Minister, lecturer, and counselor Hugh Prather notes at the outset of this little book: "Problems assault us to the degree they preoccupy us. The key to release, rest, and inner freedom is not the elimination of all external difficulties. It is letting go of our patterns of reactions to those difficulties." The author of I Will Never Leave You and 13 other books believes that there are only three things we need to let go of — judging, controlling, and being right. These are the thorns in our psyche that cause suffering and make us ill at ease.
Many self-help writers have pinpointed these obstacles to our experience of wholeness but Prather also presents a very concrete 30-day program filled with exercises, down-to-earth suggestions, and spiritual practices. "A mind that learns to let go gradually returns to its inherent wholeness, happiness, and simplicity." Prather writes cogently about letting go of mental pollutants, emotional fixation, misery, prediction and control, relationship battles, and the ego mind.
The chapter on "Letting Go of Spiritual Specialness" is especially poignant. Here Prather writes: "It's ironic that individuals with strong spiritual beliefs often have larger egos, are more rigid, are more unconsciously judgmental, and are more uncomfortable to be around than people who have little interest in pursuing mystical, religious, or metaphysical teachings." That is why those of us on a spiritual path must be constantly vigilant to the ways in which ego tries to take credit for everything we do.
Prather delivers on the promise of his subtitle. This is indeed a "revolutionary 30 day program to cleanse your mind, lift your spirit, and replenish your soul."
