Book Review: Conscious Calm by Laura Maciuika

Conscious Calm

Title: Conscious Calm: Keys to Freedom from Stress and Worry by Laura Maciuika, Ed. D.
Tap Into Freedom Publishing (October 26, 2011)
Genre: inspirational, health

Conscious Calm advocates self awareness as a means to combat stress and worry. The book explores Emotions - what they mean, how to recognize them, practicing having a comfort level with your emotions. It calls for deep breaths to control stress from the inside out, and focusing on the present, both Eastern methods of relaxation. Conscious Calm has its own methods - hitting the Pause Button on Motor Mind; taking Being Breaks from daily activity and from Autopilot, using Personal Power 180.  The book offers tips and exercises in each chapter.

Finding calm and greater centeredness requires awareness, especially when starting out in a more stressed or worried state.(ch. 1)

What I took away from the book: Conscious Calm emphasized to me that chest breathing may not decrease stress, may increase stress, and that only a series of very deep breaths that seem to fill your stomach and expand it, will work for calming and reducing anxiety.

What I also found interesting was a "Stress-Busting Power Tool" called EFT, developed in the 1990s by Gary Craig. The process involves tapping on specific parts of the head and upper body with your fingers, an Energy Psychology technique that is nevertheless controversial among practitioners. Another component of EFT is the Brain Balancing Section, where you use tapping, eye exercises, counting and humming to activate several different sections of the brain all at once. The controversial part of EFT for me is the calling up of your self defeating or negative emotions in the exercise, emotions which may intensify during the exercise and which must be confronted and  lessened with more tapping.  Personally, I would use the finger tapping to distract myself from whatever thoughts might be stressful. at the moment. The fact that you are also using several parts of your brain at once in the exercises I think of as a plus.

I can recommend this book for those looking for alternative ways to handle stress and worry. The book is well worth looking at.

About the author: Laura Maciuika, Ed.D. is a clinical psychologist by training and integrative healer in practice. Laura writes about and teaches practical ways to develop inner freedom for greater happiness and success. She lives in northern California. See Author interview with Laura Maciuika.

For other tour stops, author interviews, and reviews, visit Conscious Calm Book Tour

Thanks to Pump Up Your Book promotions and the author for a complimentary review copy of this book.

Book Tour: Help! for Writers by Roy Peter Clark

This writer's manual is a good one for beginning writers and also for those who know about the writing process but who need a little nudging to get on their way.

Here's a taste of the book, tips on coping with writer's block ( from ch. 13):

Lower your standards at the beginning of the process. Raise them later.

Write for ten minutes as fast as you can - without stopping.

Tell the critical voice in your head to "shut up!"

If you are blocked in your usual writing place, try a new place.

The book takes you through seven steps of the writing process, (because writing is a process with a capital P). There are specific things you have to do at the beginning, the middle, and the end, such as finding a topic, getting focused, making a draft, and so on. The author lists the steps in the process, discussing them at length in eight sections: Get started/Get your act together/Find focus/Look for language/Build a draft/Assess you progress/Make it better

Each section is divided further into chapters and subsections that give tips for each step in the writing process. There are 210 writing tips in all.

I was particularly interested in writer's block and procrastination, in the section on Building a Draft. I like the down to earth, almost common sense approach to the subject. "Create a reliable, comfortable place to write." And, " Impose a deadline on yourself." Simple, but we all need reminders.

I found this a good manual to show writers the many things they can do to start, move forward, and get their writing done, and redone! It's easy to follow, and would you believe this...it's also fun to read!

Title: Help for Writers: 210 Solutions to the Problems Every Writer Faces
Author: Roy Peter Clark
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (2011), Hardcover, 304 pages
Objective rating: 4/5

An Advanced Readers Copy of this book was provided by Anna Balasi of Little, Brown and Company for this book tour. My rating was not influenced by my receiving a complimentary copy for review.