Telling Yourself the Truth

Author K.M. Krenik reviews the book Telling Yourself the Truth by William Backus and Marie Chapian.

It has been many years since I read the book Telling Yourself the Truth for the first time. But since I'm now walking in the shoes of an author, goodness knows I have an increased empathy for other writers who devote their blood, sweat, and tears to the time-consuming tasks of research and crafting well-constructed sentences.

I also have a new appreciation for people who write reviews. In fact, I admit, for every five star review that was given and then written of my own books, I have nothing but sheer adoration for the writer, whether I know them or not.

That's why I've been taking extra time to write reviews of books I especially enjoy. I post my reviews on Goodreads, Amazon, Shepherd, Bookbub, Barnes and Noble, Book Siren, Booksprout. I have no idea why it only just dawned on me that I should be blogging these reviews to my own readers. So, here it goes. My first book review for the blog!

Goodreads Purchase Links

Here's an old one I pulled off the dusty shelves. As I recalled how life changing it was for me when I first read it over thirty years ago, I thought it was deserving of a review. I didn't have a website or even know how to write a review online back then. (I'm sure there was a way to do it, but I was not too tech savvy back in the day, you know. I was just beginning to get the hang of using Microsoft Word in those days.)

Perhaps my little shout out about it will help this treasure find its way to a reader who needs it most, as I once did.

When I was a teenager back in the 1980s, I missed a lot of high school due to depression and negative self-talk. Had I seen a therapist during that time, I might have been diagnosed and medicated for my condition. But I didn't see a therapist. I struggled through it, and somehow survived, although my school attendance record and grades revealed there was an underlying issue in my life.

It was in 1990, when I was twenty years old and attending community college, that I read Telling Yourself the Truth for the first time. I learned how to break old habits and thought patterns that eventually set me on course to be free from negative self-esteem and depression. All these years later, I can honestly claim that this book led me to discover new skills that helped me to live the rest of my days in victory over the negative voices in my head.

Some key points the book will reveal:

* Depression is an addictive emotion

* A person's thought process can be intentionally transformed

* Emotions will follow where the mind leads

* How to replace unhealthy thoughts with healthy ones

William Backus, PhD, founded the Center for Christian Psychological Services and was a licensed clinical psychologist and a minister. Marie Chapian is a Pullitzer Prize nominee and New York Times best-selling author.

As Christians, the authors bring their faith into the narrative and scripture is quoted throughout the book. In my opinion, whether a reader does or doesn't share the Christian perspective, if one has an open mind and sincerely desires to be free from depression and fear, the tools shared in this book could very well be used as the path of deliverance to help navigate the way out of darkness into the light.

The central focal point of Telling Yourself the Truth is that claiming to believe something will not change the pattern of the mind. Action is the only way to make real change happen and thought leads to action.