The difference between her “soul” guide and the normal pop-psychology, self-help book is
that Roberts helps us find our own spiritual path past the many barriers and dead end streets we self-construct. She identifies mistakes we often make, such as using a crisis as a learning experience, letting selfdoubt rule, losing our true self in love or friendship, using money as the measure of success or devaluing ourselves by avoiding it, or being a tourist rather than a traveler on life’s journey. She then provides alternative views and choices. Each chapter closes with specific written, mental or physical exercises to personalize the ideas of the chapters and create a whole body encounter with solutions.
Within every activity of sleeping and waking, we have the opportunity for growth. Unfortunately, too many people only think of learning from a crisis. She points out that living with a credo of “What doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger,” can be very limiting. She says we can use difficult times to grow, but suggests we look at what we accomplish without any effort — such as helping others, making new friends, or accomplishing new tasks — to learn who we are. She is a great believer in listening to your intuition and provides ideas to “learn from your awareness, rather than pain.” She notes that by using your intuition , “More guidance is available to you than you’ll ever make use of.”
Self-doubt is destructive and inhibits growth. “If you’re having a hard time deciding where your talents lie or how best to use them,” she writes, “see it as a wake-up call the soul has chosen especially for you in this time and place.”
She points out, “Your biggest gift can be the smallest thing you do without having to give it much thought.” In the questions that close the chapter, she asks the reader to make lists of positives, find connections among the lists and create scenarios where the gifts are put into action. Another practice section looks at love and asks the reader, feeling his or her heart, to mentally create a scene where they feel safe and loved by someone and then answer five questions with a person’s name. Such practical questions help identify unspoken or avoided thoughts and emotions that may be problem areas for the heart, mind and soul.
Questioning your own selfworth and judgments is a mistake many of us make. Roberts admits that she can lose her equilibrium when she meets an authority figure. Simply being in the presence of such a person can make us question our self-worth and beliefs. As she says of such moments, “…Comparing immediately takes me out of the essence and into anxiety.”
