Amina Thajudeen Book Review, non-fiction, Self-Help

A Word to the Eyes by Sudio Sudarsan | Book review

If a picture is worth a thousand words, a calligram is worth a million. A Word to the Eyes is a revolutionary mnemonic tool used to boost vocabulary development and retention. Enhance your lexicon starting with the visuals within, which serve as an introduction to thousands of associated words and meanings.

Title: A Word to the Eyes by

Author: Sudio Sudarsan

Pages: 245

My review

Calligrams is a tool that has the potential to revolutionize the learning process. Words are the basic element of every language. Mastering in the pronunciation, meaning and proper usage of words is crucial for effective language learning. But our present-day techniques are somewhat outdated. We need a new tool which meets the demands. Calligrams is an amalgamation of visual arts and traditional learning techniques. This book explores this possibility.

It is arranged just like a dictionary. Each word is drawn in a unique way which appeals to the learner and stimulates the retention. This helps in better recalling of the meaning. Along with this, the author shows us how to use this word in a sentence correctly, with proper pronunciation.

This book is helpful for anyone who wants to upgrade their vocabulary skills regardless of age. But I think that this tool will help children more than adults because they are the ones who are always struggling in the early years of education. Also, visual arts are more appealing to them than others. This way can also boost creativity and imagination in children.

Amina Thajudeen Book Review, non-fiction, Self-Help

Aging: The Process of Aging Well and Secrets of Longevity by Alessia Cucca | Book review

Learn how to age well mentally and physically
Find out the secrets of longevity and why in the isle of Sardinia, one of the Blue Zones, there are a high numbers of centenarians.
Aging is inevitable, but how you approach life, and your potential longevity will matter. You can become a centenarian if you wish, by following the behaviours of those who have made it to one hundred or even beyond. Of course, your genetics do play a role too, about twenty percent according to the scientists. You can work with your genes and attempt to learn from
the Blue Zones to combat what may happen or give in to the inevitable.
Plenty of people have come back from cancer. Others have staved off dementia and Alzheimer’s progression, not the disease, but the quickness of the decline the disorder provides.
Follow the nine common denominators to a healthier life:
1. Move Naturally
2. Purpose
3. 80% Rule
4. Down-shift
5. Wine at 5
6. Eating More Plants
7. Loved Ones Come First
8. Belong
9. The Right Tribe
to live a longer and happier life.
This book will help you to do so.

Title: Aging: The Process of Aging Well and Secrets of Longevity

Author: Alessia Cucca

Pages: 26

My review

Aging is inevitable. Only a few people are blessed with longevity. That’s why centenarians are celebrated. Everyone is curious to know their “secrets”. The truth is there is no so-called “secrets”. There is no sure-shot way to achieve longevity. But globally, five places were identified as The Blue Zone which met National Geographic’s demographic study regarding the longest living people. We can find some common traits in their lives. The author is trying to uncover these potential reasons for their longevity, through this book.

This short book is strongly backed by the scientific research in this field. The author draws every conclusion, based on evidence-based results only. Because of this unique feature, I find this book trustworthy.

Aging is not a surface concept. But it is our skin which proves our aging process. Aging affects not only our body but also our mental health. We can slow down our physical aging to a certain extent by adopting a better lifestyle. But deterioration of mental health over time, demands our special attention. I think taking care of mental health should be a priority over others. Because it affects everything. This book was an eye-opener for me in this subject.

The best way to avoid fear is to face it courageously. All of us will face aging someday. What matters at the end is, did we age with grace or simply let it happen in its way.

Amina Thajudeen Book Review, non-fiction, Self-Help

Raising Independent Kiddos by Michele Bayer | Book review

Parenting is hard. It’s a never-ending series of particular problems that require ambiguous solutions. And the frustrating truth is that the specifics of your child’s situation aren’t in the literature. Believe me. I’ve been looking for it for two decades.

I’m a mother to four beautiful kids. When my second child was born with a disability, it took a lot of trial and error (and time hiding in the closet) before I realized the importance of holding myself back, almost sitting on my hands, so my kids could learn to think about where they had made mistakes, reflect on what they needed to change. “Let them do it themselves,” became our family mantra.

This book isn’t about the importance of one parenting style over another. It doesn’t tell you how important it is to hug your child, and it won’t help you minimize tantrums at any age. It’s about microparenting, which is when a parent tries to control every detail, no matter how small, of their child’s life. The point of this book is to help you stop microparenting and start doing something that works faster and better.

Title: Raising Independent Kiddos

Author: Michele Bayer

Pages: 139

My review

We never receive any training to become a parent. Yet most of the population will go through this challenging phase in their adult years. The best thing we can do to counteract ignorance is to learn. Knowledge can undo everything. But this is not a traditional parenting advice book. This book concentrates on one thing- microparenting.

Microparenting is same as the micromanaging. Most of the parents control every small task, every small detail in their child’s day-to-day life. This affects a child’s behavior as well as emotional development in unspeakable volumes. The author draws our attention to this most common practice of parenting through this. Most of today’s generation is affected by microparenting. The long-lasting effects of microparenting causes the development of domineering and unsatisfactory adult relationships in their later lives. We all exhibit the bits of this nature in our everyday life. Undoing this from our life, for the betterment of our children is not an easy task. However, we have to put conscious efforts for this.

The book has an elaborate introduction of microparenting and its effects, in the beginning. Later on, the author introduces a worksheet to test ourselves on the range of microparenting we already have. To minimize and gradually eliminate microparenting, first, we have to understand our child’s needs. They are empty shells. Their overall personality depends on what we try to fill them with, in their early years. Cultivating self-reliance and a sense of responsibility is not a simple task. But it is what they need to excel in their adult life.

The author supplements every step in this process with her life experiences. Her experiments and responses to the unfavorable and favorable results, teach us very practical solutions for every step. This alone makes the book a realistic guide.

Amina Thajudeen Book Review, Comics, Fiction, Self-Help

Tapping Your Way to a Great Big Smile!: Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) Tapping for Little Fingers by Ana Cybela | Book review

A great fun way to inculcate the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) Tapping to our little ones daily routine! EFT is a therapeutic practice to cope with stress, anxiety, negative thoughts, and other volatile emotions. Our kids are prone to various external stresses even from a very young age. Bullying, academic works, peer pressures etc may cause them sudden erratic behavior at school and home. They are behaving like this because they don’t know how to deal with these emotions. this will eventually lead them to low self-esteem and confidence in their later years.

It is essential to identify the root cause of their changes in behavior and inculcate sustainable habits in their life from a very young age to overcome issues. This book introduces a very good technique known as tapping for this purpose.

This is written and illustrated through a first-person point of view. It helps our child to connect with the character’s emotions and compare themselves. This enables them to act independently in various difficult situations. Managing stressful situations are painstaking even for adults like us. Practicing EFT with our kids on a day-to-day basis will be a great way to manage our emotional balance too. This will also set an example for our children to look up to and eventually create stronger bonds with us.

Amina Thajudeen Book Review, non-fiction, Self-Help

Affirmations For Money Blueprint: How To Earn $10k Per Month With Proven Affirmations by Ian Seamus Finn| Review

Imagine WRITING FOR 10 MINUTES A DAY… and waking up with a $100, $250, $500 in your bank account just a few days later.
What if there was a way to change your life, without spending 5 years getting really good at your chosen profession…
If there was a shortcut that created a new life and new streams of income for you, would you take it… And REALIZE YOUR DREAMS now?
The shortcut I am referring to is the magic of Affirmations.
To get really good at any one thing takes approximately 10,000 hours or 5 YEARS of full time work 40 hours per week.
Affirmations allow anyone to get really good and make really big changes, and the changes start in weeks, not years.
The absolute simplest way to Create Your Dream Life.

Title: Affirmations For Money Blueprint: How To Earn $10k Per Month With Proven Affirmations

Author: Ian Seamus Finn

Pages: 99

My review

Affirmations For Money Blueprint is a perfect guide for reaching our financial goals. Money solves many problems in life and it is essential for survival. Through this guide, the author mentors us to earn $10k per month. This not an exaggeration. It is very doable. But we can only achieve this target by chiseling one most important skill in our life – sales. We all are selling something in our whole life, our skills, services, or any other products. Learning the art of sales in the right way is the secret formula for high income. This code is cracked through this book.

Communication is the key to excel in sales. For improving this skill, first, we have to set the right affirmations. But affirmations don’t work if we don’t apply the right technique. After explaining this, the author moves on to the core of this skill. One of the best chapters in this book is about the art of persuasion. The author explains the types of people and how to approach them and influence them gradually. This section includes the right arguments and tactics to use and how to confront them successfully in every situation.

Before delving into the art of money-making, the author has also dedicated a section for setting the right mindset. This part is an essential read, not only for making money, but also for our general well being. What makes this book special in the sea of self-help books is it’s easy to read content. All the techniques uncovered in the book are very pragmatic and easy to implement in our day-to-day life.

Overall, this is an all-in-one guide for self-improvement.

Amina Thajudeen Book Review, non-fiction, Self-Help

636: A Path to Higher Consciousness by Vera J. Skye | Book review

What is it to be conscious? What is it to have a higher sense of awareness? In this book, I will not only guide you through practical steps to help you achieve a higher state of consciousness, I will also help you to interpret your dreams. Every dreamer has their own unique symbols, and each symbol has its own meaning for the dreamer. I will walk you through some of my own dreams, telling you about the symbols that stuck out to me, and what I interpreted them to mean.
I will explain how even through a traumatic childhood, I learned how to adapt to life and accept even my worst flaws, as I am, and we all are, human beings with imperfections. I will walk you through becoming more aware of yourself and the world around you, by diving into my own life experiences and sharing tips that have, and continue to help me.
This book is for anyone who wants to understand more about themselves and is looking to reach their Higher Consciousness.

Title: 636: A Path to Higher Consciousness

Author: Vera J. Skye

Pages: 78

My review

Life-changing experience!

I never had this much of life-changing reading experience from a single book ever. I was always curious about my consciousness and its mysterious expressions. Often I avoided thoughts regarding this. But deep down I always wanted to learn about this. Because the thoughts and dreams are extremely personal affairs. No one can understand them better than us.

This book has the answer to all my questions. The author draws this vast knowledge from her personal experience. In the beginning, I had a certain extend of fear about experimenting with my mind. But soon they disappeared when she delved into the depth of deeper consciousness and uncovered its mysteries.

Our consciousness is our greatest power. Although most of the book is dedicated to the techniques we can apply to elevate our consciousness, what I liked most was the dream interpretation part. The elaborate explanation and interpretation gave me answers to all my questions. I felt that I found a way out of a very difficult maze after I read this section. It was deep and accurate. Also, you can learn about the unique title of this book in this section!

In the end, the author has given dream-recall and self-awareness worksheets prompting readers to take action rather than read and go. I’m 100% convinced about the power of higher consciousness and I will definitely employ this in my life.

Amina Thajudeen Book Review, non-fiction, Self-Help

Embrace The Void Bravely: & Other Secular Sermons by Race Hochdorf | Book review

“While covering many of the age old existential problems faced by the non-religious, Hochdorf avoids retreading the steps of the New Atheists and presents us with a fresh, thoughtful, charming little book.” —Helen Pluckrose, editor-in-chief of Areo Magazine

“This book is teeming with beauty and hope. An inspirational message for those of us who prefer to be amazed by the limitless awe-inspiring reality around us, as opposed to the limited imaginations of ancient men.” —Yasmine Mohammed, Unveiled: How Western Liberals Empower Radical Islam

“Race’s provocative, open-hearted essays tackle the central, existential angst of our modern era: how can godless secularism give humans the meaning and morality that religion falsely provides? His answers are astonishing, challenging, revolutionary.” —Hank Pellissier, founder of Humanist Global Charity

Title: Embrace The Void Bravely: & Other Secular Sermons

Author: Race Hochdorf

Pages: 108

My review

“Embrace The Void Bravely” is a fire in the darkness. The darkness which limits our thoughts by forcing down rules and regulations. This is a tool to question religious superiority which has been the root of existential problems over the centuries. The conflicting nature of human beings is forcefully tamed by the religion. The author addresses how this system has been made us mere slaves without raising any questions.

I was so curious about the meaning of the title. The author explains this in the first chapter itself. “What is the meaning of life?” This is a popular question that often shuts our thoughts down. Over time this question become the root of spirituality and religion. There is a void which exists in our mind. The void cannot be filled or erased. Knowing that you will cease one day and everything about you will be erased over time. We are living for accomplishments, personal and professional. But nothing is everlasting, not even wealth. We are building a sandcastle on the shore side for the praise of a few passersby. It will be erased when a tide which is strong enough comes. But we do it nevertheless. We embrace this void bravely, rather than filling it. We can be infinite the moment we embrace this truth.

One of the best ideas I gained from this book is about inequality. We often discuss economic and gender inequality. But what we don’t know is, inequality exists in every social order. It exists in our house, friend circle, office, and in our society. Oppression and supremacy are the fundamental character of the human race. No matter how much we protest, this disparity will exist.

In other chapters, the author addresses issues related to romantic and other relationships. No religion addresses romantic love in their holy books. Rather they all promote celibacy. Why they all deny this fundamental human emotion? The same goes for friendships. The social and religious order has created barriers for every human emotion over time.

A very insightful read. Highly recommended.

Rating:5/5

Amina Thajudeen Book Review, Fiction, Poems, poetry, Quotes, Self-Help

One Sacred Moment (The Mystical Traveler #5) by Fawn Moran| Book review

One Sacred Moment is the fifth volume of inspirational poetry in The Mystical Traveler Series. If you’re looking for insights that deepen over time or kernels of truth you won’t forget, this is the book for you. Like the book says, “Come to the table, The one set for two. Open to the moment. You needn’t prepare. Your special guest is the Presence we share.”

“Fawn Moran has managed to distill so much wisdom into phrases that open doors that we thought were closed. Reading her words, or better still, reading them out loud, brings a resonance in the heart that remains. The distillation has clearly come from many hours of plumbing her own depths. This is not a collection of ideas—it’s a collection of Truth revealed. Try it. You might end up becoming what you were seeking.“
Mary-Margaret Moore,Spiritual teacher, workshop leader, counselor and author of the Bartholomew books

Title: One Sacred Moment (The Mystical Traveler #5)

Author: Fawn Moran

Pages: 72

My review

Poetry is the expression of deep-rooted creativity. It is the projection of one’s own heart and mind. It is the uncovered truth of our inhibitions. One Sacred Moment is a spiritual journey. The beauty of poems lies not in the words but the underlying meaning. In a sense, it expresses the raw unadulterated version of ourselves.

These inspirational poems hold pristine energy, waiting to be unleashed to our flesh and wounds. It is hard to rebuild a broken heart. But every wound will heal if the right treatment is provided. The scars will fade one day. But it is the scars that signify our existence.

Dedicating whole life to selfless service is one of the greatest sacrifice we can ever perform. By doing this we can immerse our soul to divinity and unburden ourselves from everything. It is the path to salvation. We achieve it at our own pace and through our journey. These poems are the expression of that spiritual journey. They are unique because they are not crafted but emerged from a deeper state of mind. The truth is very difficult to express, as always. It needs time and patience to put together words around the emotions encountered during ones own spiritual endeavor. They are difficult to decipher. But they will make you think. They will push you to go farther. No two experience is same.

Meaningful read. Highly recommended.

Rating: 5/5

Amina Thajudeen Book Review, non-fiction, Self-Help

Meditation for Beginners: A, B, C’s to Mindfulness by Demetrius Irick | Book review

This book was created with one goal in mind and that’s to change your life using the art of meditation. Meditation has been around for thousands of years and the benefits are documented in countless scientific sources. The health benefits include lowering blood pressure, better concentration, slowing down dementia, reduced stress & anxiety, depression and the list go on & on. Although, meditation does have some religious affiliation it’s not solely a religious thing. Meditation will not conflict with your religious belief but it will enhance anyone’s spiritual practice

Title: Meditation for Beginners: A, B, C’s to Mindfulness 

Author: Demetrius Irick

Pages: 154

My review

A perfect guide for beginners!

Meditation for Beginners is an 8-week course for anyone interested to start and build a habit of it. Meditation is the only activity in our life that can give back the time we dedicate to practice it. If properly done, meditation can even multiply the time we spent doing tasks daily. The benefits of practicing meditation is scientifically proven and it is one of the easiest habit one can develop. Yet we lack the discipline for it.

This is one of the easiest meditation guides, I have ever come across. Because it acknowledges the problems of a beginner and addresses numerous questions that may arise in our mind during the course. The author also provides solutions to tackle the problems that we may have during the initial phase of practice. It also busts many myths around meditation. The author even narrates his own experience when he first started practicing.

This is a week by week schedule. In each week we can learn one new technique of meditation. This technique has to be practiced throughout the week to gain benefit from it. The author also explains every technique in detail and the benefits of it, at the beginning of each chapter. Through meditation, we can finally tackle our fears and transform our reactions to responses.

What makes this book exceptional is its completeness in this topic. This book covers every meditation practice and everything we need to know about it, which eliminates the need for other books.

Rating:5/5

Amina Thajudeen Book Review, non-fiction, Self-Help

The YOU beyond you by Ramzi Najjar | Book review

What if the core of our belief system was nothing but a collection of misleading notions?

For everyone willing to explore the real dimension of existence, this book is a must-read. Examining life’s underlying mechanisms, “The YOU Beyond you” gives full insight into how you can gain full knowledge of your reality and how it operates within us and in the Universe itself. No matter who we are or what our life goal is, negative habits and an unhealthy life culture perturb the delicate balance that allows us to move forward.

You will embark on the path to understanding how bad habits become embedded in our system and thus mold a negative framework within our lives. How to break free from these bad habits and experience the true secret of life through which everything prospers.

Title: : The YOU beyond you

Author: Ramzi Najjar  

Pages: 98

My review

There are not many books out there which truly have the power to change your mind completely. The YOU beyond you possess this power. This book has the ability to influence your thoughts and change them for good. This was really a mind-blowing reading experience.

The 50% of the book is dedicated to declutter and detox our mind and body from al the pre-conditioning which defines our current existence. After a proper detox, the author introduces us to the real magic. The rest of the book is dedicated to creating a memory that will redefine our existence. According to the author, the memory is everything. I agree with this fact. Without the years of memory, we don’t have any existence. So the true transformations start from there. The rewiring and rewriting neurological connections to achieve our maximum potential is not an extraordinary feat. But we should have the courage and will to take action. That decision lies in ourselves.

The style of writing is captivating and engaging. Because the author justifies every bit of his thoughts with scientific information. This made me re-think and question everything. We are living in a world which pre-condition our mind and body to run according to the rules set by others. We are really trapped inside this matrix. The true salvation begins by understanding our desire and breaking this pattern.

It will be an injustice if I categorize this as a self-help book. This is truly an insightful read.