A provocative but unevenly executed wellness approach.
Christian presents an alternative perspective to healing gastroesophageal acid reflux disease in this self-help book.
Using a nondualistic “MindBody” or “meaning-based story” approach, the author asserts that GERD is “a messenger for personal meaning that enables us to experience ourselves in a different way.” Instead of focusing on physical symptoms, he urges readers to examine the underlying emotional issues that cause them. He discusses a concept called “somatic metaphor,” in which the body expresses what a person can’t verbalize. Stomach-related metaphors, he says, such as “Stomach tied in knots,” “Swallowing your pride,” and “Fed up with life” can be clues about how GERD patients can find meaning in their condition. A technique called the “smorgasbord question” invites readers to consider all the life circumstances around symptom onset. Christian notes that those who struggle with this question may default to positivity, fear difficult things, resist connections between symptoms and events, or are “Looking for catastrophes when mishaps will suffice.” He discusses the hermeneutic circle, a cyclical process of interpreting one’s personal narrative to uncover deeper meanings. Other practices he recommends include describing emotions, recognizing attachment styles and childhood traumas, and recalling positive experiences. The book concludes with tips on finding the right therapist and a reflection on the author’s own “awakening.” Christian’s psychological and emotional approach to GERD offers an unusual and intriguing discussion of the disease. Readers will find plenty of practical exercises for self-reflection and helpful tools, such as the “feelings wheel.” However, readers may not be convinced by some of his observations. For instance, regarding a client with testicular cancer, the author determines that the man had “unconsciously embodied his masculine identity in his testes,” and, throughout, the book prioritizes environmental over genetic factors in disease origination, including such childhood “microtraumas” as a mother’s absence. Concepts like “relational mirrors” and “sacred geometry” may be too esoteric for some readers, and suggestions such as journaling, symptom tracking, mindfulness, meditation, breathwork, and tapping are very familiar self-help standbys.
A provocative but unevenly executed wellness approach.Pub Date: Feb. 27, 2025
ISBN: 9780992253608
Page Count: 257
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.
All right, all right, all right: The affable, laconic actor delivers a combination of memoir and self-help book.
“This is an approach book,” writes McConaughey, adding that it contains “philosophies that can be objectively understood, and if you choose, subjectively adopted, by either changing your reality, or changing how you see it. This is a playbook, based on adventures in my life.” Some of those philosophies come in the form of apothegms: “When you can design your own weather, blow in the breeze”; “Simplify, focus, conserve to liberate.” Others come in the form of sometimes rambling stories that never take the shortest route from point A to point B, as when he recounts a dream-spurred, challenging visit to the Malian musician Ali Farka Touré, who offered a significant lesson in how disagreement can be expressed politely and without rancor. Fans of McConaughey will enjoy his memories—which line up squarely with other accounts in Melissa Maerz’s recent oral history, Alright, Alright, Alright—of his debut in Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused, to which he contributed not just that signature phrase, but also a kind of too-cool-for-school hipness that dissolves a bit upon realizing that he’s an older guy on the prowl for teenage girls. McConaughey’s prep to settle into the role of Wooderson involved inhabiting the mind of a dude who digs cars, rock ’n’ roll, and “chicks,” and he ran with it, reminding readers that the film originally had only three scripted scenes for his character. The lesson: “Do one thing well, then another. Once, then once more.” It’s clear that the author is a thoughtful man, even an intellectual of sorts, though without the earnestness of Ethan Hawke or James Franco. Though some of the sentiments are greeting card–ish, this book is entertaining and full of good lessons.
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-13913-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
An above-average celebrity memoir from an intriguing spirit.
The longtime Hollywood actor looks back.
“What does it mean to be a ham?” asks the author, rhetorically. “Was I a ham? I was naturally and inordinately theatrical. I liked to carry on. I liked attention. I liked extravagant speech. I liked to emote. I liked to talk.” All of these qualities are abundantly evident in Kilmer’s memoir, which is as much a spiritual journey as it is a chronicle of his life and career. The author recounts the depth of his Christian Science faith, his formative years in a family of privilege in Los Angeles, his teenage romance with fellow actor Mare Winningham (“my first real girlfriend”), his training and rebellion at Juilliard, and his decision to leave Broadway for Hollywood. There, he writes, “I was not yet a burgeoning talent but ‘Cher’s lover,’ ” when she was in her mid-30s and he in his early-20s. After scoring big with Tom Cruise in Top Gun, Kilmer turned down Blue Velvet and Dirty Dancing: “Neither part spoke to me.” He played Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone’s The Doors, which he considers “one of the proudest moments of my career.” Marlon Brando and Sam Shepard went from being idols that Kilmer worshipped to becoming friends. He was slated to star as Batman in three films but jumped ship after Batman Forever, which he considers “so bad, it’s almost good.” He married and divorced British actor Joanne Whalley and wooed Daryl Hannah (“kind of the female me, only better”), and he wrote and starred in a one-man show as Mark Twain. When he was hospitalized for surgery due to his throat cancer, he prayed, he read Twain and Christian Science’s Mary Baker Eddy, and he “didn’t wrestle with my angels. I sang and danced with them.” Kilmer was never a shrinking violet, and he still refuses to wilt.
An above-average celebrity memoir from an intriguing spirit. (photos)Pub Date: April 21, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9821-4489-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 11, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
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