MBR reviews Simple Serenity by Nancy Oelklaus

Reviewer’s Bookwatch: April 2022
Carolyn Wilhelm’s Bookshelf

I didn’t think I needed any more finding joy books, so started reading thinking it would be the same old. The author suggested writing, drawing, painting, or other activities to help process the book. Not just read it through? Well, it seems I changed my mind soon after beginning to read. This is not a “preachy” text as Oelklaus explains how her thoughts helped her to find peace. She discusses being “in love” as opposed to trying to fix other people. She explains how she stopped being a fixer of other people and says it is freeing to her to mind her own business.

Yes, some of the short writing pieces with questions at the end did seem quite easy. Some seemed to be great for writing group prompts, some seemed good for a reading group discussion warm-up, or even useful for art class. I think counselors might refer to some chapters for finding discussion topics. One of her ideas to solve feeling overwhelmed is explained in terms of her practical and step-by-step system. All in a very short chapter, which others could try although it is explained in terms of her own life. Her lesson from a ceiling fan recently happened to me after I found a telescoping and bending duster online, bought it, and was able to dust our ceiling fans. The vignettes are relatable. She asks:

“When have you felt as if you were being held hostage and your world was narrowing? How did you work your way out of it?”

A wardrobe can support the life you truly want to live, according to Oelklaus. She tells about buying three pieces of clothing and donating four. No piling all the clothes you own in one room, just thinking about the life you want.

She also discusses a “God box.” Any nagging thoughts can be put in such a box until you can see it clearly for what is really is about.

With poetry, stories from real life, and questions, this book offers a chance for a new view of life. Highly recommend.


Traumatic Incident Reduction

978-1-932690-50-7
$24.95
Research and Results
In stock
1
Product Details
UPC: 978-1-932690-50-7
Brand: Loving Healing Press
Binding: Paperback
Edition: 2nd
Author: Victor R. Volkman

What Traumatic Incident Reduction (TIR) Does:
"When accessed with the specific cognitive imagery procedure of TIR, a primary traumatic incident can be stripped of its emotional charge permitting its embedded cognitive components to be revealed and restructured. With its emotional impact depleted and its irrational ideation revised, the memory of a traumatic incident becomes innocuous and thereafter remains permanently incapable of restimulation and intrusion into present time." -Robert H. Moore, Ph.D.

What's Inside the Book:

Traumatic Incident Reduction: Research & Results provides synopses of several TIR research projects from the early 1990s to today. Each article, in the researcher's own words, provides new insights into the effectiveness of Traumatic Incident Reduction. The three doctoral dissertation level studies that form the core of this book investigate the outcome results of TIR with crime victims, incarcerated females, and anxiety and panic disorders respectively (Bisbey, Valentine, and Coughlin.)

Both informal and formal reports of the "Active Ingredient" study by Charles R. Figley and Joyce Carbonell of Florida State University investigate how TIR and other brief treatments for traumatic stress provide relief. A further case study by Teresa Descilo, MSW informs of outcomes from an ongoing project to provide help to at-risk middle-school students in an inner-city setting.

An introduction by Robert H. Moore, Ph.D. provides background into how TIR provides relief for symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and firmly establishes the roots of TIR in the traditions of desensitization, imaginal flooding, and Rogerian techniques.

Researcher's Praise for TIR

"TIR does not require years of collegiate study to pre-qualify the provision of assistance to others. The efficacy of TIR is not contingent on the unique talents of a particular facilitator. The procedure is standardized and does not require continuous adjustments." -Wendy Coughlin, Ph.D.

From the EXPLORATIONS IN METAPSYCHOLOGY SERIES
Series Editor: ROBERT RICH, PH.D.
Learn more about this subject at www.TIR.org

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Simple Serenity: Finding Joy in Your Life
Nancy Oelklaus
http://nancyoelklaus.com
Loving Healing Press
https://www.lhpress.com
9781615996636, $16.95 Paperback, $28.95 Hardcover, $4.95 Kindle, 168p

Carolyn Wilhelm, Reviewer
Wise Owl Factory LLC

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