"Psychology talks about things that everyone knows, using words that nobody understands," was a favorite quotation from one of my favorite Psychology teachers. It does not apply to Joel Osteen's sermons, or his best-selling book.Much of what Joel Osteen discusses could be described as "Cookbook Psychology." He expresses himself in simple terms so that he is easily understood. He seems to be more interested in helping
people see their
lives and themselves in a fresher, more
positive way than he is in trying to impress people. Much of what Joel Osteen discusses in his book are obvious steps to living better lives, yet for many of us these are stumbling blocks. For example, the first step to living your best life now is to enlarge your vision. How can we hope to improve our lives if we can't see or imagine it happening, and begin to have faith that it can happen? And how can we make
good things happen in our lives if we don't believe we are capable or deserving of doing good things with our lives, and receiving a just reward for it?We also
need to nurture our minds and spirits with good thoughts. And it's impossible for us to
let new attitudes come into our lives if we cling to the old. We need to let the past go, and let old attitudes ideas, and even possessions that we don't need anymore flow out of our lives so that we have room and energy to receive the new.Even when we are doing all we can to be positive and live well we will still have problems and challenges. But we can find strength to overcome, and learn valuable lessons from the difficult times in our lives.One of the most important lessons we can learn in life is that what we send into the lives of others will come back into our own. If we send out good, positive acts of kindness, eventually people will respond to the goodness that flows from us.Ultimately, happiness is a choice. We are about as happy as we make up our minds to be, according to Abraham Lincoln. There is a great deal of truth in that statement. Some people are determined to be miserable, and want to spread it around. But we don't have to buy into that nonsense. We can choose for ourselves.Pastor Osteen uses real-life examples, many from his own life and family, to illustrate his points, as well as examples, teachings, and promises from the Bible. His writing is simple, and straightforward, and fun to read. This book really can help the people who read it with an open mind and heart to see new possibilities for themselves that they had never seen before.
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