“Do you care enough about yourself to delve into the mystery of who you truly are?” asks Alma C Lightbody in the preface to YOU’RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME (Discover Your Authentic Self). With more than 30 years experience in energy healing Lightbody has created a new guide and workbook to allow readers the opportunity to reassess their life and make changes to improve health and happiness.
According to Lightbody the source of many people’s problems is that they try to live up to the expectations of others. Lightbody believes that these external controllers, which she terms “bosses”, cause distress and disease even if often they are only felt subliminally. These bosses are broken down into categories. Patterns: conditioning and habit forming behavior based on the way things are done according to family tradition, ancestry, cultural history. Imprints: the personal influence of family, mentors, teachers, peers and others. Influences: external influences including religion, social media technology and traditional media. Lightbody asks the reader to examine their own lives and identify which of these bosses have been allowed undue influence and which have instigated a way of living that is far removed from the individual’s true self. By identifying these negative influences Lightbody hopes that the reader will be able to confront the bosses and diminish their powers. She hopes to reawaken the rebellious youth in her readers who would openly question and confront authority rather than bow down and meekly follow. And by so doing the newly enlightened and unencumbered individual will be able to begin to live the life they always wanted to have.
YOU’RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME takes the form of a four stage workbook with numerous charts and diagrams with space at the rear designed to be used as a notebook. Digital readers are able to download and print pertinent pages. In addition to her examination of the “bosses”, Lightbody also covers general health including an explanation of chakras and body symbology. As an introduction to energy healing, the book is introductory rather than aimed at those who have already become involved with the practice. It serves as a beginner’s guide to the material that Lightbody herself has spent decades studying. The sections on chakra and body symbology are quite simplistic but may prompt further investigation in readers who find the section intriguing. As with many new age self-help books there is a fine line between the practical and the fanciful and it’s a line that can only be drawn by the individual reader. Whether the reader is able to action Lightbody’s techniques or indeed find them useful at all will depend on where they draw that line. That said, the book does function as a means for the reader to take stock of their current situation and as a trigger to instigate change and self-empowerment it will certainly have value.
Alma C Lightbody distills more than 30 years of experience as an energy healer into YOU’RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME (Discover Your Authentic Self), a useful guide to reassessing life and its negative influences.
~Kent Lane for IndieReader