Customer Reviews

The how to book of teen self discovery: Helping teens find balance, security & esteem

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Doc Childre talks very simply to teenagers and the teens in everyone and addresses very down-to-earth issues. He leads us on a journey of self-discovery and helps us to become "heart-smarts". This is about tapping into the resources of both the head and the heart, being responsible for one's actions and reactions, building heart security and self-esteem and riding the waves of emotion instead of letting them engulf us. Creative cartoons convey beautifully the key ideas. The book ends with "A Few Heart Smart Practices" illustrating how the heart can respond much more resourcefully than the head to situaitons like: a friend snubs you; you feel a parent just doesn't understand you; you don't fit in; feeling bored... Behind the simple advice are decades of research and team work developing The HeartMath System. This book is just as useful today after almost a decade since it was first published. [Please confer my other reviews for more background, starting with Cut-Thru.]

I find this book, despite its small size & simple layout, to be an excellent guide/resource for teens! It is published by the wonderful HeartMath people who have also created the Freeze Frame one-minute stress management system for busy professionals.

In a nut shell, this heart-warming guide will help teens to understand and manage their reactions to life & eventually help them to make healthy, positive choices. The various chapters are generally short, thus making a breezy read. The passages are creatively interspaced with cartoons to catch your attention.

For parents &/or educators, I find this book to be ideal for sparking lively discussion and meaningful insight when dealing with teens. I strongly recommend parents/educators to explore the author's other books & resources designed specifically for busy professionals, e.g. The HeartMath Solution.

Kudos to the author for this wonderful piece of work. As a matter of fact, he has also created a couple of 'stress-reducing/energy-enhancing' music compacts, e.g. Heart Zones, Speed of Balance. They are worth listening to, especially when you are stressed out. Please check out the author's corporate website.

I first read this book as an adult in my 30's, after having already spent quite a bit of time learning about HeartMath and practicing the FreezeFrame technique. This book was easier to understand and to apply than all the several HeartMath books I had read before. It didn't matter that the "teen" book - on the surface - was written in terms of life challenges more specific to teen life. The principles and messages cut across age groups. The "adult" books tended to be too intellectual, and the message tended to get lost in too many words and too much information. This book justs lays it on the line, in plain and simple terms accessible to just about anyone.

A number of years ago, I shared a Spanish-language edition of this book with a Latin American psychologist who worked mostly with adolescents. She was blown away by the book, and felt it was the most practical, useful, and easy to apply book she had ever seen in her field.

Uhhh.... this book was good. I now have self esteem, I guess, at least the book told me I did. Isn't that cool? So.. my advice...get it. Hope you like my review, isn't it cool?