Life Unlocked: 7 Revolutionary Lessons to Overcome Fear Paperback – August 30, 2011

Dr. Pillay's book is certainly among the two or three finest self-help books I have ever read, if not the very best. In fact, to label it a self-help book is somewhat inaccurate because it certainly transcends the genre and far exceeds run of the mill, substance-less (or even wacked-out) self-help publications. Yet at the same time, it can help you to help yourself, so in my estimation it is "self-help" at its very best.It is filled with insights about the brain, its unconscious tendencies toward fear, and how to overcome excessive fears and traumas that may unwittingly be sabotaging your best intentions and efforts to live a successful personal and professional life. LIFE UNLOCKED is extremely well written, and the author uses an abundance of wonderful metaphors to help those of us who don't know much or anything about the brain gain a better understanding of the cogent points he makes.The only suggestion I have for improvement, and I hope the publishers will give serious consideration to this, is to include a glossary for the paperback edition. Doing so would be especially helpful for readers who have not read any literature about the brain as well as for readers like myself who have had some exposure to brain terminology but not enough to readily recall that PFC refers to prefrontal cortex, ACC means anterior cingulate cortex, LTP stand for long-term potentiation, GAD refers to generalized anxiety disorder, and so on. It would be helpful to have other terms as well that Pillay uses included in the glossary for quick review or reference.But please know that this book is written very clearly with practical, doable applications, so don't let any of the terms mentioned above dissuade you from purchasing this book. I found the MAP suggestions at the end of each chapter to be most helpful and look forward to applying them. (MAP stand for Meditation, Attention, and Psychological tools.)One more comment before wrapping this up. Early on in the book I thought that the author was including too many examples of wealthy people in his anecdotes, but as I continued to read, he, thankfully, shared stories of people who seemed to be of more average means.Finally, I invite those who are considering the merits of this book to simply read Amazon's Look Inside. You will quickly gain a feel for the writer's easy reading writing style. The book is not a hard read, but because it contains so much information--and helpful information at that--it will likely warrant a second read, at least of the chapters that speak most pertinently to individual reader's needs and interests.

I sincerely believe that the most secure prisons are those we construct for ourselves, and fear is the chief material we use to build those walls. That's why I decided to read "Life Unlocked" by Srinivasan Pillay. He uses the latest brain imaging studies in neuroscience, psychoanalytic thinking, and a touch of Buddhist philosophy to help us identify conscious and unconscious fears and how to overcome them. Pillay states that our decision making involves a combination of thinking and feeling. We usually get the thinking part right, but it's the feeling side that gets us in trouble, causing us to make less than perfect choices in our lives. And it's fear that usually gets in the way. He says you can challenge fear by enhancing other positive emotional states, thereby changing your life significantly . Two strong emotions cannot exist at the same volume at the same time in your brain. And hope is the best antidote to fear. Hope focuses on the possibility of achieving. Fear and doubt focuses on the impossibility. To put it simply, pessimism achieves nothing, optimism conquers everything, and we have a choice in the matter. Pillay offers many solutions in the form of an approach he calls MAP-CHANGE: meditation, attentional interventions, and psychological tools derived from the science of fear. Meditation offers three therapeutic gains: insight into repetitive, self-defeating patterns of behavior; desensitization of painful thoughts; and conditioning of the central nervous system. Attentional interventions can train the circuits in your brain to focus on something more important than fear by simply not focusing on negative thoughts. And an example of a psychological tool that he recommends is making a list of things to be thankful for periodically (AA's gratitude list) as a way of forcing your brain to turn off negative currents. If you want to live a happier and more fulfilling life, give "Life Unlocked" a chance. It provided deeper insights into my own fear-based thinking, and helped bring some of my own unconscious fears to the surface so that I can deal with them better with the tools he has provided. But I have to admit that I chose to read "Life Unlocked" because I liked the title, because my life certainly needs to be unlocked in more ways than one.David Allan ReevesAuthor of "Running Away From Me"

I've listened to Srini Pillay on a few podcasts and I love how clearly and eloquently he speaks about hope and the ability to transform our lives, so when I heard about his book I immediately bought it. It really transformed my view of fear and helped me overcome many of my own fears and anxieties! Dr. Pillay truly gets down to the nitty-gritty science of fear and helps you understand what is going on in the human brain. He does include a lot of really excellent exercises to help you overcome your fears but I felt that there were so many and some were just too time consuming so I didn't have time to really do any of them, so if these exercises were more refined and straighforward I could give the book 5 stars. Also, I didn't give 5 stars because I really felt that sometimes the science of it got incredibly complex and made it hard to focus on the overall message Srini was trying to convey (for example, he often goes into great detail about the many different brain regions that interact and are affected by fear, thus I often got lost among the details instead of grasping the big picture). BUT just having read the book was powerful enough to really help me get a grip on my own fears....and start looking at the world through the lens of HOPE! =)Thank you Dr. Pillay! =)

highly recommend this book, it really helped my clients to become even better and to deal with trauma

it is easy to reead and it is easy to apply, read it you wont be disapointed but if you dont apply it you wont chane, easy.

Very Pleased

Perfect A +++

Well worth the money.