Ronald J. Frederick

Have you ever sat around thinking, "My life is great. Things seem to be going well for me!" Only, on the inside you're sad, anxious or depressed? I didn't realize I was doing this until after reading Dr. Ronald J. Frederick's new book, LIVING LIKE YOU MEAN IT. As the cover states, he shows us how to use the wisdom and power of our emotions to get the lives we really want. He has an uncanny way of encouraging us to look deep within ourselves to see the truth behind our actions. This makes LIVING LIKE YOU MEAN IT a powerful and compelling read.LIVING LIKE YOU MEAN IT really seems designed to connect with any level of reader. Dr. Frederick takes what could be a very complex topic - battling with ourselves to change beliefs that we have held since childhood - and put them in an easy to understand and easy to use format. Part One deals with preparation. Dr. Frederick allows us to use self discovery to observe our actions and break them down into parts we can analyze. He explains the basis for certain emotions and why we as a culture tend to push our emotions down, choosing to smother them rather than releasing them. Using recent research on the brain and body, Dr. Frederick shows us how emotions are tied to our thoughts and can greatly influence our lives.After getting some great background info, both about emotional mindfulness and our own personal emotions, Dr. Frederick takes us into the action phase of reorganizing our emotions. Part Two shows us how to increase our emotional awareness and determine where our defenses come from. Now that we can recognize our feeling phobias he shows us how to tamp that fear down and allow ourselves to ride the waves of our emotions from beginning to the peak and finally to their release.If you had asked me weeks ago if I bottled up my emotions or if I let them control my life, I would have told you, "Absolutely not!" I am the master of me...aren't I? I found myself perusing the pages of LIVING LIKE YOU MEAN IT, gradually flipping faster and faster as Dr. Frederick's words struck a chord in my heart. His examples and tell tale signs of working against one's emotions instead of with them actually rang true with me! I'm not ashamed to admit that I discovered a lot about myself between the covers of LIVING LIKE YOU MEAN IT. For a book, a simple collection of dried plant fibers, that really says something.One of the most useful aspects of the book, aside from the great layout and formatting, was the way Dr. Frederick included stories from composites of actual patients. Each story was about a different individual and his or her challenge to learn that their emotions were not a force to be reckoned with, but rather a helping hand, guiding them through life. I think it is safe to say that there is at least one story, one real life example in LIVING LIKE YOU MEAN IT that everyone can relate to. I myself know that at least two of the stories reflect events in my life to a T.Dr. Frederick's stories help the reader to connect with his vision, but it is really the flow of his words that pulls the reader in. This book is not at all written like a dry academic texts or even one of those dry self-help books. No, this is written more like Dr. Frederick is in the room talking with you and only you. As he speaks his words magically appear on the paper. That's really the best way I have to describe it. It really feels like you are curled up in some comfy chair chatting with a good friend. In my opinion, that's one of the best ways to connect with people and I think Dr. Frederick nailed it.… (mehr)

This is a book aimed at those people who are out of touch with their feelings and emotions, although anyone may gain from reading it. The book explains that many people are afraid of their emotions (feeling phobia) and truly do not accept them and will rationalise in their head, with their thoughts, as the emotions can be too strong for them to deal with. The book advises really feeling those feelings and emotions through the body and to leave the thinking for later. It gives examples of people and their lives and looks at the influence of their upbringing with regards to how they deal with emotions.It then gives advice how to deal with the fear and accept your own emotions in full.

I found this an interesting book, well written and easy to follow and understand. I have read some similar books before and I wasn’t sure that this one added too much to what I’d already read – however it did make me realise that, at times, I am too quick to rationalise things other people do before feeling fully the emotion I have felt because of what they have done, and so it’s definitely given me food for thought and next time I have a roaring emotion, caused by someone else’s action, I’ll try to bear with it and let the thoughts happen later and see how it feels. I would certainly recommend it to anyone that has difficulties with their emotions and connections to other people, especially if they’ve not read anything in this area before. I can certainly imagine it could be of great use to people who had a very cold upbringing and really have never ever gotten to grips with their feelings as from childhood their emotions have been pushed away. If everyone could learn to connect with others as this book suggests the world would be a better one.… (mehr)