Customer Reviews

The Shadow Effect: Illuminating the Hidden Power of Your True Self

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Wow. This book is really amazing. When I closed the book after reading its final pages, I could feel a complete shift in how I understand myself as a human being and how I can begin to understand those around me. It gave me such a profound compassion for myself and for the formation of my shadow. I thought, until I read this book, that this deep, dark place inside of me that I've tried to hide and overcompensate for was just my private shame. But Deepak, Debbie and Marianne explain that it's really the operating system that is running inside of every human being. It's universal. This book truly belongs in the annals of history alongside other works by great philosophers and thinkers. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

This book featuring Debbie Ford, Deepak Chopra and Marianne Williamson evolved out of the movie The Shadow Effect: Illuminating the Hidden Power of Your True Self that recently brought the three of them together. While the movie serves as an introduction to the concepts of the shadow and how it limits us as human beings, The Shadow Effect book is a deep exploration of that which most of us have hidden and tried to contain within ourselves. Of the three authors, Ford contributes the most clarity and definition to what the shadow is and how it shows up in our lives. But all share equally valuable information and insightes from their unique perspectives, offering a depth of experience and wisdom on this most vital of topics. Reading this book is both challenging and enlightening. It can be depressing as we learn the truth of who we are, yet hopeful as we discover the power that the comes from healing and integrating the Shadow. This is a must read for anyone committed to supporting a shift in consciousness on the planet.

I've only read the first third of the book--Dr Chopra's contribution--so far. I'd recommend this portion in particular because it is very lucid and speaks in particular to everyone's view of why they don't feel perfect. Since no one can really be perfect and our world of lots of pressure points and the ready supply of off the shelf 'self-improvement' can make you feel even more stressed, depressed, angry or what have you, Dr. Chopra's suggested change in your viewpoint is affirming and helped me just when I needed this change in aspect in my thinking. It's a very constructive writing and I would recommend it highly. I've been working on connection to consciousness and I feel this understanding of the shadow will help me to be at peace with my true self.

Every time I think I am finally starting to understand myself and how my shadows effect me and my world, Debbie writes another book that opens whole new realities for me in my journey to wholeness and transformation. The Shadow Effect is that and more. Having both Deepak and Marianne speak about this critical topic for the world today about its affect on us individually and as a collective gives now meaning to Jung's concept of "whole". This is a must read and allows the reader to experience three of the worlds foremost transformational leaders speak about the most critical topic facing everyone in the world today. Make sure reading this book is at the top of your priority list of things to do. I am reading it again so I don't miss a thing and giving to everyone I love.

I was going to give it three stars because is was "okay", but I felt that it needed to be rated lower because it doesn't tell you how to resolve your issues. I'm assuming that's what the seminars that you have to pay for are supposed to do. It talks about the dark side of your being and that you have to accept it, but not HOW to do this. It talks about that you have to become whole, but not HOW to become whole. So, if you buy this book, it's like PAYING to read to an infomerical. I'm glad I got it from the library. Of course, my tax dollars paid for it.

I have read Depok back to the "Ageless Body" and other early books. I have always found his writing style very insightful thought provoking. Marianne, love her work with discussion the course of miracles on XM and her book "a return to love" which is somewhat of a summary of the course of miracles.

Part I: Deepak writing draws me in, and has to be read closely. I gained some insights. He talks about the Shadow effect typically at the end of a section as-if "oh darn, I forget to mention the shadow... "it is like....."

Part II: Debbie Ford: After reading about 10 pages I could not read anymore of section II. Debbie writes in 3 word phases over and over again. It is like reading, watching, and thinking about the book while you are turning, flipping, looking at the pages... this kind of filler nonsense writing style over and over again is is like a case of OCD.

Part III: Marianne, she is alway about the love and writes in ways to raise the level of thinking coming from love and good intention.

Now that the these "three amigos" got together to write this book, what is next? Hey let us make a MOVIE about !!!! Yea, like "The Secret" did we will make a boat load of money!!!

I would recommend buying the book used, do not pay full price. This should have been a paperback. I sold my copy on Amazon.

I loved this book. It was very interesting to read between the three authors, who all are saying the same thing, yet you can choose which speaks to you personally. It's a great jumping off point to realizing that we are all flawed but there is hope. Carl Jung first gave the Shadow a name, and as Deepak Chopra points out, the Shadow is something we all share not only individually, but with each other as if there is a giant pool we're all swimming, and sometimes drowning in together.

Certainly this book doesn't give a lot of in-depth solutions. Our Shadow is too complicated to fix in just the short space each author is given in this book, but it's easy to see what speaks to us and to research further where we want to go from here.

The point of this book is to show us that our fears, and insecurities are shared and that there is a concrete reason for those fears. Pointing out the Shadow starts us to looking into why we mess up our lives with such regularity, and can be the beginning of our search for freedom. Not that it's not our fault that we make bad choices, but that there is a way to change things, that there's a way towards the light if we can just look at ourselves without illusion.

This book can mean the difference between living the life you want, and continuing to play the old-worn out tapes of the past that sabotage our happiness and from living the life we chose for ourselves. I believe that Shadow-work is so important and this is the kind of book that can set us on the way towards the life we really want to live.
When I Dream

Deepak, Debbie, and Marianne create the ultimate power team of intellectual, emotional, and spiritual experts to help us discover the potential of ourselves when we embrace our shadow to become our truest self. We all deserve that! The DVD is a must see!!!

Very useful info that complements the use of energy or meridian tapping for releasing anger, regret, resentment, grief. Can help accomplish a quantum leap in forgiveness of others and self.

There is a helpful survey at the END of the book that helps you determine to what degree your "shadow" may be interferring with your life in a negative way. I think it should have been at the beginning. When I did the survey (at the end), it turns out that my shadow is either A. not repressed to any great degree or B. repressed, but not interferring with my life in a negative way.

This would have been good to know when before I started reading. Especially since all the way through the book I was trying desperately to relate. Desperately... I wanted to buy into it.

I think this is a great intro book for someone who's life is going terribly wrong and for someone who hasn't done much "self-help" or work on themselves. I think this would have been a great book for me in my early 20's.

I don't believe it's a great book for someone who has done a lot of work on themselves and their lives already, and who is really just looking for a way to further expand their already pretty great (and easy-going) life.

I was looking to take it up a notch, but didn't find anything new here.

It is good material, though. Although I think the presentation is a little confusing. Like 3 mini-books in one. But, all 3 authors have a thoughtful perspective and write well.

There are other books out on this exact subject which are equal (that are perhaps less well-marketed than this one).