Clarity & Connection (The Inward Trilogy)

This is one of my favorite books. Insightful, short reads that keep you wanting more. Highly recommend adding this to your book shelf to grab on days where you might need a little extra self love.

Great insight, easy to read.

Such a beautiful reminder of healing and levering to live yourself and others. I would highly recommend this easy and loving read.

This book is good for personal growth, I think it’s really helpful to see things in a different perspective

I loved reading this book. I finished it within two day and if I had more free time the first day I would have finished it then. The book encouraged me to write a list of the patterns and impulsive actions I contribute to my life. I appreciate the author for making a well rounded and self informative book. I would recommend this book to everyone I know

Great book to read and take notes. I’m glad I was turned on to Yung Pueblo. He’s a great author for the times we are living in today.

I have never encountered this author or his work before reading this book but was not surprised to learn, after finishing the book, that he began his thoughtful journey during a meditation course focused on the self. There is material on self-awareness, personal relationships, and society at large, but it all comes back to self.Life is trauma and recovery. Not trauma as we often think of it, perhaps, but the trauma of “jealousy, anger, doubt, and low self-worth.” And the recovery “is not about managing your emotions; it is about managing your reactions to your emotions” because “our reactions tell us what our mind has internalized from our past experiences.” And since each and every one of us has different experiences, everything starts with self. I can’t be in a healthy relationship at any level until I understand myself first.His vision of self is a very healthy one. He doesn’t promote participation awards. But he does suggest, rightly so, I think, that we “throw away the idea that you need to pause your life until you are fully healed.” Life is motion. “How many times have you been unable to fully enjoy a special moment because you couldn’t stop thinking about what was missing?”If you study Buddhism at all you will find a lot of familiar ground here although he only once, if my search worked correctly, mentions the word Buddha or Buddhism. That is very much to his credit, I think. Our language is not healing us at the moment, whatever language it is that you identify with. (And, yes, language does have both meaning and consequences.)There is a big emphasis on listening and what he refers to as “selfless listening.” As a consultant whose name I can’t recall once asked “Are you listening to respond [selfish] or to learn [selfless]?” (I paraphrase.) On a related note, however, he reminds us “not every thought is valuable.” (The old joke about not wanting to belong to any club that would have me as a member comes to mind.)It’s a good book and a very quick read. I read it in one sitting. I admire his studious avoidance of jargon and popular lingo although he lost his five stars toward the end when his prose started reading ever so slightly like a social manifesto. It’s a manifesto I agree with, for the most part, but manifestos of any stripe aren’t doing any of us much good at the moment.His perspective alone would have made a valuable contribution. He didn’t really need to tie it all up in a bow and it is a bow that will sadly turn some readers off.And I admit to sighing on almost the final page when he wrote, “fortunately, humanity is in the process of maturing. we are young, [his pen name means young people] but we are more open to learning, growing, and reorganizing our world than ever before. it is up to us to make compassion structural. [last sentence in italics]” (He uses no capitalization.)How I wish that were true, but I fear it isn’t. I do, however, think his compass is sound and points in the right direction. Life is motion. The key is to move ahead. And he is right when he asks and answers the question “which comes first—inner work or working to make the world a better place? the answer is that both can happen at the same time.”

I am currently in my "healing era" that I never knew could be possible and this along with the other two Inward trilogy books have helped so much. I love them.