A PRACTICAL LIFE-HEALING PROGRAM

Friday, May 29, 2009

BOOK REVIEW--THE LOVE RESPONSE BY EVA M. SELHUB. M.D WITH DIVINA INFUSINO

If you need to turn off anger, fear, anxiety and restore balance and well-being to your life, this book will help. The Love Response is the result of Dr. Selhub's years of research and clinical practice on how to reverse the destructive physical effects of fear and stress, and banish emotional wounds from the past. Through a simple-to-use plan of awareness, breathing, visualization, and verbal command exercises, The Love Response reprograms your brain and changes your biochemistry from negative to positive, putting you on a path to long-term wellness and happiness.

The Love Response is structured around the three essential building blocks of mental health:

• Social love--connecting not only in your intimate relationships but with family, friends, and pets.
  
• Self-love--learning to nurture yourself with care and tenderness.
  
• Spiritual love--contributing in meaningful ways to the world beyond your personal needs.
  

I wish I could tell you that I agree with everything in this book--but I cannot. It may be that my problem is simply one of semantics. As a Christian Pastor for forty-seven years I view everything through the lenses of Christianity. I realize that this "colors" the way I see things. Do I believe this book will help people overcome stress, anger, fear and anxiety? I do. I believe this is a book that will be especially helpful to those who are not Christians and who do not attend church. I believe that Christians will find the answers to these problems in another place and in another way. And yet I am not saying there is not helpful information here for them. People living a secular life will find much help here that they are not getting anyplace else. Love indeed is the answer to many of life's problems and Dr. Selhub shows the way to connect up with love and be healed.