Customer Reviews

The Secret of Letting Go: The Effortless Path to Inner Success

5 star:		(64)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

Guy Finley filled his book, The Secret of Letting Go, with examples and stories that illustrate his concepts of how to let go of all the emotional baggage that drags down our spirits and often makes life a painful journey.

Finley says that we "don't need strength to let go of something. What you really need is understanding; and that's how this book will help you accomplish your lifelong dreams of being truly strong and independent." He explains that our inner selves are like hot air balloons, always trying to soar, and we hold them down by not letting go of the "angry attitudes, wasteful wishes, [and] harmful habits" that offer false promises of strength.

The book includes nine chapters, with titles like "How to Defeat What's Defeating You" and "Dare to Let Go and Live As You Please." Finley starts most chapters with a story, then uses the story to help explain his general philosophy. Further explanations are offered in the form of specific questions and answers, some of which are drawn from workshops he has conducted. Each chapter contains a list "special insights" to help readers apply what they have learned to their own lives.

Readers are also given questions that will help them understand the messages their inner selves have for them.

In his forward to the book, Desi Arnaz, Jr. writes that "Guy Finley takes the Wisdom of the Ages and uses it to gently coach his readers to heal the places in their own minds where psychological problems originate." He adds that "It equips a human being with an entirely different set of qualities that transforms stress to serenity, anxiety to assurance, and doubt to decisiveness."

Finley emphasizes throughout the book that we are not what we think we are, that we are in reality someone far greater than we have so far imagined. The answers to what keeps us holding on to self-defeating attitudes lie within us. The Secret of Letting Go is for everyone interested in understanding how they can free themselves from all that keeps their lives tethered in unhappiness and defeat.

There are a number of books and courses around that deal with `letting go' in the sense of emotional releasing. This book isn't one of them. It is a unique and full-blooded assault on your habitual thought patterns and preconceptions of yourself and the world. I would say it is unique because, although Guy Finley acknowledges the wise words of others, there is never a sense that the presentation piggybacks on the work of others in any way. Instead, the book argues its own case in a series of truth tales, analogies, dialogues, bulleted insights, explanations and devilishly teasing questions like: if I am thinking what I want to think, why is it hurting me to think it?

I confess it took me quite a long time to work through this book. It is so thought provoking that I could only take it in short pieces in order to absorb it. But it was well worth the effort. When I open it at random now, there isn't a single page that doesn't offer a profound truth that is worth reading and absorbing all over again. In fact that's exactly what the author suggests: to pick out ideas and work with them. I do, and perhaps the biggest recommendation is that, every time I do, I am tempted to start reading the book all over again.

To summarise, this book is not just a `how to' manual for letting go, it is about deeply understanding the need for such a process. Read it and be provoked into a new relationship with yourself!

"The Secret of Letting Go" is a gentle introduction to mysticism, nonduality or "The Perennial Philosophy." Finley is an expert at avoiding confusing terminology and new-age pap and gently introducing timeless and true spiritual principles to the beginner. Yet it is not without value to those who have had some experience with the nondual perspective. Of all Finley's books, this is probably the best.

.... The subject content is simple and straightforward enough: Let go of self-defeat and release your inner strength. What really annoys me to no end about this book, and why the book wasn't very helpful at all, is primarily his obnoxious writing style. He writes like this throughout the book: to NOT be aware of what you DON'T want is in truth what you CAN'T change. And you're shaking your head, what did he just say there? So, you spend more time than you should translating these ridiculous double-negative inverted statements into something simple, as they should be, that makes sense. I am currently re-reading the book to try and understand what he's really saying. I found Anthony Robbins book, 'Unlimited Power' to be clearly written without all the verbal game-playing, and much more helpful in content.

I originally bought this book when it came out in 1990 thinking it would help me let go of a relationship. My heart was broken. To my surprise, it not only helped me with letting go of the relationship, it helped me to let go of lots of other "stuff" that was keeping me S-T-U-C-K!! I refer to it often. Bless you, Guy Finley. Your insight is invaluable. This book is a perfect "10." HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

I agree with the other reviewers who point out that, while the ideas in Finley's book are good, they are derived from those of his teacher, Vernon Howard. There's nothing wrong with that, of course. Howard drew on many earlier writers himself. Unfortunately, this book is nowhere near as clear as Howard's writing, and, well, it's kind of longwinded. If you find Finley's book helpful - great! But if, like me, you were frustrated by a sense that there's something true in there and you can't quite get at it... go to the source and read Vernon Howard.

Well, folks, I've averaged a re-read of The Secret of Letting Go once or twice a year for the past ten years, and each time, I'm stunned to find something new on nearly every page. To be sure, there is simply no end to the depth of insightful knowledge that unfurls itself as I continue to live by those timeless principles. I was fortunate to tear through it ten years ago in no time flat, to enjoy the immediate benefit of actually 'getting it' the first time around, at least on the mental level I occupied at the time, which was eager, and open, and excited at the possibility of leaving behind the same tired old mental habits that kept me running around in circles. Applying the practices and principles right away, I was stunned to discover that I could distance myself from my thoughts, that they were NOT my friends, and that they were coloring my world all wrong!!! Well, THAT was all it took! I set to work with a passion that very week and it has been a perpetual, joyous adventure ever since. Just when I think I'm all sophisticated and wise, I go back and reread to find myself laughing once again at myself with newfound wisdom.

People, get this book. Read it. MAKE yourself go through it - and if you can't grasp the meaning of something, or if you're frustrated at how it flows, GREAT! THAT'S THE FIRST CLUE FOR YOU! WATCH WHAT YOUR THOUGHTS TELL YOU ABOUT WHAT YOU'RE READING!!! Your mind isn't going to go without some kicking and screaming! If it just gets too gnarly for you, go to Guy's website (www.guyfinley.com) and you'll get all the assistance necessary for you to walk under your own steam toward a place where you are free to live without the oppression of something so close to you that you might not be aware of it.

Good luck!

We all have things in our lives that we wish we could get rid of. Guilt, stress, anger, loneliness, defeat and many other things huddle around us daily.

But how to replace these emotions with the good stuff, the good feelings --- that's the hard part. And that's where this book will help.

It's written in an easy-to-grasp style and with understanding and compassion.

Unless your life is perfect, you can benefit from reading this book. It's unique in the way it's presented. Even if you only discover how to replace one bad, painful emotion with one good one, it's worth the price.

Recommended.

I feel like the book is mis-titled. It should be titled "The Secret to Happiness - Letting Go".

This book is filled with wonderful instruction about how to let go of all the things that are holding us back from achieving happiness in our lives. The book is well written, easy to understand and filled with stories to illustrate or illuminate the point the author is making.

While it is easy to read, for some people it will take more than one reading to fully grasp the concepts Guy Finley is advocating. The book requires us to adopt a totally different mindset. That does not happen overnight. It requires some indepth study and contemplation. We need to develop an awareness of how we are blocking our quest for happiness - -how we get in our own way and become our own worst enemy.

We all have been programmed with lots of mis-information. We need to re-program our minds. To let go of all these negative thoughts. We must let go of fear, anger, resentment. This book tells us how to let go of all the things that keeps us stuck in our present circumstances.

But it will take accepting these truths and then acting on them to realize the true value of letting go. It is simple, but because of our prior programs which have become ingrained habits, it will not be easy.

Here are a few selected gems from the book:

"The more you depend on others to confirm you to yourself, the less real life you have of your own."

"Right isn't something you feel, it is something you are."

"Self-doubt is born out of being identified with the idea that how you feel about yourself depends upon how others feel about you."

There is a world of wisdom in this book. If you are tired of living in doubt and fear, tired of carrying around a lot of excess baggage then read this book and learn the secret of letting go.

This book has the information to change your life. Of course the information is only valuable if you accept it and start to live your life in accordance with the ideas given.

I have read several books by Eckhart Tolle and found the thinking almost too etherial to be of practical use. Guy Finley has taken the very valuable concepts of Tolle and made them accessible to those of us who want to rise above our current level of existance. I look forward to reading the rest of Guy's books.