From Booklist
Self-help books rarely tell us anything we don't already know, but sometimes they manage to restate the obvious in a way that is, well . . . helpful. So it is with actress Seymour's advice on making the most of change. It's hardly a new subject; in fact, the personal-growth industry has been living off change for years. Had any of us saved the handouts we've received from the last few "Change in the Workplace" seminars we've been forced to attend, it's very likely we could find most of Seymour's wise words buried in there somewhere: "Get comfortable in order to let go"; "Take an honest look at yourself"; "Adversity can produce great change." Sound familiar?
Fortunately, Seymour proves a more engaging counselor than your garden-variety business consultant. She builds her commonsensical advice into a sort of autobiography, which she supplements with anecdotes about how her friends grew from their travails.
Throughout, she maintains a chatty, comfortable tone that draws readers into the story and makes the advice seem less prefabricated. Seymour has had plenty of opportunity to test her commitment to change, and her fans will be most interested in hearing the details behind the actress' divorces, financial setbacks, and near-death encounters, including complications during the birth of twins when she was 45.
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From The Critics
Publisher's Weekly
Readers know Seymour best as the beautiful TV star of Dr. Quinn, but the actor, nee Joyce Frankenberg, is also a painter and devotee of all things self-help. Thus, this straightforward, simplistic book is Seymour's contribution to the personal growth genre.
Full of spiritual advice on how to cope with kids, marriage, divorce and illness, the book features such chapter headings as "Find Guidance in the Spiritual." Seymour underscores her central theme-be positive-by citing her own story and her mother's internment at a Japanese POW camp during WWII.
Seymour also includes vignettes of others who've triumphed over loss and adversity. Whether noting the tragic accident that crippled her longtime friend Christopher Reeve or sharing the travails of women who endure cancer or diabetes, Seymour trumpets the need for hope and optimism. As such, she shares, in a restrained way, her own disappointments in love, her friendships with ex-husbands and her determination to champion the blended family.
The Emmy Award winner believes we can choose to make the most of our circumstances, whatever they may be. She's candid about Hollywood rejections, but also about how she was often offered plum roles at particularly low points in her life. Not surprisingly, she's a big believer in leaving the past behind: "I think if you give it time and patience and leave yourself open to whatever the next experience... will be, you'll surprise yourself." ...
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information. |
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From the Publisher
Now fifty, Jane Seymour-the eternally beautiful star of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman and countless other television shows and films--is a living testament to the rewards of embracing midlife and its challenges eagerly and gracefully.
In Remarkable Changes, she leads the reader through the challenges of those years--from the physical changes that come with the territory to the emotional transformations that accompany this passage of life.
From understanding the three stages of change, to making every moment significant, she helps us find the true value in our life transitions, from marriage and divorce to career changes to milestones in the lives of our parents and children. Whether we initiate change in our life or it is thrust upon us by circumstances beyond our control, Jane shows that we should stop "dealing" with change and start actively incorporating it into our lives, using the hard-won wisdom we've all gained through the years.
Holding up as an example her own life and the lives of those closest to her, Seymour empowers us to accept life shifts and teaches us how to take even the toughest situations and turn them into strengthening tools.
She talks about her own experiences with divorce and remarriage, children and stepchildren, and her new twin boys, and she describes her indomitable mother's difficult years in a World War II prison camp in Indonesia. Her best friend faced her own challenges when learning to understand her son's mental illness, and another friend started a grief recovery organization when his wife and son were murdered.
We all need to face the beginnings and endings that make up our constantly changing lives. And this warm, inspiring book shows that we can all learn how to make each change remarkable.
From Terra Wellington's ' Balanced Living:
Remarkable Changes: Turning Life’s Challenges Into OpportunitiesMy next favorite is by Jane Seymour. Remarkable Changes (ReganBooks, May 2003, $24.95) came to my office door on the day I really needed it; I read it in one day and absolutely loved it.
The premise of the book is that we all experience change in life, with a lot of it not so friendly. Yet, change can be positive if we look at it with the right perspective and attitude.
Granted, the former Dr. Quinn has enough years on her (she’s in her 50s) to have some comforting hindsight. But her multi-dimensional insight makes a lot of sense and teaches you how to better deal with the ups and downs of life.
If you want to read a book that gives you true hope in adversity, a better understanding of the universe, or how to navigate life’s bumpy course, this is for you.
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