2012

I will forewarn you that this is a very depressing movie if I haven’t done so in the first paragraph. Movies (e.g. The Day After Tomorrow) of this nature are usually morbid and I won’t recommend watching it with very young kids. Teens may like it for the special visual effects.

The synopsis of the movie is that the government has prior knowledge of the situation and has already started building arks. The vexation s that there just isn’t enough space on the arks to accommodate everyone. How predictable it that! As a result, they have to decide who should be saved or if they should simply try their best to save everyone.

The disaster scenes are intertwined with narratives about the people caught in the crossfire of nature’s fury, and how each and every one fights for survival.

The movie leading character, John Cusack, is a science fiction author who relearns the meaning of family in the midst of the tragedies. Most part of the story revolves around Cusack’s character as we follow him and his family meeting people who are just as desperate to survive and join in their seemingly never-ending search to reach safety.

Not all of them survive, of course, but every death serves as a cardinal reminder of the goodness of humanity, and that hope does exist, even in the case of such massive disasters.

2012 is a fast-past movie with stunning visual effects. If you’re seeking thrills or curious to watch how the world comes to an end (not scientific accuracy per se in my honest opinion) should watch this movie.

If you’re looking for profound insights as to why Mayan was able track the alignment of our solar system with the center of the Milky Way, then you would be greatly disappointed. There are some good literatures on Mayan I would recommend such as The Mystery of 2012: Predictions, Prophecies, and Possibilities.

That said, I’m not an avid reader on this genre, I try to avoid reading too much about our suppose dark future. Our current global economic crisis and wars are enough to depress me to certain days, and to delve more is self-seeking into deeper despair.

Anyhow, I’m not sure if watching the DVD movie on a 42” TV would warren the same big screen and soundtrack effect of it in a cinema. For what it’s worth, it’s still a good entertainment when you have no date on a boring weekend.

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It isn’t all rehash or trash for that matter, but I sincerely think one has to be in a trance or semi-hypnotized or theta stage to be able to read through the whole book without questioning what they had just read. I believe it should be done in this way—read in beta and do the six-step process in theta not read and do in theta brainwave stage.

I’m not talking about being open-mindedness. For all I know, you can be as open as any open book but that doesn’t mean you allow junks to be thrown at you with open arms and mind.

As you begin to read on, assuming you’re in the beta stage—small brain as the author addresses many times throughout the whole book—you will slowly start to question the credibility of the author and her ability to believe what she “preaches” will work.

I was searching high and low for some concrete theories on how she came about this six-step process to prove myself wrong. Unfortunately there is none. The plan came as an epiphany when she was having a nervous breakdown. Yes, just like that! No mention of her taking any courses related to her teaching. She experimented on herself and it worked so the author decided to spread her knowledge and conducted courses base on that epiphany.

Three Things that The One Command Irks Me:

Repetition: I mentioned this many times before; I hate repetitive text/message. The one thing that she drilled so repeatedly is this one phrase:

I don’t know how I (any positive attribute or possession you’d like to acquire). I only know that I do now, and I am fulfilled.

And then I began to question if her six-step process is redundant since only 5 pages are dedicated to that script. By the way, the six-step process are: Ground, Align, Go to Theta, Command, Expand, and Receive with Gratitude.

Success Stories: I don’t understand why the need of many testimonials (success stories) spread between chapters. I don’t know about you, but when I find one tries too hard to convince or prove her six-step process work the less convinced I am.

Getting to the Theta Brainwave Stage: Anyone with a sound mind cannot possibly believe that walking on six pieces of paper with a partner reading her script can get you in a theta stage. Seriously?

Firstly, not many have the gift of reading texts in a meditating voice. If you have been listening to different guided meditations, you know that some just don’t have that soothing and relaxing voice. And these experts have been doing for a while, let alone laypeople like us can achieve that in two takes.

Secondly, to be in a theta stage without any help of listening any brainwave music or have some sort of meditation prior to it’s just impossible to attain. And the irony is that the author doesn’t provide any free MP3 download on her website to prep you into theta brainwave stage. She expects everyone can achieve that stage effortlessly base on her script.

I just ordered Theta Healing Brainwave to use with EFT Emotional Freedom Techniques Energy Tapping, and I’m going to give her six-step process another go. Until then I can’t fully convinced that her technique works.

For the price of $21, this just doesn’t worth it. Overall, I’ll give it 2 stars.

• A Happy Pocket Full of Money

Somehow, the more I tried to look pass this book on the
customers-who-bought-this-item-also-bought menu, the more it kept showing up even on books I was browsing that weren’t of any hinge of relatedness.

Out of irritation and curiosity, I clicked to check the book out. Upon closer look at the cover, I came to know that the author was the creative consultant on The Secret—mere mentioning of this book almost caused me to gag. I hate The Secret—the book and the DVD; just hate them. They are simply overhyped and overrated. There, I finally say it.

On with this book, A Happy Pocket Full of Money, a hefty price tag that is selling two and half times more than many other paperbacks in Amazon. And with almost all 5-stars ratings, I just couldn’t help but to get this book and investigate.

So, was this book worth my time and money? Here’s my take on what I like and dislike about this book.

What I like; on:

Content Delivery: With a doubt, the author’s insights on creating wealth, abundance, and joy are incredible. He uses many metaphors to illustrate how LOA works. They are current and realistic which make them easy to understand and relate to.

He begins the first few chapters on basic understanding of quantum physics, and then gradually moves onto the spiritual aspects of LOA.

One of my favorite takeaways of this book is this:

Desire and intend, and you shall always have it. Quest for the truth and knowledge, and you shall always know what you seek to know. There are no real boundaries to your growth, for you are more than welcome to experience any choices you make. But you must be certain that these statements are true, for if you believe they are not true or they are partially true or selectively true, that is exactly what you will get.

Especially the last sentence—partially or selectively true—it rings so true for me. Quite often when I moved pass my complete doubt on a particular quest/belief to partially doubt, the result I got from it was always partial or selective.

What irk me about this book are the:

Borders and Line Spacing: Talk about abundance, the author or the publisher certainly didn’t apply one of his “laws” when it comes to line and paragraph spacing and borders especially the right border which width measures only 0.312 inches.

It put tremendous strain on my eyes when reading a whole chunk of texts in one cramped page. Some paragraphs go as long as four-fifth of a page.

For the price of $29.99 for a 228-pages book, least they could do is to be generous with the line spacing. The content itself isn’t at all different to comprehend but I had to pause many times between pages; making it thrice as long for me to complete a book with the same amount of content.

Subliminal Message: It took me almost a quarter of the book before I could muffled the—I AM WEALTH. I AM ABUNDANCE. I AM JOY—subliminal message between paragraphs and quotes. To be honest, I don’t quite appreciate these subliminal messages. It looks like the author was trying to accomplish too many tasks at one go.

I’m no expert on subliminal messages, but to my understanding, they are meant to be, a lack of better word, “hidden” and not thrown at you so vividly and often in infrequent intervals.

With clamped text and subliminal messages scattered all over is enough to clutter your brain and most probably dampen your reading pleasure.

Repetitive Phrases: I read one of the reviews at Amazon, and this reviewer loved the repetitive phrases use so often in the book. I don’t about you but I certainly don’t.

Not all repetitive phrases in the book are in exact wording, some are rephrasing one idea into two or six ways. I understand why some like repetitive stuff because it takes a while for the message to drill it in. Here’s what I think about repetitive messages, nag. Remember how your mom’s constant nags that you completely not hearing her?

I agree with the author that repetition is powerful, but what good does it make if one doesn’t pause to reflect or implement them once received. For what it’s worth, repetitive messages are nothing but noise.

If the literature is of worthy read, I can always reread it many times and highlight those that deem to be useful for me. But for the first take, I’d like to get through the book without jumping through hoops.

So-called Teasers: I don’t mind one or two teasers spread across the book but having one or two in almost every chapter just drive me nuts. Most are towards the end of the chapter but some are midway into a chapter. What teasers am I talking about? Here are some excerpts randomly picked from the first 108 pages:

• All this will make more sense when you understand…
• The pieces of the puzzle will fall into place as you read on…
• As you will see throughout this book…
• It will make sense when…especially after reading…
• Some…will only become clear after you have read the whole of this book.
• This will get easier and clearer…
• You will know more about them in later chapters.

A couple of chapters, the author talks great length about being in the Now; as you see from the above excerpts, these are certainly not the Now talking. How can I be in the Now—enjoying what I’m reading now, when the author so often reminding me about what I will understand or learn in the next few chapters? Subconsciously, I’m anticipating and not able to fully appreciate what I’m doing Now. I’d rather be shown (when I get there), not told (before arriving).

Spelling Errors: I, too, am guilty of making some spelling errors on my blog posts and also notice them on some of my friends’. I tend to be more forgiving on blogs. But for books, it can be annoying when you know there is an in-house editor to do the nitty-giddy checking and editing; unless it is a self-published book. Fortunately those errors are very minimal.

Conclusion:

So, does this book, A Happy Pocket Full of Money, warren your time and money? Yes, it still does if you can overlook the first four points the irked me. But seriously, I would recommend this book to those who are new to LOA or those who haven’t fully comprehend how LOA works or those seasoned LOA practitioners who want different perspectives. Having said, I honestly can’t give a 5-stars rating like many Amazon’s reviewers did. The content only rates 4 and the overall presentation is a 2-stars for me.

Strangely, this book doesn’t dedicate a page on author’s biography or a short bio at the back of the book.

It may interest you to know that the author’s website literally screams Internet Marketing sales copy to me—the layout, bonuses, endless testimonies, and the standard IM web copywriting. I have nothing against IM but many of these products just look plain scrammy and unprofessional. Maybe it’s about time the author hire a good web copywriter and a web designer to redo and update (…offer ends Oct 25. Hmmm, what year?) his site if he wants to increase sales and be taken more seriously.

• The One Command