BOOK REVIEW - With Your Eyes Wide Open: Life Without Stress
by Muriel Prince Warren, L.C.S.W., D.S.W, and FAAETS
Self-Published: 2007 - Dr. Warren's email: MPW0801@AOL.COM
Reviewed by Judith E. Pearson, Ph.D.
"For a long time it seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, and some debt to be paid. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. This perspective has helped me to see there is no way to happiness. Happiness IS the way, so treasure every moment you have and remember that time waits for no one."
-----With Your Eyes Wide Open, page 35
Can creative visualization and hypnosis fulfill your hopes and dreams and lead you toward the accomplishment of your goals? Author, hypnotherapist, and psychotherapist, Muriel Prince Warren says "yes." In With Your Eyes Wide Open, she tells her readers that with creative visualization we can relax the amygdala; the part of the brain that secretes stress hormones. Relax the amygdala and you can reduce the body's stress response. Instead of focusing on worries and fears, Warren encourages us to focus on our hopes, dreams, and goals and to reshape our "neural coding" for the better. Thus, we can improve the "deep unconscious wisdom system" of our minds.
This book has four chapters, each with a hypnosis script or meditation. The topics are 1) releasing stress, 2) healing from within, 3) tapping into one's inner power, and 4) achieving emotional balance. It's easy to understand the title of the book. Even while I was reading the text, I could still feel relaxation, have pleasant thoughts, create appealing images, and call forth happy associations and memories. Each page is illustrated with lovely color photos selected and arranged by art director and designer Philipe Garnier. The photos are mostly portraits of people and scenes of nature that, for me, amplified the author's message, and made it even more enjoyable.
Warren invites her readers to take time out from the rough-and-tumble of daily life to relax, release worries and cares, and contemplate internal and external images of peace and beauty. She encourages people to consider what is possible and to open their minds to those possibilities. It's a message that can benefit anyone and one that we can all use from time to time.
Muriel Prince Warren is a Certified Traumatologist, a board member for the National Board for Certified Clinical Hypnotherapists, and a diplomate of the International Academy of Behavioral Medicine, Counseling and Psychotherapy living in Orangeburg, New York. She founded the Warren Institute, a not-for-profit organization which holds wellness seminars. To purchase her book and to learn more about her work, visit her web site at www.drmurielprincewarren.com.
Judith E. Pearson, Ph.D. is a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist and Executive Director with the National Board for Certified Clinical Hypnotherapists. She is an NLP Master Practitioner/Trainer and hypnotherapist with a solo practice in Springfield, Virginia. She has recently published The Weight, Hypnotherapy and You Weight Reduction Program: An NLP and Hypnotherapy Practitioner's Manual. Her web site is www.engagethepower.com.