End the Struggle and Dance with Life: How to Build Yourself Up When the World Gets You Down

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End the Struggle and Dance with Life: How to Build Yourself Up When the World Gets You Down

Author(s):

Susan Jeffers

Label: St. Martin's Griffin
Publisher(s):

St. Martin's Griffin

Studio: St. Martin's Griffin
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
Binding: Paperback
List Price: $14.95
Our Price: $10.17
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

A guide for people who find it difficult to get out of bed to face the problems and stresses of the workday treadmill recommends strategy and tips for embracing what is good in us and around us. Reprint. 50,000 first printing. Tour."

Customer Reviews

Everyone should read this book..........

I first read this book in 1997 - my life was in a turmoil and this book helped me put things in perspective again. I must have given at least 20 copies of it away since then. And even this copy was givien to a dear friend needing a little support. I have it on my bedside and pick it up once in a while and just read a random chapter and it helps me and lifts me. I love Susan Jeffers work - she is a blessing:)

Susan Jeffers helps her listeners put things in perspective

When my local public library had its annual summer book sale, I came across this treasure for a fraction of its list price. I love listening to audiobooks, especially self-help/personal growth audiobooks. Self-help books can range from farcical to truly transformational. I found Susan Jeffers' guidance to be on the transformational side of the self-help spectrum. Ms. Jeffers distinguishes between our lower-selves and our higher-selves (I likewise had come up with my own terms to describe this phenomenon of where we are in our personal development--our regressed/imbalanced selves, our potential/balanced selves, and our in-between selves). Our lower-selves are competitive and ego-driven, seeking validation in the wrong things and in the wrong ways. Our higher-selves are " good enough," to quote Ms. Jeffers verbatim. Susan discusses at length our preoccupation with goals and urges us to reconsider our values and how we seek self-worth.

Marianne Williamson, who endorses this book, also gives good guidance that works synergistically with Ms. Jeffers' advice. I was listening to a self-help audiobook by Ms. Williamson a few months ago when a profound truth really registered with me for the first time. Marianne quoted A Course in Miracles (which I've never read) when she said enlightenment doesn't come from having people no longer say unjust, unkind, or untrue things about you. Enlightenment comes from no longer caring (about these negative words). I remember saying out loud, "Yes! Yes!," excited about this epiphany. I had heard words to the same effect before...consider the source, sticks and stones may break my bones, etc., but something about the way A Course in Miracles emphasized no longer caring really struck a chord with me. Since you can't control what other people do or say to you or about you, this is profoundly helpful advice. Susan also points out that what other people do or say is their way of handling hurt...another incentive to not take things personally, but instead feel compassion (or at the very least, refrain from feeling antipathy) towards people who are attacking us.

Susan Jeffers talks extensively about our lack of control and how we have to accept that we don't have control over many things in the world and in our own lives. We can control our reaction, and that is a powerful thing to be able to control. Most of us have heard that life is 10% what happens to us and 90% our reaction and attitude towards what happens to us. Susan definitely believes our reactions and attitudes are where we live most of the time; therefore, we really need to reevaluate our reactions and attitudes.

Susan says that even though we may not like many of the terrible things going on in the world, we have to consider that we have only a limited understanding of "The Grand Design." In the grand scheme of things, there may be reasons we aren't capable of understanding at this point of time (or ever) why things are the way they are. Susan doesn't advocate passivity, i.e., throwing in the towel since we lack control. But she knows that worrying endlessly about things over which we have no control will help no one and only hurt us. I really needed to hear this...or as some 12-step programs say, "Let Go, Let God."

Only for New Age devotees.

I am going to give this 2 stars instead of only one and only because, not being a New Age believer, I may be being unduly harsh with my criticism. I just have a hard time with this whole Self Help genre.

Truthfully, I only read half the book. Pfff! It never caught my interest. It starts out with an explanation of your Lower Self and your Higher Self as if the evidence of the existence of either is indisputable. Then we move into the obligatory "positive affirmations", physically cleaning out our closets, joining 12 step programs, choosing not to be a victim, meditating, praying, tai chi and on and on.

If you feel that any of this may help you Dance with Life, then I admire your faith. Me, I'll just continue to refill my prescription for Prozac.

Disappointing

I have read and highly appreciated two of Jeffers previous books: "Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway", and "Dare to Connect". I would give both of those books 5 stars. Unfortunately, as good as Dare to Connect is, it remains out of print and, I believe, this was the motivating force behind writing End the Struggle. It is basically a merging of the two books, yet it does not seem to have the energy and intensity, often coming off a bit naive or pollyannaish.

For me, it was just a review of what I'd read in the previous two books and therefore of little value. It's not fair for me to rate it lower on that alone, however. No, it's lower energy combined with the publisher's trick of reintroducing "Dare to Connect" principles (which is available online used) is what bothered me. We see this a lot. An author writes another book that is basically a rehash of another, or tries to present the same views a little differently just so the public will think it's a "new" book.

A Diamond in a sea of Zircons

Susan Jeffers is an incredibly gifted and creative writer. This book has, to spout the usual cliche, changed my life. Coupled with Embracing Uncertainty it has the power to bring clarity to the most confused and troubled psyche but more importantly to spur you on to greater efforts at achieving peace and wonder in a tough world. This is a spiritual text and her message is a consistent spiritual one.
A very beautiful and loving and sustaining book. I highly recommend it.

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