Into the Magic Shop

There's nothing particularly revelatory in this book in terms of how to live a good life. Having said that James Doty's autobiography is engaging & he sure seems like a good human being.

One of my favourite reads this year. Inspiring and highly engaging memoir sharing very handy meditative and visualization techniques. Strongly recommend for anyone feeling lost and seeking inner peace.

I read this as part of my BTS book club and I certainly see its influence in their music and message. Although my cynical side definitely had to suspend belief a few times when things just ‘worked out', I also see insightful advice and a positive message too - one that even the author admits takes a lifetime of practice to truly understand and focus on. This isn't a magic ‘how to be successful' book, but rather insight into the power we have over our thoughts and how that can manifest into creating a mindset that allows us to achieve our goals in life. It's also about using that same technique to help and understand others with compassion and love. I think there are a lot of concepts here that we innately know, but don't take time to actually practice on enough to truly make changes in our lives and what this book does well is make you stop and think about your own thoughts. It's a guidebook of sorts on meditation as a starting point to become more aware of our own internal story about ourselves and if we make the time and effort, we can actually change that mindset to something more positive, which in turn allows us to make changes in real life that help us reach our goals. Although it's referred to as ‘magic' through most of the book, it really has some scientific research to back it up. How we can ‘train' our thoughts to literally re-wire our brains is actually proven in scientific research. Don't look here if you want a magic potion to solve all of your life's problems, but certainly check it out if want a perspective on reaching your goals and overcoming obstacles in a way we often don't take time for in our busy lives and may prove beneficial in actually getting us where we want and need to be. Although I may not take every aspect of this books teaching as my own, it certainly made me think deeply about my own internal dialogue about myself and my life and how it may be possible to change it in a positive way.