It’s common for anyone to feel trapped or stuck by their inner commentator, habitual patterns of behavior, and the lessons they’ve learned throughout their lives. Everyone has regrets, with many trying to preserve strained relationships and other difficult parts of their lives. When faced with these hardships, it’s easy for self-worth and confidence to take a nosedive, causing many to wonder where they went wrong and to wish for a “do-over.”
ACE Your Life: Unleash Your Best Self and the Life You Want to Be Living offers another way. Michelle P. Maidenberg, Ph.D., MPH, LCSW-R, explains how to create a life and legacy of love (both of self and others) and fulfillment. Predicated on acceptance, compassion, and empowerment skills, Maidenberg’s approach has transformative range, working for those who feel slightly “stuck” and are seeking personal growth and enhancement as well as those with more complex “stuckness” caused by trauma, cumulative stress, or other significant challenges.
Each section of Ace Your Life walks the reader through definitions, benefits, barriers and includes curiosity-based mindfulness questions and exercises to promote growth, healing, and a path toward personal fulfillment. Individuals who want to enhance their life in a significant way and become their best self through the work and wisdom of personal growth will benefit from this encouraging, inspirational, and easily actionable guide.
Maidenberg’s ACE method was born from her professional work as a psychotherapist, and she draws on established theories to build the foundation of her advice, challenging readers to change their perspective on suffering while underlining the need to accept stressful situations and the pain that accompanies them instead of “resisting reality.” That first step is the beginning of healing, according to Maidenberg, and it will eventually blossom into self-compassion and empowered living —taking ownership of your life after mastering the emotional knowledge and skills necessary to make effective decisions. Stepping out of your comfort zone is key according to Maidenberg, who writes “We avoid or try to get rid of all discomforts, and that inherent pressure to be content often leads to overwhelming emotions, distress, and suffering.”
Readers who crave hands-on knowledge will find plenty to relish here, as Maidenberg offers an abundance of tools to put her teaching into practice: she provides helpful charts that teach thought replacement strategies, journaling exercises at the end of each chapter, self-guided growth exercises to understanding, and pressing reminders to take the time to practice the three Rs: reset, reconnect, and reinvest. Tech savvy readers will also appreciate the QR codes that link readers to guided meditations, relevant TED talks, and more.
Takeaway: A clear-eyed guide to what it takes to progress toward the life you want.
Great for fans of: Brayden James’s Change Your Mindset, Jennie Allen’s Get out of Your Head.
Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A
