I've had this book for about 10 years. I was elated to purchase the recent Kindle edition, because I re-read this book regularly. Although I am naturally very intuitive, this book helped in the past, and still does, to refresh and strengthen my intuitive skills.
I LIKE
# Having
read the hard copy version and the digital version with nearly a decade
of difference, I can honestly say that this book is as relevant today
(2021) than it was published first in 1997.
# The
book is very practical, has no pretense or mambo-jumbo and includes
examples of students' responses to the exercises we do. The book is written in a very approachable way, as if you were in one of Day's workshops.
# Day debunks what intuition and psychic abilities are. This being the case, the book will appeal to people who are way far from the occult and esoteric bunch that you usually associate with this sort of subjects with. In fact, Day has taught how to use intuition to businesses, medical practices, film productions, therapy and healing groups, venture capital groups, and families.
# Day's intuitive lessons are the best I've found anywhere. I've read many books on intuition, each one with their own tools, techniques and valid ways of tapping into our sixth sense. Yet, Day's
books are the only ones that I regularly re-read or consult.
# Most of the exercises are wonderful and enlightening. Some of them really wow. I especially loved exercise no. 26: The Circle Technique.
# Some of Day's digressions in chapter 30 re about intuition, oneness, interconnection and social ecology, space and time, predestination, spirituality and so on are still relevant 30 years after the book was written.
# The double-blind reading experiment described in chapter 31.
# Herewith some of my fav pearls of wisdom:
-- "If you want an outcome and your intuition says no, ask why."
-- "Make it a rule never to mimic a trained and licensed professional in a given field."
-- "Intuition should add to good judgement, not replace it."
-- "Intuitive information is always objectively valid, and it is always right. It’s in the interpretation of intuitive data that errors are introduced."
-- "Reality is nothing more than a consensus."
-- "Intuition teaches us that things are separated neither in space nor in time. There is no past or present or future."
INTUITIVE READING ADVICE
1/ You don't need helpful information other than the question; actually, the less you know about the topic, the better.
2/ You aren't always right.
3/ Your subject still needs to exercise judgement as you aren't making decisions for them.
4/ You aren't a therapist.
5/ Your preferred way of working and intuitive style.
6/ Ask the person to have the questions written and framed before the reading takes place
7/ Get relaxed and centered
8/ Once the question is asked, begin speaking straightaway so that your logical mind has no chances to interfere. You may get impressions before the question is asked or impressions that seem meaningless to you but not for the other person, or impressions that seem unrelated to the question but they are.
9/ Don't let your subject interrupt you, as this interferes with the intuitive flow.
10/ If you aren't getting anything, be honest about it, but try to see that this not-seeing-anything doesn't equal no, nothing, etc. Refocus the question.
11/ Translate your intuitive images into colloquial language.
12/ Report your impressions going from the details to the big picture, and look for verifiable signposts (names, dates, places, history, etc.).
13/ At the very least look for these things: a) Positive/negative feelings to the question. b) Whether your feel that you're in the present, past of future of the question, or if it moves back and forward. c) If you see people or events affecting the question.
14/ Ask and work with feedback.
15/ Ask for further questions.
16/ Remain objective no matter what you get. You can’t assume that any event is necessarily good or bad. If you are delivering 'bad' news, be tactful and gentle, try to see the silver lining and mention that you might be wrong. If necessary feel free not to answer a question.
DOWNSIDES
>> The book has a
chatty anecdotal conversational tone that might not be for everyone.
>> Although I value the way that Day compares how dreams and intuition are
similar and different, as a dreamworker I don't personally agree with some of her
statements she makes about dreams.
>> The wording of some of the exercises is not clear enough. Exercise 22 and the chapter on intuitive polarities it relates to are especially confusing to me.
>> Day says that the more random an intuitive technique is, the more likely it is to work. She also states "The key difference between intuition and these other divining techniques is that with intuition you’re not using external cues to help you – or to lead you astray." For that reason she says that, for example, tarot readings aren't as good, as, say, the I Ching. I Tarot/oracle cards are chosen randomly (flip out or random selection) to start with. Also, oracle/tarot decks have different imagery and depictions of similar archetypes, sometimes to the point that the same card on a different deck provides you with different intuitive elements. You can mix and match several decks to get an intuitive reading made of a mix of cards coming from them. If everything is related, as Day says, and everything is meaningful for an intuitive reading, a card is as valid as anything else.
>> The exercise between number 24 and 25 was never numbered.
>> Chapters 27 and 28 bear the same title, but the former is devoted to carer and
finances and the other to general personal matters. Why not titling each chapter
accordingly?
RECOMMENDATION
I would advise to complement this book with the Intuition in Love,
Intuition for Success and How to Rule the World from your Couch, because
they are the best intuition tools out there.
KINDLE EDITION
Overall, this is a good Kindle edition, with pagination markers instead of location markers, something that I always prefer. On the other hand, I noticed some minor editorial mistakes: -- "the progression of a season . if you don’t receive such clues" in p. 128.
-- "Intuitive information is o rich and complex", p. 162.
-- The pair high/low is listed twice in exercise 21.
-- "anything, tell them to pretened", p. 184.
I was thrilled to get the Kindle Edition of this book, and it had to be COVID-19 Pandemic what allowed the project to be done. The first printed copy saw the light in 2001, and it has taken two decades to get to the digital edition on Kindle. It was time! In all honesty, I thought this would be another book on intuition, but it is not.
The Circle is a revamped version of the Law of Attraction (LOA) and The Circle is just a way of calling The Universe or the space where manifestation occurs. The book mixes concepts of the LOA with others of the Thought Church, Psychology, Intuition, Reiki and simple common sense.
MY HIGHLIGHTS> There
is a unwavering faith in the process and in humanity expressed through
the book, and this is one of the most positive takes for me.
> The section on rituals, what they are and why they are important in our lives.
> Some of the statements in the book:
-- "When you change yourself, you change the people and events around you." (loc 216)
-- "To a great extent, you are what you believe you are-and the world responds accordingly." (loc. 225).
-- "It requires far more energy to be ill or create a life out of balance
than it does to be well. Your internal structure wants to be well and
works towards health and balance whether or not you are helping." (loc
453).
-- "In times of stress, or when handling people or situations, you tend to
turn to one particular system by reflex, your default system. Your
default system is not necessarily your strongest." (Loc 470).
-- "When you analyse a lack of success in any aspect of your life, you
tend to look outside yourself for the explanation. Yet often the answer
is that you are getting in your own way." (loc 496).
-- "One way to discover what people fear is to see where they put their
focus and energy. Look at the perfectly put together person and realise
that person is probably afraid that he or she will fall apart." (loc
599).
-- "When you see and need, ask if you can fill it. When you have a need, ask that it be satisfied." (loc 781)
-- "So much of life is lived in the head. The human mind is a wonderful
place, but to create change, things need to be built in the physical
world." (loc 912).
THE CIRCLE SUMMARY
The process to tap into the Circle (Universe) and bring any wish into reality is structured as follows:
1/ Initiation:
> 1st element = Intentionality = The hidden gift is conscious creation.
> 2nd element = Embodiment = The gift is awareness.
> 3rd element = Ritual = The gift is sacredness.
In short, make a wish and put your intention behind and into it, embody the result you want to create, and make some ritual to start tapping into what you want your new reality to be.
2/ Apprenticeship:
> 4th element = Synchronicity = The gift is effectiveness.
> 5th element = Making Space = The gift is transformation.
> 6th element = Coherence = The gift is right action.
In short, pay attention to the synchronicities that reflect change in the outer world. Make space for the new to enter your life, and resolve any inner or outer conflict that prevents your goal to materialize. When you go through this realize that your initial wish might be other, so allow your wish to transform as you transform.
3/ Mastery:
> 7th element = Outer roadblocks = The gift is intuition.
> 8th element = Inner roadblocks = The gift is healing.
> 9th element = Contact = The gift is unity.
In
short, you'll find inner/outer resistance before getting your wish manifested. These obstacles are the right path to success but need to be
addressed. When you enter the energy of The Circle you are in oneness with everything and everyone. Be part of a group, a circle of like-minded people, who support each other and go through this process together.
OH BOY
>> The book as a chit-chatty godmother's preachy tone that, on the one hand, makes it easily readable and understandable, but, on the other, rest validity to what she says.
>> >> The writing style is unnecessarily repetitive and full of platitudes. The words The Circle and New Reality are repeated ad nauseam.
>> Many of the messages that Day conveys in the book are a verbose beautification of popular common-sense wisdom such as:
-- Life is unpredictable.
-- Go with the flow.
-- If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
-- What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.
-- There is a silver lining in every situation.
-- After reaching the bottom, the way is always up.
-- Everything depends on how you look at things: Is the bottle half full or half empty?
-- Let go to move on.
-- Get out of your own way.
-- Be careful of what you wish for.
-- Your unconscious rules your life.
-- Create a community of liked-minded people.
-- A candle doesn't lose its light by giving light to another candle.
-- Shine your inner light and give it as a gift to the world.
-- There is a lesson in everything.
>> Synchronicity, Serendipity and Good Luck are three different things. Why putting them together in the same basket?
>> Generalizations of the type "some studies have shown" (loc 432). Which studies, by whom? Or 'Mothers have been known to lift vehicles weighing a ton off their children." (details needed or it sounds like charlatanism) are not good for any serious author.
>> The book is full of generalizations about how the subconscious, childhood conditioning and behavior patterns show in life.
>> There is nothing like listening to a meditation by the author who created it. Personally, I love having the meditation recorded so that I can listen to it and connect with the author. Yet, there is only the written text and the advice of recording the med yourself.
>>
The digital cover has lovely color palette, but
there isn't enough contrast between the background and the lettering to be readable.
>> The Kindle edition is poor. See below.
(BAD) KINDLE EDITION
I hope the issues I mention below (and those I haven't noticed) are corrected, because it takes little effort to do that. The Kindle book is sold a standard price, but it feels like a rushed draft. Herewith some of the issues I've found:
>>> The Index of Contents is minimal. Only the major sections of the book are listed but not the chapters or major subsections. What is worse, the Workbook is not mentioned in the index, but it is in the book, so you'll need to bookmark the workbook and its subsections to get there.
>>> Too many examples of poor edition and transcription, which are painful to see and make reading unnecessarily unpleasant. Some examples below:
-- "after the after the Epilogue", locs 245, 338, 384 (after the Epilogue).
-- "The more you “know” the more the mine wants to reason", loc 642 (mind).
-- "What higher power or higher parts of your own being.Do you want in your sacred space with you?", loc 314 (An interrogation mark would have been more appropriate after 'being' not just after the latter question.)
-- "Celebrate the successes and victories. Acknowledge and mourn the losses and allow the energy of disappointment to become the energy of faith and transformation. And always on the journey", loc 327.(It reads badly).
-- "Though you haven’t yet fully realise their significance to your New Reality", loc. 362 (realised).
-- "Heading The Fifth Element Making Space", loc. 395 (in bold as the other headings)
-- "Uses energy positively by expanding your Circle", loc. 772 (Use energy)
-- "Write without pausing so that you don’t have time to “think” or “reason” loc. 642 (Many examples of overuse/misuse of quotation marks throughout the book).
-- "2. ave each person silently", loc. 822 (Have)
-- "I no longer have to-I simply have to be", loc, 1238 (period intended?)
-- "I may-instead of berating myself-bless each bite of food" loc. 1238 (long dashes needed plus a space of separation with each one)
Day, Laura. The Circle: How the Power of a Single Wish Can Change Your Life (Practical Intuition Book 1) . Laura Day. Kindle Edition.
>>> The exercises mentioned before getting to the workbook have no special formatting or indentation, so they aren't distinguishable from the rest of the body of the text. That's just poor editing. It would have been really nice to have them showcases in in a box or indented in, or the "Enter the Circle' in bold.
>>> In the workbook, the daily exercises start with a section title, but the weekly ones have the title missing.
>>> Some of the exercises in the workbook are a repetition of those mentioned in the book, and some of the daily and weekly ones are almost identical.
>> Affirmations are way too verbose to be powerful and directional.
Laura, please, change editor :) Or correct the current digital edition so it reads a bit better. Or decrease the price of the book.
Originally published in 2006, Welcome to Your Crisis is a practical book to face your live crises, or the crisis you are facing right now, and to get the good out of it not only successfully but reborn: stronger, wiser, healthier, and more "you" than ever before. Crisis is presented as a cathartic catalyst for positive transformation. The point of departure of Laura Day is that life is full of crises, so we better learn how to navigate them successfully, as that is what separates people who strive in life and those who succumb.
Laura explicitly says that some aspects of her "methodology" are corroborated by the work of others: Hans Selye in the field of Stress, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in the field of Optimal Human Functioning and sociologist Charles Fritz in the field of Human Behaviour during disasters. However, much of the advice she gives can be also related to Jungian Psychoanalysis, Positive Thinking, Behavioural Psychology and old literature on the Subconscious. If you are familiar with those, you might find some of the things Laura Day mentions in her book, a déjà-vue.
Basic Nuggets
~~ Your current crisis might be the best thing it has happening to you, even though you don't see it know, because it will certainly make you grow, get you closer to your true self, and even change your life for the best, or just make you grow. Your crisis could be a blessing in disguise.
~~ Life is full of lessons, and you learn many of them when you are in crisis.
~~ Crisis is our way of evolving when we lack the courage to do so on our own volition.
~~ First thing to overcome a crisis is to recognise that you have one.
~~ What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
~~ Our response to any change is within our control.
~~ Identical responses produce identical results, if you want to change your results you change your responses. New problems require new tools, new attitudes and responses.
~~ I you play victim, you cannot do anything.
~~ No action is a conscious action.
~~ Look forward not to the past. Don't munch on what you cannot change, just of what you can and want to change, focus on your present and future.
~~ Regroup your energy and focus on what you want, not on what/who you don't want, hate or despise.
~~ Attention goes to what you focus on.
~~ To Change Your World, Change Yourself
~~ Crisis is transformation delayed.
~~ Once you commit to your crisis, you commit to its resolution.
Things I Liked
~ The book has an absence of New Age spirituality mumbo-jumbo that I find very refreshing! Good for people of all religions or without religion.
~~ Day re-frames crisis, gives it a positive halo, and sheds light on it, so that we can overcome it. Every cloud has a silver lining:
"Crisis is the challenge and the opportunity to uncover what we value, rediscover what we need, redefine what gives us pleasure, re-create a meaningful life, and reconfigure the inner workings of self. Crisis forces us to reach deep within ourselves, where we can discover treasured, powerful, forgotten parts of us that we hid long ago, even from ourselves. The lives we can create once we open this treasure chest of being exceed not only our expectations but also our imagination." (locs. 173-176)
~~ Her insistence on focusing on the present, which pervades the book, is really helpful. You need to be present not to get lost in the past or the future, need to be present to acknowledge and honour your feelings, need to be present not get ruminating in your head and your blood boiling after what you did or was done to you. Focusing on the very now gives you the perfect frame of mind to go through the basics you need to take care of for your life to function.
~~ Throughout the book, Day insists on asking ourselves "Who Am I?" Not a new question or exercise, but especially relevant in moments of crisis, because when we are in crisis our sense of self is also in crisis, even threatened. We need to look inside and see the "who" in the "I", and discover and uncover what lies beneath the "self" that is defined by profession, gender, marital status, race, nationality, age and religion. The rescue of the primitive or real self, your inner golden "I", is what we should be looking for in a crisis, so that we can bring it out and make it more fully present, honour it, and follow its path. I found the consideration of the "I" as an ecosystem or a "community" really true, and something that deeply resonates with me.
~~ I found chapter 8 on the personal mythology one of the most helpful to me. You can find your personal mythology in what you tell about yourself, how others see you, how you were seen when you were a child, and the family history that your family handed over to you. This mythology hides an internal process that we believe keeps us safe, a core fear and a core desire. If we are in crisis our myth is not working and needs to be changed so that the core desire is placed at the top of our myth and is not buried by it
You are not your story. In fact your story is inaccurate, subjective, and— unless it is helping you achieve— superfluous. You are your choices. Your story does not dictate your life— your choices do. (loc. 1725-1728).
~~ Laura doesn't think that her tools make miracles, but is sure that they help us without a doubt. She even says that we don't need to believe that something works, because when things work they do work disregarding whether we believe it or not. I think that sort of comment is very good for sceptics. The message is, give it a try and see what happens, don't take my word for granted, experience it.
~~ I especially liked Day's reflection on rumination ("the mind voyage of woulda, shoulda, coulda, what if, and if only.") Laura advises different things and exercises to face the present and the future and not to linger in the past. Most of the advice resonates with me and found it very useful.
~~ There are many exercises in the book, but some of my favourites are The superhero, Packing your Trunk, Consulting our Inner Guide, and Attracting Your future. Your certainly might be others as your favourite.
Things that didn't Resonate with Me
~~ Day says the same, with different words, quite often. Basically, it sums up as: your crisis might be the best thing that ever happened to you as something good or better will come out of it.
~~ Days classifies people in four main types based on four main knee-jerk sort of reactions to crisis: anxiety type, denial type, rage type and depression type. Generally speaking, there is true in which she says and advises, but these four types are very simplistic! People don't react always the same, as reactions depend not only on our character and temperament, but also on our circumstances, level of maturity and inner growth. In my personal experience, crisis elicits different and multiple reactions in the same people. If a love one dies I might get depressed, but that doesn't mean I am depressive. If am unfairly dismissed by my employer, I might get a mix of rage, anxiety and depression all together or in a succession of emotional stages, and the same but in different order after a break-up. We cannot be described by our reactions unless we react always in the same way. I think if we are part of a type, the type has to be more flexible and elaborated taking more variables into account. I like the Jungian type system best. Much of the advice Day gives relates to this type classification so, unfortunately, the advice is also simplistic and not always helpful.
~~ There are basic strong differences in the ways introverts and extroverts deal with life, success and crisis. Laura Day confesses that she's an introvert, but then she gives many items of advice that involve calling your many friends, joining groups, being social, having people over. Really, introverts don't have a liking for groups, meetings or for relating to several people at the same time. Most introverts have a very small number of very close friends and they relate to them individually. Personally, dealing with my personal stuff with a group of people would be excruciating, no matter how lovely my friends are! Having any sort of gathering at home that involves more than two people would be something stressful and non-enjoyable. Joining a group that supports people in my circumstances can be helpful, but it demands a lot of mental and emotional effort from an introvert to join any group because groups per se don't ever resonate with most introverts.
~~ At times, Laura recommend asking a good friend to define or describe us. Of course, the support and advice of your friends is important, but asking our friends to define us might not be that wise! People's projections are always there, and a friend might define me according to his/her own projections. Besides, some friends will never be able to tell us the truth just because they want to protect us, or don't have the guts to be fully honest with us, or because they care very much about the relationship and don't want to put it in jeopardy by something they say. I think that getting to know our shadow, getting to know ourselves, BS free of course, will give us better answers than most friends would. For example, not long ago, when talking to a dear friend, I mentioned about my being an introvert, and he laughed and commented sarcastically, "yes sure, soooo introvert." Well, I am an introvert by the book, unless you don't want to see that. He can't see it because he projects his extroversion and being extra-social onto me because in the past I have socialised with him. Why would I ask him to describe me if he doesn't even get the most obvious essential thing about me and has known me for years?! Also, I don't want to be defined by what other people think I am! If you want, go ahead!
~~ Laura Day reminds us of the many crisis we have survived and we are still here and that the same will happen to us right now. Well, that is a psychological cognitive bias she is applying. Optimism bias?
I Agree, Somewhat
Day says that the three "Rs" (rumination, recrimination, and retribution) divert our attention from where it should be, the present and future, not the past, and divert our energy from the centre, our centre. I agree with that totally. The solutions Day offers to overcome the 3 Rs are the 3 Fs (Forgetfulness, forgiveness and Faith-Fullness). However, I don't agree with Day that we need to forgive, forget or to forget vendetta to move on. We can move on without doing that. Said differently, unless you are obsessed about somebody or something, and these obsessions are consuming you inside, you just need to move on.
Re forgiveness, we don't need to forgive anybody to move on. We need to focus on our life, on moving forward, on surrounding ourselves with the right people, ob doing things that make us happy, in extricating ourselves from the source of pain if possible, on limiting or severing contact with the source of pain if possible, move away, take a holiday, change city, change suburb, change flatmates, change jobs, whatever we need to do to start afresh. When our thoughts fill up with the painful memory, we need to think about other things or people, make a conscious decision to replace those painful thoughts with others that fill our heart. If we do that, constantly, we will eventually come to surprise ourselves, and think quite neutrally about those who harmed us. That also requires time, and cannot be done by magic. I do believe that forgiveness is something that people should earn, not a free gift we have to distribute to jerks who used, abused and harmed us despite being fully aware of their actions. Otherwise, I don't see the problem. We are all human. We can understand that somebody harmed us unwillingly. But too often, the harm is willingly inflicted.
Against recrimination ("
the desire to be made whole by the act of a just outcome"), I agree that in the heat and proximity of the event, you are less rational, less fair, and you can do more harm to yourself. Day says:
be aware of the reality that you will cause yourself far more harm than you will inflict on another when you seek retribution in the heat of the moment.(loc. 1530-1531)
I agree that vendetta is best served in a cold plate, but of course I want vendetta. I want the Universe to punish those people who did harm to me on purpose, who were aware of the damage they were causing, that were conscious of their actions inflicting harm, those who used or abused me or those who showed a complete lack of ethical behaviour but preached high morals. I will be celebrating their fall, Martini in hand. I don't obsess about this, I just hope to see the boomerang effect effectuated before I die. They idea of the Universe punishing them makes me move on faster, believe it or not. I don't feel the urge to kill anybody, I feel the urge of the Universe to do the job for me.
Things I Missed
~~ Laura Day is a brilliant intuitive. This being the case, I was expecting some specific exercises or information on how intuition can help us specifically in our crisis. She mentions many times that intuition is a guidance when we are in crisis. Well, why not giving specific information about how to access intuition when we are in crisis and blocked?
~~ Although I liked the book and what Day says, and some of the tools she gives, I missed a bit of a more structure and cohesive system. For example, once we have read the book and do the exercises, do we do them again? for how long should we do the exercises? A year, every week, every day? In which order? Can we do some of them and not others? In the order they are mentioned in the book or in another? All of them or just those we like? That sort of very simple but practical info was missing most of the time
Rendering for Kindle
The book is quite well edited, with barely any typo. Something I never take for granted in Kindle! So, that is always a big thumbs up from me. However, the index of chapters in the side menu and at the beginning of the book has not titles, just numbers. I mean, how difficult and how much work would have taken the editor to link the title of the chapter with the number of the chapter? Little!
In Short
This is good overall lift-me up sort of book, well written, with some exercises to stop, ponder and seld-answer. This is a general book on crisis, so if you are going through serious illness, a nasty divorce, the death of a love one, bankruptcy or job severance, I would personally be looking for specific books on those subjects. Although Day is well known for her work on intuition, and intuition is
mentioned repeatedly in this work, the aim of the book is not to develop
intuition, but how to face your crisis using your
intuition. If you want to develop your intuition you need to check
other books by Laura Day, not this one.
To me, the best part of the book are the last three or four chapters, as they offer, perhaps, the advice, exercises and introspection that resonated most with me. It could be differently for any other person, of course.
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