The Gift of Our Compulsions: A Revolutionary Approach to Self-Acceptance and Healing

by Mary O'Malley

Book Overview

Everyone is compulsive to some degree. People may worry too much, work too hard, or overindulge in food or alcohol or drug use. Once a compulsion is admitted, the usual option is to try to control the behavior. But this effort typically ends with the problem compulsion returning, or a new one taking its place. In this book based on three decades of research, Mary O'Malley has crafted a new approach to healing compulsion, with simple exercises and...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1577314700
• ISBN13: 9781577314707
• Release Date: September 2004
• Publisher: New World Library
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.13 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Gentle observation

This book truly finds the words for inner turmoil that addictions compulsions create in our lives. The word that comes to my mind is "committment" and the ways we truly avoid engaging in life out of fear of being consumed ourselves. It's a paradigm shift that is meaningful for those that use the mind way too much and escalating self made prisons. If you want or need to understand on a deeper level the spiritual ramifications of self destructive behavior and how to heal them, please go here.

Trusting Oneself

If you want to find a compassionate and insightful way of reconnecting and trusting yourself, read this book and take it to heart! Mary O'Malley's invites us to recognize compulsions for what they are: a survival system asking us to pay attention to the here and now. I invite you to read it, so you too can begin to cultivate the healing power of attentive curiosity!

I recommend this book highly

We all engage in compulsive behaviors and have compulsive tendencies, whether we are aware of them or not. This amazing book teaches us that compulsions are not simply negative impulses to be controlled. In fact, they are our allies and protectors, helping us cope with life. Mary O'Malley helps us to acknowledge these allies, and to meet them with awareness, love, and acceptance. The concept that we treat ourselves unkindly by trying to control compulsions, and that the act of controlling actually hides the wisdom that compulsions impart, was striking to me. It is in meeting compulsions with awareness, curiosity and acceptance that we open up to what they have to teach us; and in this opening, they reveal to us our deepest needs. With down-to-earth examples, Mary shows us how to recognize and learn from our compulsions, and how to begin meeting our needs at the soul-level. As important as this book is for the individual, its message also applies to society as a whole. What would the world be like if we were able to recognize and learn from our common compulsions, and were able, at last to begin meeting our deepest needs as families, as neighborhoods, as cultures, as countries, as earth-partners? I am thankful for Mary's wisdom, and I hope to see more books from her in the future

A Compassionate Look at Compulsions

"I trust myself" are the first words in Chapter one of this book. I deeply wanted to be able to say the same for myself, but couldn't. This book is an ongoing journey, and it continues to help me look within and ask myself questions that lead me toward self-trust and self-compassion. The author's approach to healing compulsions, even the core compulsion of struggling, does not involve guilt or shame. Rather, it involves curiosity and self-acceptance. The author's personal story of dealing with compulsive behavior is compelling and a testament to the power of her teaching. The fact that Eckhart Tolle has endorsed this work is a definite "plus" for me.