Feel the fear and Beyond - Susan Jeffers

Post date: Oct 29, 2012 5:45:43 PM

Self-Help Books

Review

If you liked the affirmations and exercises in 'Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway' then you will probably like this companion book, published some years later. It is based on the principles explained in Jeffers' first book and, like her first book, includes a detailed series of affirmations and exercises to help you to 'create the confidence that you can handle whatever life brings you in a powerful and loving way' (p.10).

Susan Jeffers writes passionately and with conviction, and makes extensive use of exclamation marks and capital letters (especially for affirmations). She claims the exercises work because they enable us to access our greatest resource, which she calls our 'Higher Self', filled with all nourishing qualities such as joy, creativity, intuition, peace, power, love, compassion and all good things' (p11).

Academic interest: This book has no academic notes, references or research evidence to support its claims. It contains extracts of letters from individuals who claim to have benefited from the programme.

Practitioners: The exercises and affirmations in this book could be helpful for those involved in life-coaching, particularly those who already use activities from Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway.

Self-helpers: Some of the exercises and affirmations in this book also appear in Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway (to which ist is a companion book). However, having read this book first I don't feel it is essential to read both. If you read and like Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, then you will find additional material in this book, including the 'Toolbox for Fear-Less Living' and the '30 Day Power Planner'. It is quite a commitment to maintain the programme recommended by Jeffers, but if it helps you to feel more positive and confident, then that can only be a good thing.

Best Bits:

Jeffers' writing style is persuasive and impassioned, illustrated by this extract:

'I implore you to learn how to pay attention to the joys inherent in your everyday experiences, the joys you are missing when you walk on by the wonders of your life. When you understand this concept, you will never look at the world in the same old mundane, boring way. The world becomes a place of enchantment. Yes, even the traffic jams, screaming children, difficulty at work, and on and on and on, can become part of the grand abundance of life.' (p.140)

My favourite quote from this book (p.99) is actually a quote from Viktor Frank's Man's Search for Meaning (1963) Boston:Beacon Press in which he wrote:

“Everything can be taken away from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's way.”

The set of circumstances he experienced was life in a concentration camp, and I think we could all learn from his attitude.

About the author

Susan Jeffers, who died in October 2012, had a doctorate in psychology from Columbia University. She developed her approach to life as a result of personal experience of managing her own fear, after being diagnosed with breast cancer. She recovered, and went on to develop and teach the course 'Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway' (also the title of her first self-help book) at the New School for Social Research in New York City. She wrote many books, published internationally, and launched a website at http://www.susanjeffers.com/home/index.cfm . Other books by this author include 'Feel the Fear... and Do It Anyway' (1987) and 'Inner Talk For: A Confident Day; A love that Works; Peace of Mind' (1987).