20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good approach, April 27, 2008
This review is from: Wear Your Life Well: Use What You Have to Get What You Want (Hardcover)
I got this book on the advice of a very good friend o mine who knows that I am interested in the subject of self-improvement and taking care of your body and soul. In a sense this volume reminds me of my favorite book in this category titled Can We Lve 150. I like both books for the comprehensive approach to taking care of oneself. Instead of focusing on now so popular dieting program, the authors apply a much broader approach where taking care of one's mind and spirit is as much important as taking care of one's body and its physiological needs. Although I find Can We Lve 150 a superior book to "Wear Your Life Well" I still found here a few chapters that were not tackled by the other author. Specifically I found very helpful the chapter about self-sabotage as well as the chapter about sex. Actually these two chapters are the main reason I liked the book, as a lot of other stuff wasn't a new discovery for me, although it might be the case for some other readers. I think this book is definitely worth your time and money but I subtract one star for the lack of originality.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great tool for building a great life..., April 13, 2008
This review is from: Wear Your Life Well: Use What You Have to Get What You Want (Hardcover)
I picked this book up a couple of days ago and couldn't put it down until I'd pretty near finished. And that was just the first read - I can tell I'll be picking this book up regularly for years to come, it's so full of "whole life" wisdom. Being healthy is so much more than eating well and exercizing (although you can't be healthy without that!), it's about getting your relationships, job, and your whole environment healthy, and that's what I *love* about Marilu's message in this (and all her other) books. I will be recommending this book to everyone I know!!
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Live the Life You Truly Want, April 24, 2008
This review is from: Wear Your Life Well: Use What You Have to Get What You Want (Hardcover)
I have to admit that I was looking forward to this book because it was aimed at people looking to improve their health at mid-life. Entering my mid-forties and definitely focused on improving my health and lifestyle, this was exactly what I was ready for. I read Wear Your Life Well from cover to cover ready for anything new or exciting and different.
I didn't find anything new, but Marilu Henner and her brother/co-author, Lorin Henner did present things in a unique style. And she is full of an energy and excitement that is evident in her anecdotes about her life and work, which she provides in abundance to make her points.
That said, the program itself, not really a program, but rather, many separate ideas brought together for the purpose of her book, has some definite value for people starting out on the journey of improving their health and well-being. Marilu gives some truly inspirational points. My favorite includes her tip on how she overcame self-sabotage. After many years of struggle with this myself, she speaks truth when she says "You have to fall in love with something bigger than your cravings." (p. 47) This is the recap of her expansion on the point which is found on page 45.
I know that she has experience fighting in front of Congress for better guidelines regarding food and water, but I feel some of the things she wrote should have been backed up by reference points of studies where she learned some of her statistics. For example, she writes at the top of page 60 about alcohol reduction for women because of it increasing their risk of breast cancer. Where do these facts come from?
There were a lot of chapters I loved. I loved the chapter on stress. I don't think enough people take de-stressing seriously enough when trying to improve their health. I loved the chapter about sex. I think the best line in the book is buried on page 197 and if women would remember that line, it would help them all feel so much better. There was genius hidden in the Teflon chapter. But I'd suggest that a different comparison be chosen in talking about Use it or lose it than vaccinations. I thought the relevance was hard to reach there, but worse, bringing the Native Americans into the discussion is a dangerous thing. It is a true hot button. There are a lot of very mixed feelings about that particular issue and you could alienate readers without anyone knowing why based on one small paragraph. But by all means, get them moving with something people love and make it easy! And use the brain every day! So many pearls in that chapter.
I wasn't sure at first if it was a good thing I was also reading A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle at the same time I was reading and reviewing this book. But I have decided finally that it was helpful (and helped me put this book in a positive light). It certainly made me look at Ms. Henner's book from a different place. It helped me understand her Role Playing section and understand the whole concept of Wearing Life from a totally different point of view. I started out wondering if this wasn't just a very phony way to live life and then in further review, realized that by trying on these different roles and being the "observer" and watching to see how these roles feel rather than just identifying with the roles, a person can shed the unhealthy habits and try out far healthier lifestyles in their new characters. People have to live and get out of bed and put on some sort of role to go about the day, it may as well be a healthy one!
Wear Your Life Well is a book full of information on getting healthy and doing things for yourself inside and out to live the life you really want. And I think that would have made a far better subtitle than How to Use What Have to Get What You Want. The subtitle was a huge turnoff from the book to me. Had I picked it up off the shelf of the bookstore or library and read that I wouldn't have purchased it based on that. It sounds like some truly selfish ego-centric life plan. Looking at the photo of Marilu on the cover is a bit of a poor representation of what you'll find inside, as well. That tells me it is a book very focused on looks. Packaging of the outer you is certainly part of the overall program, but not even a significant part.
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