Customer Reviews
A bizarre, complacent, offensive and off the wall little book for the bourgeoisie - By: A. foley, 15 Nov 2008 
This book was given to me as a present - I would not have dreamt of buying it myself!
What can I say but that the thought process (seasoned with narcissism & treacled with worship of the self) which underpins this little book goes against all that I hold dear.
Further, it is downright bizarre & borders on the offensive at times. I will quote from it liberally below to support what I have said. Pseudo-religion for the bourgeoise, complacent & self satisfied.
"We are each responsible for all our experiences" (page xiii)
This is plainly wrong. We possess a human nature which is subject to the vagaries of the external world - famine, disease, earthquakes. These are simply beyond our control & you bet they affect our experiences. Further this ignores the fact that we are surrounded on all sounds by other persons, who themselves are free agents. They impact on us & thus impact on our experience of life. This statement only can make any sense if it is intended to mean: it is up to us to determine how we respond to internal & external stimuli. But I am not sure she means this limited sense.
"We create every so called illnessin our body" (page xiii: Deeply offensive
"Each one of us decides to incarnate upon this planet at a particular pointin time & space. " (page 4) "I agree with the theory that we choose our parents (page 30).
Bizaarely we chose our parents as well. Note howin her narcissistic world, she chooses her parents which implies her parents own free will has been impairedin some way - why would they agree to this? Where did she get this from?
"No matter what the problem is, our experiences are just outer effects of inner thoughts" (page 5)
This thinking is dualistic - when our bodies arein pain, we arein pain, our whole being isin pain - we experience pain. Again, she ignores impact of nature & other free agents impacting on us. This echoes Gnostic thought.
"Whenever we are ill, we need to search our hearts to see who it is we need to forgive" (page 8)
I agree that non-forgiveness can cause huge problems for the psyche but if she is suggesting that diseases are caused by non-forgiveness always & everywhere, then it is offensive.
"Self approval & self acceptancein the now are the main keys to positive changesin every area of our lives" (page 9)
I think this statement is one of the keys to her little narcissistic philosophy. There is no imperfectionin us - its just all about acceptance of ourselves. Is this Lady oblivious of the 20th century drenchedin the blood of the innocent, killed by villains & murderous thugs. All these actions were committed by human beings!
"In the infinity of life where I am, all is perfect, whole & complete" (page 9)
What planet is this lady on? We are all broken creatures struggling to make our way through life.
"They (babies) already are perfect & they act as they know it. They know they are the centre of the Universe" (page 19)
Babies are lovely alright but they are not perfect. They howl like madin the middle of the night when hungry!
"I love you & accept you exactly as you are" (page 19)
A complete loss of the wisdom of the ancients is evident here. The writings of Socrates, Plato & Aristotle are replete with talk of virtue & educating & training oneself to be a virtuous man or woman. The point is: when we look at ourselves, if we are anyway self aware, we must know that things need to be changed.
Not sure I quite follow her because later on she talks about being willing to change - why would we change anything we wholeheartedly & unreservedly approve? A perfect being does not need to change!
"We are here to recognise our own magnificence & divinity" (page 31)
We are not divine - we are creatures albeit creatures endowed with wonderful gifts.
"Whatever we believe becomes true for us" (page 33)
This is plain nonsense. Ifin her philosophy we are all divine, & one divinity exercises his free will to impact on another divinity, does that not have any effect. Complete & utter individualism.
"My personal nutritional approach is simple, If it grows, eat is. If it does not grow, don't eat it. (page 45)
I wish her all the best eating the lovely wild mushroomsin the neighbourhood!
"I think its is our natural birthright to go from success to success all our life" (page 109)
Oh dear - the mantra of success. This lady is oblivious to the suffering of the multitude - this book is definitely for the bourgeoisie & those who want to continue remain blissfully ignorant of the cries of the poor, the moans of those starving & dying of malaria, typhoid & other conditions.
"I believe we create every so-called illnessin our body": Deeply offensive!
"I find that most BLADDER problems come from being "Pissed off", usually at a partner" (page 132)
Well, what can one say to this piece of wisdom!
"Cancer is a dis-ease caused by deep resentment held for a long time until it literally eats away the body" (page 138)
Tell that to the million dying of this nasty disease including young kids & even babies!
"Even if constipated people are not actually stingy, they usually do not trust that there will ever be enough! (page 135)
Well, what can one say to this piece of wisdom!
"Everything I need is revealed to me. Everything I need comes to me" (page 242: Oh dear, very sad really.
The Psychological Side of Healing - By: Tammy P., 07 Nov 2008 
You Can Heal Your Life is all about using your thoughts to fix the problemsin your life. What kind of problems? Well, the book specifically looks into healing some pretty major life areas: relationships, work, success, prosperity, & your body. But wait a minute, did I say the book is using thoughts to heal your body? What's up with that? Is that even possible? Well, after reading this book, I thinkin many cases, yes, it is possible.
While I think it is the way to go to treat things such as an acute appendicitis with surgery, fractures with a cast, & pneumonia with antibiotics, there are many conditions where conventional medicine blatently falls short. Of course I'm talking about health problems such as migraines, backaches, or stomach ulcers- you know, those kinds of nagging disorders where we all know that stress/mental processes DO play a role. But while few would argue that psychological factors can cause an ulcer, what about more serious conditions such as, say, arthritis?
Well it may not be too far fetched. Consider this. One study of 1,198 subjects found that only 56% of men with SEVERE knee arthritis had any pain (Lawrence 1966). Another study X-rayed 84 seventy-nine year-olds & 76 eighty-five year-olds & found that only 43% of them with SEVERE knee arthritis had any pain complaints (Bagge 1991). There are plenty more examplesin the scientific literature, but obviously there two alone show us that there is NO clear-cut association between severe knee arthritis & pain.
ON THE OTHER HAND, when one looks at the relationship between psychological variables & knee arthritis, one does see a clear association. For instance, one study looked at 65 patients (ages 55 to 87) with hip and/or knee arthritis. X-rays, pain, depression levels, anxiety levels, coping styles, & functional impairment were all assessed. The findings? Researchers discovered that the severity of one's arthritis showed little relationship to pain, BUT, psychological variables were strong predictors of who had pain & how impaired they were (Summers 1988).
Along the same lines, Salaffi examined 61 women (ages 51-79) with knee arthritis. Here again, results showed that how disabled someone was, was more related to psychological variables than how bad their knee looked on an X-ray film. Interestingly, both anxiety & depression WERE important predictors of pain (Salaffi 1991). Any one conducting a literature review on Medline will find more such examples IF you're looking for them. While I used knee arthritis as an example, there are MANY more studies on other health problems with similar findings.
All of this should be causing us to raise an eyebrow. The literature is telling us that it is far from being clear cut that things like bad knee arthritis ALWAYS mean pain. And the research is also giving us clues that the mind & our thought processes definitely play a role. So the question now becomes, if bad thought patterns can play a rolein health problems such as arthritis, why notin other diseases such as cancer, as the book suggests?
You be the judge. I found that the main valuein this book was getting me to look at how our thinking does influence the functioning of our bodies- as well as our lifein general. Note that I'm NOT saying that you can think yourself well all the time either.
Remember that while Louise Hay did change her thought patterns & was cured of cancer, she has also written that she used other alternative treatments as well, such as foot reflexology & colon therapy (Chapter 16). Therefore, my advice is to look at ALL the options when dealing with a health problem, one MAJOR one being changing your mental patterns (which is the what the book does a nice job of addressing). And for this reason, I can recommend this book to anyone who needs physical healing or otherwise. Other alternative healing books of interest include The 5-Minute Plantar Fasciitis Solution. Thank you Louise Hay!
The bin is the best place for this book! - By: RW, 03 Nov 2008 I found this book offensive & it ended upin the bin, which quite frankly I feel is the best place for it. I couldn't even give it away, because I found it dangerousin places. I'm sure there is a lot of good advicein what she says about accepting ourselves, but this book also contains a lot of self indulgent rubbish. Louise Hay says there is a mind association or stress/anger element with all illnesses & seems to say that people bring all their illnesses/conditions on themselves. Whilst it can be acknowledged that something such as stress is not good for health, sometimes things just happen. And much as we might like to have reasons for everything, sometimes we can't. And to blame people when they have problems such as heart disease or cancer is just nasty. (And what about genetic conditions ... whose fault are they Louise?) Louise Hay thinks she has the answer for everything, which is a little misguided. Great, if she has found her wayin life. But to lead others down a road with her opinions, which she lays down as fact is irresponsible. I agree with another reviewer that if I could have given this book zero stars, then I would have done.
A life changing book - By: Amethyst, 03 Sep 2008 I CANNOT SPEAK HIGHLY ENOUGH OF THIS BOOK. THIS TRULY IS A LIFE CHANGING BOOK!
I have read many books on spirituality but this book is still my favourite.
My advice - If you are new to the concepts introducedin this book then, please just be patient & openminded to explore a different belief system. Then see what it can do for you :)
Thank you Louise Hay for helping me to go within!
Interesting - By: Vismaya, 20 Jun 2008 
I find this a handy reference when trying to get to grips with tricky conditions that are stubborn to overcome without aggressive drug intervention. Delving into the subconscious is a skill & not always straighforward, & the suggested thought patterns are definitely worth consideration. The statements may not totally line up for everyone with the same condition, so adjusting the phrasing may be necessary until it rings absolutely true. I see this work more from the viewpoint that more kindness & tenderness is neededin a world that is steepedin conflict & aggression, & where better then to start by being kind & tender to ourselves. I don't for a second think this book is intended to create guilt or blame for developing a serious illness, or replace other medical intervention, rather it offers a possible way forward out of many possibilities & will always work alongside traditional interventions.
