[nightdiamond]

Write it Down, Make it Happen



This book is not about making "to-do lists" ; it states if you write out your important life goals or even wildest wishes on paper, you can make them come about in an almost miraculous way. It even claims that these writings are so powerful that they can influence outside circumstances.

The author, Henriette Anne Klauser, says that this process is not magical or miraculous- you put in the effort of writing out your desires, and the steps to achieve them. But the claim is you can make it happen by putting your intention in it and believing in the possibility.

The technique is also supposed to clear your thinking about what you want, clear out the doubts about it, and help set your intentions clearly.

Pros- it offers different explanations why writing down goals is supposed to work. From Amazon.com;

For Real ! It works!, April 9, 2003
By A Customer

I read it. I do this now for everything, big or small, and it really does work!

this book is great, February 28, 2003
By Ingrid Hastings "natural mama" (Denver, CO) - See all my reviews

Very accessible guide for writing down your wishes and making them come true. I read this book, a little put off by how accessible it was, but the more I read the better it got.

Written with many examples and great exercises that helped me visualize what I wanted from my career, and it worked! I landed a job as a writer for a nonprofit a couple of weeks after reading it. It's really amazing -- thank you to the writer for putting out such a great, powerful book! This book really did change my life, and my way of thinking about my goals. I highly recommend it!

Cons- has a slight spirituality set to it that might bother some readers...

From Amazon.com;

Awful, June 23, 2006
By John Noodles (A Field in ND, USA) - See all my reviews

I bought this (luckily, used) based on the excellent reader reviews I read here on Amazon. I could not have been more misled.

This is one of the worst self-improvement books I have ever read. It is bad beyond anything I could have expected, so bad that had I not gotten my hopes up for a good read with some good advice, I probably would have fallen out of my recliner laughing.

This book is a very thin gruel of other writers' ideas, dumbed down for the sort of reader who finds literary satisfaction in romance novels. The substance of this book is nothing more than "If you write down what you want--and keep writing it down, if necessary--you'll get it." Hmmm.

"Hmmm" is right.

Hardly anyone these days isn't familiar with the earlier New Age incarnation of this idea--writing affirmations--and anyone who has read the writings of the Founding Fathers of motivational self-improvement (like Napoleon Hill) has seen it as well.

Far, far too much of this book consists of anecdotes. The anecdotes range in their effect from soporific to nauseating. Take "Gloria's" story, for example. An entire chapter is devoted to Gloria's search for love, for a husband. She writes letters to a "soul mate" that she has not yet met. Among her puerile love-maunderings, she writes a description of the soul mate she hopes to meet: He is a "beautiful" dresser, and has "Strong hands, deep integrity, and spiritual truth," and a gift for "making and having money." She doesn't want the money because she's high maintenance and loves to spend; no, she wants the money "for the joy, love, peace, and bounty it can bring the world." (Uh, yeah, sure Gloria. Clearly you're one of those unfortuate individuals who believes her own bs.)

After two years of writing this sort of pabulum to herself, Gloria goes to a bar, gets picked up by a lawyer, and marries him 11 months later. As we all know, lawyers typically possess exactly the sorts of qualities she was looking for in a soul mate, so this outcome is hardly surprising....

The book doesn't get any better than this, and there is even a short chapter at the end of the book to help you rationalize the failure of the techniques (for lack of a better word) described between the interminable anecdotes.

Most importantly, the advice simply doesn't work.

This book really is a silly piece of nonsense. Skip it.

Damn...I don't think he likes it


Beat Writer's Block and be creative





If you like to write, but get stuck for ideas, this book may help. If you want to write but have a hard time trying to express yourself or what you want to say, this book may also be for you.

It teches you how to use both sides of your brain for writing- creative and logical.

This is another book from Henriette Klauser that teaches a writer how to develop new Ideas, overcome writer's block, express yourself smoothly, naturaly and confidently...

From Amazon.com;

Writing on Both Sides of the Brain, February 14, 2003
By Philip Dale Smith "smithdale2" - See all my reviews

Life changing. Literally and definitely life changing! I had always wanted to write but simply could get nowhere. A mind full of ideas that would flow when on the freeway, in the shower, etc., would run dry in moments after my fingers hit the keyboard. Frustrating! Then I read Writing on Both Sides of the Brain and attended Dr. Henriette Anne Klauser's half-day seminar by the same name.

That did it. I'm now an award-winning novelist (Turn Back Time and two other novels--written with my daughter, Lisa Kay Hauser)and have four published children's picture books, with two more to be published this year--and get to speak in schools all across the nation. All of this in eight years. If you want to write but just can get moving--or continue moving--get this book! .......... That last phrase is also the title of a book by Dr. Klauser. Happy and successful writing to you! --Philip Dale Smith, Tacoma, WA

Open Focus Relieve Stress, create Zen-like relaxed alertness




Some users claim this method can give the same peaceful, zen like benefits of meditation, but this not exactly meditation. It can be used on the spot in the middle of a stressful situation to relieve stress and create a zenlike state, and I think that's really useful.

Feeling peace while meditating in a quiet place is one thing, but it's when you go back to the 'outer' world with all the stress is where most people are tripped up.

Here's a description from the author's site;

OPEN FOCUS is a method to reduce stress related symptoms and enhance well-being, using principles developed in the field of biofeedback. OPEN FOCUS techniques can be helpful to relieve symptoms that you may not recognize as being stress related.

OPEN FOCUS can be beneficial to relieve physical and emotional discomfort and pain, anxiety and other performance deficits; providing you with a greater sense of overall well-being. Best of all you can learn and practice OPEN FOCUS in the privacy of your own home

Whether you are suffering symptoms due to a period of intense emotional or
physical stress, past or present, or have a limited ability to cope with stress in general, OPEN FOCUS can help. OPEN FOCUS can give you a tool to dissipate, alleviate and prevent stress in your daily life and help you to feel your best more often.

OPEN FOCUS is an attentional training technique, that actually helps you to bring about physiological changes and expands your ability to "attend" to your experience more openly and with more flexibility; and so less stressfully

It claims to be backed by research and experimenting;

OPEN FOCUS is no magic pill, but practiced regularly it can bring
dramatic positive changes to your life. Like most things of value, you will get
out of it what you put into it and the benefits are many. The OPEN
FOCUS method was developed during 30 years of hands on experience
and research using biofeedback instruments.

And the final claim;

Within 3 to six months of practicing OPEN
FOCUS you will begin to experience qualitative differences in your life.
Further ahead you can read about people with severe symptoms, both
emotional and physical, who experienced relief much more quickly.