By: Simon Barrett
I. M. Heart is a rather curious little 'self help' book; it is cut from a different cloth. It advocates a strategy for dealing with life's trials and tribulations that at first sight is 180 degrees away from what most authors say. Sue McDaniel tells us to think from and with your heart, let your heart make the decisions. Most books take the opposite approach, 'decide with your head, do not let your heart rule you.'
Actually what the author is saying is that by understanding your emotions you can use them to your advantage when dealing with situations. Sue explores this theory through the use of a small heart shaped character I. M. Heart. I.M. Heart represents all of us – who are learning to be aware of and process feelings coming from both love and fear. Sue believes that in our hearts we hold all kinds of feelings. These include loving, dear, joyful feelings as well as fearful, angry, hateful feelings.
It is via this little guy that we get to learn about Love, Fear, Hate, and many other emotions. When you are consciously aware of these emotions you can learn to channel them and maybe even more importantly, understand them, and the effect they are having.
Sue shows how you can take the fear out of fear, and hate, what is that? By learning to understand your feelings you can learn much about yourself, and maybe just as important, the world and people around you.
I. M. Heart is a quick read, it is only 100 pages, and many have illustrations on them. But don't be fooled by the size, the text contains a wealth of information in it. The book consists of ten chapters, with each chapter exploring a particular aspect, and subtly offers suggestions to the reader as to how to incorporate the ideas into their own lives. Those 10 chapters are devoted to: recognizing your feelings; processing them; healing fear, hurts and pains; feeling love and loving yourself; connecting to spirit; and connecting to others with heart.
This is Sue McDaniel's first solo work in the book world, but she is no novice. During the 1990’s she co-authored five basic books and Learning, Changing and Leading: Keys to Success in the 21st Century, with Chet Dixon. This book and the workbooks accompanying it were used as teaching tools in the state of Missouri.
If I have a criticism of I. M. Heart it would be about its complexity. Although the text is short the message at times is complex. In some ways Sue McDaniel might have achieved a greater effect by writing a longer book. One that permitted a more simplistic approach to the execution and explanation of the concepts.
Sue McDaniel has a background in developing corporate culture and has spent many years consulting with companies large and small. She has developed training materials and delivered programs for government agencies, businesses, and organizations at the state, national, and international level. She has a web site dedicated to I. M. Heart, and you can purchase the book from Amazon.
(Originally published at Blogger News Network, and reprinted with permission of the author, Simon Barrett).
About the author
Simon Barrett is an adult educator in Calgary, Alberta. With the 11 months a year of winter, he reads a lot of books! He is also a contributing editor for http://www.bloggernews.net and maintains a personal blog at http://zzsimonb.blogspot.com .
