The Awakening Human Being: A Guide to the Power of Mind

Title: The Awakening Human Being: A Guide to the Power of Mind

Author: Barbara Berger (with Tim Ray)

Classification: Nonfiction

Genre: Self-Help

ISBN: 978-1846948350

Year Published: 2011

Pages: 205

Edition: First

Publisher: John Hunt Publishing

Reviewer: Joyce Shafer ~ http://Self-PublishedAuthorsBookReviews.weebly.com

The author Barbara Berger (with Tim Ray) asks some important questions, including: Do you live your life, or do you live your interpretation of it? Do you look for happiness in all the wrong places? Do you know the right places to look? If you do look in the wrong places, it’s because that’s what you were taught to do. You can learn a better way, author Barbara Berger promises—and delivers!

Have you ever wondered, What is the key to personal power and the freedom that it brings? Or ever asked yourself, “…why isn’t this working for me? I’ve been so good and I’ve tried so hard, why don’t I experience the happiness I seek? What am I doing wrong? What’s wrong with me?” What if it isn’t that there’s anything wrong with you…just your beliefs, and perhaps your beliefs don’t work for you because they aren’t aligned with reality; and, what is reality, anyway? 

What will help you to answer the questions above, and more you may have, is to know the Mental Laws (“…a law is an impersonal sequence of events that is not dependent on the person or people involved in that sequence of events”). This book includes these Laws, which are: Thoughts Arising (what can you do about your thoughts?), Witnessing (what is the difference between the content and context of thoughts?), Naming (what are your labels and how do they influence you?), Cause and Effect (what is the cause? what is the effect?), Emotion (what comes before an emotion?), Focus (what are you growing in your life?), Free Will (do you have a choice?), Underlying Beliefs (do they in fact determine your experience?), Substitution (what can you change?), Mental Equivalents (what do you really desire to experience?), and Truth (what is actually true?). These Laws speak volumes about us and how we experience ourselves and life, and how we can have a better experience.

Berger also offers Bonus Tracks, which are humorous and revealing dialogues between her and the voice in her head that she named Bollum. These are worth a read because we all have similar conversations in our heads, but instead of falling victim to the voice, Barbara grabs Bollum by the bollocks. I dare you not to laugh or at least chuckle when you read this section; and I’m sure you’ll resonate with these inner conversations as Bollum goes after Berger about being productive, staring at a blank wall, making an impression, meeting people, making a plan for her life and future, being single, the financial crisis, making more money, finding a new relationship, and improving this moment.

The book is written in three parts: Part 1 – the Mental Laws and understanding the way the mind works (the Laws are worth knowing!); Part 2 – using the power of mind wisely; and Part 3 – putting it all into practice in your life. Berger does not sugarcoat or make the wisdom of her message fluffy. She’s candid and real, just as life is; and she shows you how to appreciate and make the most of this fact about life. She speaks about what-is, as well as reminds you that though there are things you have no control over and never will, there are things you can do about this like develop wisdom, understand cause and effect, aim at and work for change, and drop unrealistic expectations that cause you to suffer needlessly, as well as understand what the underlying cause of emotional suffering is. She explains what your happiness depends on and what it doesn’t depend on, and that when you understand this, you’re free. Knowing this is “worth the price of admission.”