BOOK REVIEWS

THE HEART OF MARKETING
Love Your Customers and
They Will Love You Back
By Judith Sherven, PhD
& Jim Sniechowski, PhD
This book is about how to put your heart into marketing. Soft-sell marketers serve the well-being of their clients as their primary objection. In doing so, they earn the income they desire. Hard-sell marketing focuses on money first, with serviced customers being their secondary objective. The hard sell is business to business, an impersonal machine set up to make money regardless of product, service or feeling. It’s what everyone knows and what everyone feels they need to do to make the sale.

The authors show us how the “soft-sell” approach is much, much more effective in bringing a “win-win” situation to both the seller and the buyer, without sacrificing anything along the way, including a livable income.

Selling is a spiritual service, with an intent to heal the split between a desire to be of service and a need to get paid a fair sum for what you do. Marketing can be spiritually rewarding and a successful sale is a co-creation of buyer and seller.

In answering 45 fine-tuned questions, from the basic definition of “what is marketing?” to the differences between soft and hard selling, a “soul-based business”, ethics, fear of rejection and speaking the truth, the authors basically cover all the goods, bads and emotions and strategies that occur from start to finish.

Whether you are a sophisticated marketer already, or the neophyte, this tool will help you to not lose sight of what is most important for your customers, as well as your success.

Published by Morgan James, this book is available at your local bookstore or on the website at www.morganjamespublishing.com.
Reviewed by Sonia von Matt Stoddard


THE JOURNEY TO GREATNESS
And How to Get There
By Noah benShea
True greatness is not so much about what you have, but who you are. This book promises to make your life better, sooner, by sharing inspirational messages and stories that offer a practical and common sense approach to life.

Peppered with profound sayings and advice on every page, the author’s philosophies are enforced with timeless and time-proven adages. The road to greatness requires much self-assessment and in order to reach this greatness, we have to do the work of paying attention and learning exactly who we are, and what is truly important to us. Self-discovery will lead us to self-forgiveness and preparation towards the next level of our spirit and life.

This book offers a way of reviewing our existing “baggage” on a constant basis, so that we can move ahead most effectively. We start by getting ready for a journey and learning to gradually take more responsibility in our day-to-day lives.
The final section tells us that our road ahead is always under construction. By looking at our life as a journey, we find how we got here today and what matters to us in the way of fun, responsibility, charity, change and resilience, as well as leadership.

By analyzing specific items that we find important, on a daily basis, we can either let go of those that are a hindrance, while encouraging those that bring us closer to where we want to be. Your capacity to be great is only bounded by your spirit’s intention.
Published by Corwin Press, this book is available at your local bookstore or on the website at www.CorwinPress.com.
Reviewed by Sonia von Matt Stoddard


THE BIG LEAP
Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level
By Gay Hendricks
Once you understand the “Upper Limit Problem” and how to deal effectively with it, you are on your way to true and total happiness. It seems that the more successful you are, the more your version of this problem holds you back from achieving your true potential. Unless you get rid of this problem, it will drag you down until the day you die.

By realizing a huge potential in yourself, you will gain the greatest opportunity in your life. Saying “yes” to the question of accepting that life may go well all the time, instead of just every so often, is the key to learning how to make the big leap into acceptance that we are entitled to greatness and success.

Hendricks allows us to get through the fog of fear and transform it into clarity of exhilaration. First we examine importance through identifying specific portions of our life and begin to take action, then we find out how to become comfortable in our new Zone of Genius.
The author speaks bluntly to us, because it is her life’s mission to help people claim their full potential. Once you understand this one problem and how to solve it, you can increase your financial work and make quantum shifts in the amount of love you feel and the amount of creativity you can express.

Published by HarperOne, this book is available at your local bookstore or on the website at www.harpercollins.com.
Reviewed by Sonia von Matt Stoddard


HAPPINESS FROM
THE INSIDE OUT
The Art and Science of Fulfillment
By Robert Mack
Why are we so unhappy, even when we are culturally wealthier than ever?  Most objective measures point to overwhelming and unparalleled improvements in the quality of our lives, in spite of the current economic downturn.  We are living longer, healthier and wealthier, enjoying far greater luxuries than our ancestors of even just a few decades ago.

The author believes that we are unhappy because we live life according to two big myths. The first is that life is about reaching a destination. The second myth tells us that success is the point in life and that getting what you want will lead to happiness. Here, we are offered a scientifically-proven blueprint for happiness that is based on positive action instead of wishful thinking. He goes on to explain what happiness is, where to find it, and how to nurture it.

Using eight science-based principals for creating a happy life, offering real life examples and practical advice, and integrating these into your daily life will lead to building of happy and healthy habits that will help us to achieve our true inner goals.

Finally, improving the quality of the story you tell about your life on a daily basis, means that your life will become an ever-
improving story. Happiness is an art that can be crafted by applying some science and data to help you along on that journey.

Published by New World Library, this book is available at your local bookstore or on the website at www.newworldlibrary.com.
Reviewed by Sonia von Matt Stoddard


SPIRITUAL LIBERATION
Fulfilling Your Soul’s Potential
By Michael Bernard Beckwith
(includes the CD Spiritual Liberation: Live at Agape — Set Yourself Free)
Your external condition does not determine your destiny. It is the tendency of being unaware of what is going on in the unconscious, and somewhat asleep in life, that allows us to make inadequate choices and decisions, without even knowing what is programming us.

When acknowledged correctly, feelings of deep depression and despair can be powerful learning blocks within the journey our soul can take to find liberation. Compassion, love and peace can be easily and effortlessly attained, simply by joining into the visioning process.
Surrender is allowing your life to emerge. In simple but powerful terms, Beckwith has addressed the challenges you experience while aspiring to live a spirit-driven life. In addition to pinpointing these challenges, he prescribes specific actions to take in order to change or transform these challenges or both.

Here we hear new words, like blisscipline and play-volution that communicate his message. Evolved people give thanks for what others may take for granted. Gratitude, as an expression of humility, recognizes that good has already been given to us.
The affirmations at the end of each chapter are powerful and easy to remember and can be recited throughout each day. The purpose of the book is to stir up and ignite within you a desire to establish a transformative spiritual practice and to show how to cultivate and sustain that spiritual practice. The strategies will shift your dependence from the outer things in life, so you will more happily rely on your inner authority as an empowered being.

Published by Beyond Words Publishing, this book is available at your local bookstore or on the website at www.beyondword.com.
Reviewed by Sonia von Matt Stoddard


HORSES WITH A MISSION:
Extraordinary True Stories
of Equine Service
By Allen and Linda Anderson
For those who admire horses and their magnificence, beauty and lore, this book is a collection of heartwarming and amazing stories that show how horses continually inspire mankind by bringing joy and healing into our lives.

Readers will meet horses that have saved people’s lives, welcomed newcomers into the horse world, brought joy and comfort to the brokenhearted and made it possible for people to fulfill lifelong ambitions — without expectation of anything in return.
The book easily conveys how horses carry messages of unconditional love and hope as well their riders. It is divided into five chapters with the following headings: Offering Service, Inspiring, Teaching, Healing, and Bringing Joy and Hope, and includes 21 dramatic and true stories with photos throughout.

Stories include: A wild lead mare named Diana who protected her herd and taught the great lesson of forgiveness; Peanuts, an elderly and forgetful horse who lost his usefulness until he connected with a kindred human counterpart and brought joy and conversation to both in their final days; Molly, a rescued pony who lost her leg during Hurricane Katrina but now visits children’s hospitals, nursing homes and other places bringing hope and inspiration.

Allen and Linda Anderson are authors and co-founded the Angel Animals Network, dedicated to increasing love and respect for all life — one story at a time. Their website is www.angelanimals.net

Published by New World Library this book is available at local bookstores, online booksellers and at www.newworldlibrary.com
Reviewed by Kathy DeSantis


ONE AGAIN
A True Story of A Different Kind of Forgiveness
By Linda Jean McNabb
This is an autobiography about the author’s life as a victim and how she eventually turned it around with a message of true forgiveness. For anyone looking to change their life, Linda tells how she broke the cycle of suffering which she had endured her entire life. Written with honesty and experiences from the heart, the book is inspiring because of Linda’s courage to tell her story so that it can help make a difference in the lives of others.

After living her life as a broken, clueless and self-destructive woman, Linda finds her turning point while hiking in the mountains of Hawaii. Reflecting on her life, she was led to the secret of forgiveness which made an enormous difference in her life. She describes it as going from Hell to Heaven with the realization of life as an illusion and the power of forgiveness.

The book offers everyone an opportunity to see the beauty of true forgiveness at work and the power to alter one’s life, giving hope for the future. Linda says that there is only one chance at this life so don’t waste it. She has healed and helped to heal others, the process of becoming “One Again.”  Linda’s story is proof that anyone can overcome, no matter the circumstances.
To learn more about Linda and her book, visit www.lindamcnabb.com

Published by Hampton Roads Publishing Company, this book is available at local bookstores and online booksellers.
Reviewed by Kathy DeSantis

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