*EXPLORER!-G/L
Rod E. McConnell
2000
ISBN: 0968819907, 9780968819906
Self-Help
In the Bible, Matthew 19:19 says, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself".
It is a simple admonition, but one that is so hard to fulfill, since we cannot really love others until we love ourselves. And we cannot love ourselves until we know ourselves, and understand ourselves, and accept ourselves as God has made us.
Rod E. McConnell's *Explorer!-G/L is one way to know yourself, a self-exploration guide to help you discover what really makes you tick in order to better your relationships, lifestyle, love and communication.
Three years of hard work, interviews, sharing and interacting have gone into the creation of this CD that will no doubt improve the users life, loves and relationships, and the author has noted that some of the material is of an adult nature since parts of it deal with matters of an intimate nature. In addition to the self-exploration material, there are also photographs and music created by the author.
In addition to reading material, there are also various sections for recording one's responses to questions.
There are four basic sections-an introduction, as well as three modules named About You, Your Crises, and Relationships.
About You covers several areas including a comprehensive personal profile along with informative and inquisitive areas on creative, sexual, intimate, religious, aging and communication topics. Mentally, socially, sexually, physically, emotionally-you will get to know everything about yourself, and no doubt uncovers things about yourself that you either didn't know for sure, or forgot about, or deliberately buried in your subconscious. But discovering all this information will certainly help you to discover your inner self.
Your Crises covers areas of your life that have had, will have, and may have an effect on you-such things as addictions, death, emotional problems, sexual orientation, and health issues. Once you have identified these areas, again through myriad questions, you can create a program to help you understand and cope with, alleviate, and even overcome the problems. Be sure, however, that you are mentally and emotionally able to handle the memories and feelings that this section will evoke.
Lastly, Relationships deals with your interactions with other people and how they have affected you-families, friends, acquaintances, and lovers-and, again, a program can be created in order for you to learn how to deal with your relationships in a positive manner.
Understand, however, that this is not a get-better-quick program, and it is not just an answer-the-question-with-a-checkmark review. *Explorer!-G/L is an in-depth study of your character and personality, your emotional, spiritual and psychological makeup and that means you'll have to elaborate on some of the questions with more than just a sentence or two.
Also included on the CD is a guide to creating and maintaining good communication skills, an area in which so many people these days seem to be lacking, and the cause of many personal and social relationship problems.
For personal self-exploration, couple or group discussions, straight, gay or lesbian relationships, or even social gatherings, *Explorer!-G/L is a much-needed and effective tool to explore and evaluate your life.
(Book Review by Michael Woodhead, 2003)
