Book Review of Inside-Out Healing
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Book Review of: Inside-Out Healing

Transforming your life through the power of presence

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Review of Inside-Out Healing, by Richard Moss (Softcover, 2011)

(You can print this review in landscape mode, if you want a hardcopy)

Reviewer: Mark Lamendola, author of over 6,000 articles.

I was a bit skeptical of this book at the beginning, because it seemed to share the word repurposing used by "new age" self-styled gurus who don't know what they are talking about. But really, there isn't a better way to express the principles and ideas than in using the words as Dr. Moss uses them.

As I continued to read, I found myself drawn ever deeper into an appreciation for Dr. Moss. What he's talking about in the book isn't some "new age" mumbo jumbo. Instead, it's about both the philosophy and a particular methodology of being fully present in what you are doing at the moment. This may sound elemental and seem like one of those "I already nailed that one" things, but it's not.

Being fully present is not something people tend to do. Our very culture works against it, as do the demands of life in general. We are easily pulled in multiple directions at once. Often, we try to live in the past, present, and future simultaneously.

For example, consider a fairly typical situation. A man is having a conversation with his wife. She's telling him about her day while comparing this or that event to something that happened a few months back. He's giving her advice while thinking about the ball game scheduled for later that evening. They are having a collective monologue.

Maybe that example doesn't fit you. But if you will review in your mind conversations you've had earlier in the day you will probably see a similar pattern. Instead of focusing on the now, each person is bringing something else to the table. They aren't truly engaging each other.

And that's just conversations. The same issue arises in other ways. For example, why do you experience stress if you are behind on a project? Because instead of being in the now and dealing with the project work, your mind is dealing with the future consequences of a late project. We also dredge up the past in ways that hamper our ability to deal with the present.

This book shows you a methodology for dealing with that issue. The context is that of healing, as the title suggests. So many of the examples are about dealing with sickness. But it is clear to me that the same methodology can be used for inside-out maintenance, inside-out growth, and inside-out whatever else you want. In fact, if you watch an elite athlete performing in his/her sport, you are very likely watching someone who is using these "in the now" principles.

I'll give you an example. Dr. Moss is a climber. That's something we have in common (I started climbing in the previous century). The ability to be in the moment is, I feel, a make or break for a climber. And the more of the now you occupy, the less you are limited as a climber.

Fear of heights? By focusing on the now, you aren't thinking about falling in the future. You just climb, with your attention on what you are doing now. And that's true of other challenges in climbing.

In fact, I was climbing the day before I finished reading this book. My climbing partner asked me about a bouldering route that he had been unable to solve, despite many tries. After watching him fail to ascend, I remarked that he needed to be fully in the now at each point. I then solved the route on my first ascent. The problem, I said, was he wasn't putting his center of gravity where it needed to be at the moment and this was pulling him off the face. Do not look ahead or behind, but be fully in the now. He then tried the route, and succeeded.

This kind of change in ability is one of the kinds of payoff brought about by being fully present. Think of the potential for your career, health, personal relationships, and other areas that are important to you.

This book consists of 13 chapters, an appendix, and endnotes in 252 pages.

 

 

 

About these reviews

You may be wondering why the reviews here are any different from the hundreds of "reviews" posted online. Notice the quotation marks?

I've been reviewing books for sites like Amazon for many years now, and it dismays me that Amazon found it necessary to post a minimum word count for reviews. It further dismays me that it's only 20 words. If that's all you have to say about a book, why bother?

And why waste everyone else's time with such drivel? As a reader of such reviews, I feel like I am being told that I do not matter. The flippancy of people who write these terse "reviews" is insulting to the authors also, I would suspect.

This sound bite blathering taking the place of any actual communication is increasingly a problem in our mindless, blog-posting Webosphere. Sadly, Google rewards such pointlessness as "content" so we just get more if this inanity.

My reviews, contrary to current (non) standards, actually tell you about the book. I always got an "A" on a book review I did as a kid (that's how I remember it anyhow, and it's my story so I'm sticking to it). A book review contains certain elements and has a logical structure. It informs the reader about the book.

A book review may also tell the reader whether the reviewer liked it, but revealing a reviewer's personal taste is not necessary for an informative book review.

About your reviewer

  • Books are a passion of mine. I read dozens of them each year, plus I listen to audio books.
  • Most of my "reading diet" consists of nonfiction. I think life is too short to use your limited reading time on material that has little or no substance. That leads into my next point...
  • In 1990, I stopped watching television. I have not missed it. At all.
  • I was first published as a preteen. I wrote an essay, and my teacher submitted it to the local paper.
  • For six years, I worked as an editor for a trade publication. I left that job in 2002, and still do freelance editing and authoring for that publication (and for other publications).
  • No book has emerged from my mind onto the best-seller list. So maybe I'm presumptuous in judging the work of others. Then again, I do more describing than judging in my reviews. And I have so many articles now published that I stopped counting them at 6,000. When did I stop? Probably 20,000 articles ago! (It's been a while).
  • I have an engineering degree and an MBA, among other "quant" degrees. That helps explain my methodical approach toward reviews.
  • You probably don't know anybody who has made a perfect or near perfect score on a test of Standard Written English. I have. So, a credential for whatever it's worth.

About reading style

No, I do not "speed read" through these. That said, I do read at a fast rate. But, in contrast to speed reading, I read everything when I read a book for review.

Speed reading is a specialized type of reading that requires skipping text as you go. Using this technique, I've been able to consistently "max out" a speed reading machine at 2080 words per minute with 80% comprehension. This method is great if you are out to show how fast you can read. But I didn't use it in graduate school and I don't use it now. I think it takes the joy out of reading, and that pleasure is a big part of why I read.

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