Control Your Life (Paperback)
How do you deal with other people's anger? With their praise? With their criticism? How do you deal with mistakes? Do you cope well with stress? Are you comfortable trying new things? How do you express your feelings? Are you able to say "no"? How do you make friends? What are your beliefs around sex? We each have a unique way of managing our lives. But how many of us explicitly know the rules guiding our lives? Those rules were formed in childhood and may or may not serve as good guides as we mature. How do you expose them and check their objectivity - and revise them where warranted? When you've held wrong ideas for a lifetime, you experience them as factual, unchallengable and true. How do you then uproot them? This short self-help book offers ways to challenge wrong ideas. McKay's and Fanning's book helps you get to the foundation of your own "self-portrait," i.e., how you see yourself. Do you see yourself as a loner, as shy, as an angry person, as a cynic, as a happy person, as an assertive person? The authors help you uncover the rules you live by (e.g., Never say anything that will hurt someone. Never let anyone really get to know you. If you do not do things perfectly, you will be rejected.) Some of these rules may be healthy (e.g., Be responsible. Speak your mind openly and tactfully.) Some of these rules may literally drive you crazy (e.g., Don't make decisions. Don't try anything new.) The authors help you understand and uncover your own core beliefs. "Your most deeply held, core beliefs are the bedrock of your personality. They describe you as worthy or worthless, competent or incompetent, powerful or helpless, loved or scorned, self-reliant or dependent, belonging or outcast, trusting or suspicious, flexible or judgmental, secure or threatened, fairly treated or victimized," say McKay and Fanning. Core beliefs affect your choice of career, your relationship with your children, your relationship with your partner, your sex life, you pursuit of enjoyable hobbies, your health, your life. As best put by the authors themselves: "Restricting negative beliefs can imprison you behind bars of conviction. This book shows how to become a personal scientist, test your core beliefs objectively, subtly shift your more negative convictions, and escape from the prison of belief to a freer, more satisfying life." Although the book has some minor flaws, its benefits far outweigh them.
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15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great book if you want to make changes in your life!, November 2, 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: Prisoners of Belief: Exposing and Changing Beliefs That Control Your Life (Paperback)
If you really want to make long lasting changes in your life then you have to work on changing your core beliefs. The author uses easy to understand language and great examples. He gives relevant homework to assist in making a lasting change in your behavior.
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14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
It is a relatively good book...comparatively more intense, partly attributed to its therapeutic undertones!, October 21, 2006
This review is from: Prisoners of Belief: Exposing and Changing Beliefs That Control Your Life (Paperback)
Prisoners of Belief: Exposing & Changing Beliefs That Control Your Life
by Matthew McKay
"Belief is ultimately the key to happiness. Your most deeply held, core beliefs are the stock of your personality. They determine your feelings of worth, competence, belonging, loveability, security, trust & self-reliance. Restricting negative beliefs can imprison you behind bars of conviction. This book shows you how to become a personal scientist, test your core beliefs objectively, subtly shift your more negative convictions, & escape from the prison of belief to a freer, more satisfying life."
In a nut shell, the foregoing statement forms the principal thesis of the book.
I have owned this book - & have reread it several times - since it was first published in the early nineties. It is a relatively good book. It has been written by a clinical psychologist, & hence it is comparatively more intense, partly attributed to its therapeutic undertones. The exercises also take some discipline on the part of the reader to follow them.
Personally, I prefer Anthony Robbins' book, 'Awaken the Giant Within: How to Take Control of Your Mental, Emotional, Physical & Financial Destiny', particularly chapter 4, Belief Systems: The Power to Change & the Power to Destroy. This author does a much better job in expounding his more upbeat principal thesis: "All personal breakthroughs begin with a change in beliefs."
In reality, Anthony Robbins covers a much broader spectrum. Essentially, he provides a step-by-step program on self-mastery: how to discover your true purpose, take control of your life & harness the forces that shape your destiny.
Alternatively, for its simplicity & yet lucid exposition, Bruce Doyle's 'Before You Think Another Thought: An Illustrated Guide to Understanding How Your Thought & Beliefs Create Your Life' is also worth reading. The exercises in the book are simple and incredibly enlightening. Please read my review on amazon website.
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