Own Your Own Life

by Gary Emery

Do you feel you have no control over what happens to you? Are you looking to other people for personal fulfillment rather than to yourself? Now you can overcome these self-defeating dependencies and achieve goals you never thought possible through the acclaimed new insights and techniques of cognitive therapy. In this liberating guide, an acclaimed psychologist provides a full battery of stimulating self-tests that clue you into which part of your life others control - and to what degree. His amazingly effective, 3-step Self Reliance Training Program will help you gain the power of decision-making and self direction so essential to an independent, self-assured life of accomplishment.

Genres: Psychology, Self Help

331 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

Reviews

[Viddy]

ACT - Acceptance, Choice, Take action. This is the formula to becoming independent economically, emotionally, socially, and intellectually. Trite clichés abound, "You must accept that you have a broken arm before you can fix it" "The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step." Some, though, seemed to hit closer to home, "Wishing gets in the way of accepting reality" "The more choices you're free to make the more you own your own life" "Willingness to accept the worst outcome frees you from worry and dread over it" "One way to see yourself in a true light is to associate with people who don't share your world view."

It is for these last remarks unique to this book that I found this book worthwhile. It's a grab bag of overused aphorisms and novel notions, some good some bad, but I see how this book can be a benefit to someone struggling with independence. As far as self-help books go I don't feel it fair for me to rate something I'm unfamiliar with, so I leave the stars blank. If you're curious, it's 2 star for me.

[Lisa (Harmonybites) · Rating 3 out of 5]

The subject and substance of the book can be found in the title and subtitle--Own Your Own Life--because this is about obtaining independence in every possible way. And "How the New Cognitive Therapy Can Make You Feel Wonderful" because it's about the theory of psychology that at the root of emotional troubles are distorted thinking. Untwist the thinking, the rest follows. So you need to first accept reality, then you can make appropriate choices and take action. Sounds trite--and much of it is, or at least common sense that makes you go D'uh! But I think it is valuable for the self-test alone that asks you to evaluate the ways you're dependent. And there are enough nuggets in this book for me to honestly say I liked it.