Teo Degas' Books & Decks

This review is about the audio-book version of First Things First, which is a little over 1 hour long, narrated by the author himself. This is a perfect book to listen while commuting, travelling or just doing your daily chores. Covey's reading is energetic, engaging, well paced and really clear to understand and absorb. This is a perfect companion to the book, but it is an abridged version, so be aware of that.

Despite its age, First Things First Book reminds the reader of important things that will make your work and personal life better and more successful. This success is not based on flashy things but on getting balance in your life. The pillars of Covey's philosophy are the 4 Ls: Living (taking care of your basic needs), Loving (taking care of your human relationships), learning (learning and improving yourself) and legacy (your contribution to Society and our fellow humans). Other Covey's nuggets of wisdom to improve your productivity and performance are:

= Leadership over management

= compass over timing

= Importancy over urgency

= Weekly tasking and planning over daily

= Goal Setting

Virtues that are embedded in this system are:

+ Flexibility

+ Discipline

+ Integrity

+ Meaning seeking

+ Synergy

+ Having a Vision of Future

+ Constant learning, evaluation and readjustments if necessary

What I love about the book is that this is a system to improve your life as a whole, not just your business or work performance. The audio-book goes right to the point. There are some examples taken from real life used to illustrate Covey's points, but these are relevant and not too many or bulky in any way.

I've listened to Dream Gates in Audible format as the book is not available in Kindle format and I rarely buy hard copy books or CD books.

A good simplified version of Moss' Conscious Dreaming,  this book focuses on dreamwork, synchronicity (or mindful coincidence) and Active Imagination (Visualization).

Don't judge a book by its cover. This is a terrific book, very practical and very profound, on how to tackle the always fascinating task of finding the meaning of your dreams and doing something with the advice embedded in them. Although the author does not deny the importance of symbol interpretation, this book focuses on theme exploration.

The book is like a breath of fresh air for people with vivid dreams, like me, with many symbols in them. It can take you hours to go just through all of them, and there is no warranty that anything will click for you or that you will have an aha moment. Focusing on themes, instead, makes the task more manageable. Moreover, the system can be used to complement other approaches to dream interpretation. I love the fact that the author relies on this book not only on his own approach on dream interpretation, which is based in his long experience in dream interpretation and with dream groups, but also on the works of several dream experts that have different takings on the matter.

The system is easy to learn, memorize and put into practice, Follow the TTAQ technique = Title, Theme, Affect (emotions/feelings), Question (that the dream is asking you). The author tells you the how to find the theme of you dream, how to relate it to the 12-box related Theme Matrix, and to use it to dig in in the meaning of your dreams and the message they are sending to your conscious mind. The matrix is not only used to find your theme, but to help you to make questions about the theme, and how they relate to different stages in life. It takes a while to get used to get the theme of your dream right, but once you get there, the Matrix will be very helpful.

I also loved the part of honoring your dream using the matrix, as well as the appendix on the symbolism of number Twelve, which is fascinating

I've read the book in my Kindle, and the Matrix tables are impossible to read without a magnifying glass, which is a pain especially for people with poor sight, as the tables cannot be resized or the font increased. Therefore, they are useless. I have also Kindle in my PC, and I've tried to copy and paste the tables to print them and have them at hand, but Kindle doesn't allow you to do that. So this is a big bummer!

Re the downsides of the book, well, the cover is just dreadful, boring and doesn't make any favor to the book. Secondly, some of the progressive examples are too long, and I would shorten them, leaving just the headings of the previous parts and developing the part explained. I would try to fix the tables problem for Kindle, perhaps have them developed in plain text in another appendix.

This is the sort of book that you would want to have in hard copy, because it is quite cheap and also quite useful, and you will underline it and have it as a manual at hand. I have read a few books on dream Interpretation, and this is one of my favourite ones. That is a lot to say!

This review is for the audible version of the book.

This is a good companion to Ruiz's Four Agreements, and digs further into the Toltec philosophy of life and their idea of spiritual awakening form our dreaming life - a life based on false perceptions and tons of lies.

The book basically calls for you being present, for becoming attuned to your own "being" and feelings not to your mind and thoughts. Ruiz advocates for forgetting all the negative chatter that is driving our lives, and to focus more on our hearts and feelings and less in our head and thoughts.

The basic idea of the book is that our mind is full of lies about who we are, we are not, and about who other people are. Our mind is biased by our social and cultural background, too. Our lies makes us judge ourselves and others, and create stories that are mere fantasies affecting our lives... for the worst. If we accept that we can only access our on perception and we are the creators of our own story and that everybody does the same, we can find a better way of not judging, or seeing the divine in everybody, and not getting triggered by somebody else lies and stories.

In this book, Don Miguel Ruiz mentions many of his personal experiences in his transformation from surgeon/doctor to Toltec master, not just somebody preaching a way of living or philosophy.

I agree with some of the other reviewers on the fact that the book is a bit loopy and that it should be more concise. In fact, the book can be easily summarized and re-read by going directly to the end of each chapter, to the section "Points to Ponder", where the gist of each chapter is succinctly and clearly presented minus the over-talking.

This is a great book that will bring lots of peace to your mind.

I am a fan of Robert A. Johnson's work and writing, but this book feels like unfinished stuff, a hurried work, and lacks the practicality, depth, and polish of other of his books. This is not a book either, is more a booklet or essay.

The booklet feels a bit lousy and way below Johnson's talent and knowledge and I would read this book once you get a better idea what the concept of Jungian shadow is from other book. Then, this book will make sense and will be a nice addition.

This is one of the best books on dreamwork I have ever read, and I have read a few. The book is not only informative but also well structured, well written, and very didactic and engaging. This book is based on Jungian Psychology and, therefore, it does discuss a a few things about the matter, but does not enter in the different schools of dream interpretation. If you are into Jungian psychoanalysis this book is for you.

If you are into dream interpretation and want to start with simple steps to decode your dreams, this is your book. It offers sound advice on who to interpret your dreams, which elements you should pay attention to, how to pose questions to your dreams, techniques to remember your dreams or make questions to your unconscious, and even advice on how to organize a dream workshop group.

The book is written in a very simple language, very entertaining, easy to read and understand, and truly helpful to explain your dreams to yourself or to your friends and family. It contains many examples of dreams and how to apply the techniques the author explains.

Some of the advice and steps give for dream interpretation are:

1/ Record your dreams using the present tense and simple language, mentioning your feelings in the dream.

2/ Underline or note action metaphors, exaggerated feelings and symbols.

3/ Generate a description asking what does this remind you in your waking life.

The five step method consists of:

1/ Check your first impression of the dream

2/ Note the action metaphors the dream has.

3/ Notice your feelings during the dream

4/ Notice the symbols, including characters and setting

5/ Look for the gift within the dream

The major flaws of the book are the chapter on symbols, which is quite simple and schematic, and leaves the reader wanting for more in a subject that needs of more depth and length, and the chapter on how to make a dream journal, which contains very obvious information.

Great for beginners.

True Balance is a beautiful book to use as a first approach for beginners to the Chakra system. The chakras are seven energy points that contribute to our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being.

Choquette's language is very clear, direct and chatty. Like in other of her books, she uses her own life and her customers' experiences to give examples and illustrate her points. The book has an inquisitive but playful tone, and it will certainly help you improve your life even if you don't believe in the existence of chakras. That is a lot to say.

Each Chapter is devoted to the discussion at length of each chakra: its function, the qualities it relates to, signs that the chakra is balanced, the symptoms of any imbalance (and different degrees of it). Choquette also poses the reader many questions to self-evaluate oneself and determine whether our chakra is in a good shape or not. She also gives many tips, exercises and practices to balance each individual chakras no matter its state.

The book is very practical, more energetic than spiritual, and certainly less religious than others by Choquette (the religious part is mostly devoted to the chapter on the Crown Chakra. Choquette poses many questions for thought to improve your self-knowledge and promote your physical and inner growth, and the correction of any imbalance.

The main thing your will learn is that being human is also being imperfect, that nobody but a few humans on the planet are completely balanced, and that balance is something you work on every day. Accepting our flaws without judgement, and working on your energy system will create a more fulfilling life and let us flow.