Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 150
EAN num: 9780099552413
ISBN number: 0099552418
Label: Arrow Books Ltd
Manufacturer: Arrow Books Ltd
Page Count: 288
Printing Date: May 04, 1995
Publishing house: Arrow Books Ltd
Sale Popularity Level: 6568949
Studio: Arrow Books Ltd
Other books you might be interested in perusing:
Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
A guide to transactional analysis. In non-technical language, it offers advice on gaining control of yourself, your relationships and your future, no matter what has happened in the past.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
-
I believe I found this book abandoned in a box on my street, or was given it, or possibly even paid a dollar for it at a used book store clearance sale.
However I got it, I wasn't expecting much: I had heard the title & assumed it was some coddling, outdated '70s feel-good hippie crap, to be perfectly honest.
Instead it is about the most useful "self help" book I've ever read by far, though I haven't read many of that genre... let's just say it is the most useful book I've read in quite a while, one that I actually understood & was inspired by &, even more amazing, find myself applying.
The gist is, we all have competing forces in us, except that instead of the Freudian Id, Ego & Superego (which I never felt too excited about), we have P-A-C, Parent, Adult, & Child.
Now I'm not sure, but I think this might be the origin of the irritating & irrelevant (to me, at least) concept of "getting in touch with your inner child," but the way this is presented in the book is anything but facile or condescending, & relevant to just about every human being I know.
We start off as a child, obviously, and this Child voice seeks instant gratification, & pleasure, it avoids pain, & it thinks it's the Center of the Universe.
As the child learns it can't have its way, as it is blocked in various ways, limited, as desires are denied, it creates the Parent, the Voice that Knows, knows when to punish, to withhold, to control, to prescribe, to explain, etc.
The idea is that most of us are existing as little more than those two forces fighting it out inside of us, moment to moment. The Parent that wants to be in charge & control & know it all, & the Child that wants to relax & indulge & have it his way, right away.
[Uh-oh, I'm going into this too deeply, losing reader's interest...]
In short, the Adult is the part in us that can consciously examine itself, ourselves, both the "mindless" hungers & fears of the Child, as well as the authoritarian, simplistic, inflexible & often archaic voice of the Parent. It can pick & choose &, in the moment, do what's best, what's really appropriate.
When reading this I noticed all sorts of things that harmonize with Buddhism, & realized at one point, after finishing the book & giving it a lot of thought, that the Parent-Adult-Child concept is more or less perfectly analogous to the Clinging-Mindfulness-Aversion concepts, respectively.
At very first it seemed a fusion, a synthesis of Buddhism & Western psychology, but now I just think that it contains ideas from both, & goes in its own unique direction with them... and goes far.
Hopefully I've not rambled too much. I think this book applies to every human being, describes all of our struggles, & gives some pretty decent answers to how we might better approach them. & that really says it all.
Rated by buyers 
-
This is a good book to have on your shelf. Had it years ago and wanted to have it at hand again.
Rated by buyers -
I read this books years ago and wanted to pass it on to a good friend who might gain by reading it.
Rated by buyers -
I've already read this book in my own language.
It is perfect for anybody with any ages
That's why I chose it as a gift for my dear cousin in English
Rated by buyers -
Learning about the critical parent and the nurturing parent were helpful concepts. The rest of the book was just OK.
Find other books like this one:
