BOOK REVIEW: 'MIND CHI', by Richard Israel & Vanda North

My good friend Dilip Mukerjea has recently passed on the foregoing book to me to read. He makes no comments, but just wants me to read it.

In essence, the book reads more like a self-help book about executing personal change & enhancing personal effectiveness.

In that respect, the 50 strategies over 8 areas as offered in the second half of the book probably form the greatest takeaways for readers, even though they are not ground-breaking, to say the least.

In fairness to the two authors, I can see there are some interesting insights embedded in the strategies.

Also, the 8 steps process in the book is generally workable. If you are already familiar with mindfulness & reframing training, then the process is actually no big deal.

In reality, I like to stick to the scientifically-proven FREEZE FRAME inner fitness systems which I had learned & practised since the mid-nineties from the fabulous Heartmath people. It takes only a minute to power-up, or change your perspective! Readers can check out their corporate website, which is a goldmine of pragmatic insights.

However, what irks me most is the apparent "entangled web" of so-called 'Mind Chi' derivatives or should I say "mumbo jumbo": meme, basic, program, action, maps, BEAT, vehicle, mentor, etc. Plus, the authors love to use a lot of fancy acronyms to jazz up their writing, with no value added to the overall work.

A good case in point: the authors mention bloom maps, flow maps, extendo maps, minimaps, multimaps, megamaps & fullmaps in the book. I don't see their relevance to the subject as the authors make no attempt to illustrate the intellectual relevancy. The maps would certaintly be great if they were used in the book, instead of just talking about them.

At times, I have also found the seemingly overwhelming use of colourful maps on opposite left-hand pages rather distracting.

To me, the deliberate dovetailing of proven change strategies from Ellis, Fritz, & others are just to throw in some legitimacy or credibility to the authors' synthesis in the book.

Also, in my view, I have this feeling that even the authors themselves are rather confused by the term "chi". At one point, they refer to it as "mental energy". At another point, they refer it as one's "inner voice" to serve as a guide. How can that be?

In the end analysis, I don't think the "chi" aspect has been addressed fairly & properly.

Maybe they just want to add in the esoteric aspects of Eastern philosophy to attract or "hookwink" more American readers.

Actually, the idea of "energy management" from the authors, which obviously forms the principal premise of their book, is not new.

It has already been established that performance excellence, happy disposition & good health are often grounded in the skillful management of energy at every level: physical, emotional, mental & spiritual.

As a matter of fact, to stay sane in a stressful world like ours, one needs to be physically energised, emotionally connected, mentally focused, & spiritually aligned.

I reckon, one of the earlier competent authors who have covered it, more professionally & systematically, is peak performance psychologist Jim Loehr. He wrote the classic book, 'The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, not Time is the Key to High Performance & Personal Renewal' (2004).

In fact, I am quite tempted to say that Richard Israel & Vanda North have, to a great extent, ripped off from Jim Loehr's book, because of the many similarities in approach to the subject.

Another annoying point is that their corporate website offers no useful information at all other than calling people to sign up as Mind Chi instructors.