Invisible Acts of Power: Personal Choices that Create Miracles

by Caroline Myss

A spiritual guide by the author of Anatomy of the Spirit offers counsel on how to create personal energy and power in everyday life, discussing how to act as a channel for divine grace and commit non-random acts of kindness in order to promote one's spiritual and intuitive development. 150,000 first printing.

Genres: Spirituality, Self Help, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Psychology, Philosophy, Religion

269 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2004

About the author

Caroline Myss was born on December 2, 1952 in Chicago, and grew up with her parents, and two brothers, one elder and one younger, in the Melrose Park, Illinois neighbourhood near Chicago. Caroline was raised a Catholic, and attended the Mother Guerin High School, River Grove, Illinois, run by the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods. She completed her Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from the Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College in Indiana in 1974, and started her career in journalism in Chicago.

In the course of her career, she interviewed Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, M.D., the author of the famous book, On Death and Dying, which inspired her to pursue a Master's degree in theology from Mundelein College, Chicago, which she completed in 1979. She also claims to hold a Ph.D in "intuition and energy medicine", but the degree was granted by Greenwich University, a now-defunct correspondence school that was never accredited to deliver higher education awards by any recognized government accreditation authority.

She started giving medical intuitive readings in 1982 and co-founded a small New Age publishing company, Stillpoint Publishing in Walpole, New Hampshire, where she also worked as an editor in 1983, next she began consulting with holistic doctors, which in 1984, led to her extensive collaboration with Dr. Norman Shealy, an M.D. schooled at Harvard, and the founder of the American Holistic Medical Association, with whom she later co-authored, "Aids: Passageway to Transformation," in 1987, followed by "The Creation of Health: The Emotional, Psychological, and Spiritual Responses that Promote Health and Healing," in 1988. Deriving from her practice as a medical intuitive, she started writing books, in the field of energy medicine, and healing, all of which became New York Times Best Sellers.[18] Starting with Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing (1996), which overlapped seven Christian sacraments with seven Hindu chakras and the Kabbalah's Tree of Life to create a map of the human "energy anatomy"; this was followed by Why People Don't Heal and How They Can (1998), which explored the reasons people do not heal through her concept of "woundology." Her next book, Sacred Contracts: Awakening Your Divine Potential (2002) dealt with the issue of finding "Life Purpose," while describing Sacred Contracts as "a set of assignments that our soul had formed around before incarnation". She has since appeared on the The Oprah Winfrey Show numerous times.

By 2000, she discontinued doing private medical intuitive readings, and instead started teaching it, through her workshops, seminars, radio shows and guided tours. She tours internationally as a speaker on spirituality and mysticism, and lives in Oak Park, Illinois, near Chicago. In 2003, she started the Caroline Myss Educational Institute, with Wisdom University in San Francisco.

Her 2007 book, "Entering the Castle" draws upon the writings of Saint Teresa of Ávila, a 16th century Carmelite nun, who wrote her most important work, The Interior Castle, towards the end of her life.

Reviews

[Aleisha Zolman · Rating 5 out of 5]

i think you can read the summary somewhere else to get the context of this book. for me it is the timing of this book that has made it powerful for me. here is the clencher quote for me "perfoming an invisible act of service for themselves is immensely uncomfortable for many people who are used to caring physically for others...Many people sacrifice themselves for others, becoming exhausted, fatiqued, or ill before they will accept the need to take care of themselves and make choices that are personally lifesaving...Yet to evolve into spiritual maturity, you must become conscious and effective about who you are and what you need spiritually as well as physically. You must bring together your self-esteem and intuition in order to act from your power."

i have had a successful career caring for my siblings and parents. i have dedicated my life to their well being, their spirituality, their growth and safety. i think about every 41 of them every day! it is time to me to shift that ability towards the world. i know i am a powerful, kind, loving person...but i hide behind fear, aloofness and absence because i havent' managed how to effectively set boundaries/ be open to who and how often i perform "service" for the general population.

i am taking a re-boot year. i must eat well, exercise daily, love my average daily life:)

[Jme · Rating 4 out of 5]

Warning: do not read this book if you are not ready for transformation.
As Myss says, we all want guidance but are afraid of revelation.

This book will help you live differently. It will take you from living at your first, second, and third chakras and live "above the waist" in your fifth, sixth, and seventh chakras. The fourth will mediate.

It will absolutely wreck, revamp, or reaffirm your psycho-spiritual sense of Self and provide you with courage to let go of who you are so that you
can become what it is you might be, what it is the Universe may ask of you.
It will help you reflect on your own sacred contracts and on the wisdom of as above, so below. It brings the notion of service front and center
and challenges us to serve without ego.

An inspiring read.

[Kenjo707 · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book has been popular with a fair number of readers, but....???

I had the feeling that Ms Myss, after writing a number of successful self-help books, needed to publish another book quickly and chose a rather simplistic method for sourcing the content for it.

The formula seems to have been:

1) Publish a request on your website for fans to write to you about their experiences with grace and acts of kindness.

2) Take the material (1200 responses within six days) and weave it around chakra theory in any old way.

3) Throw in a good measure of quotes from, inter alia, the Bible, the Qur'an, Catholic saints and oriental sages.

4) Rush the manuscript to the publisher.

5) Sit back and wait for the royalties.

Finding out that she has a dubious Ph.D. from Greenwich University, a discredited degree mill, makes me further question the method and motives that produced this book.

However, it may fertilize the minds of some. And I'm sure it's better for the mind than watching television.

[Jeanette (Ms. Feisty) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually "scanned" a lot of this book because there are a lot of examples, and also because I don't tend to agree with some of Myss's premises. However, this book is useful to me because it reminded me that those small things we do, both for loved ones and for strangers, can be very important in ways we may never know.
This is sort of a book about "not-so-random acts of kindness."

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

every little thing you do does in fact matter, maybe not to you immediately, but possibly to somebody else known or unknown to you.  the ripple effect our actions or inactions have on others and ourselves is the crux of this book.  I really liked authors further explanation of "grace".  It matches what I already know from a religious/faith based perspective, but it would also make sense to those without that viewpoint.  How our actions and attitudes affect our inner health (mental, emotional, physical) is getting more press as the medical community delves into that correlation.Some of it a tiny bit hokey, about the eastern philosophies, but overall a very good read...really made me reflect on things done in past and perhaps how to better serve my community by giving/receiving grace more freely.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed it. I read it at a timely point in my life, and I think the most important takeaways for me are that what we do and think matters and that prayers are heard. She uniquely incorporates both Eastern and Western philosophical and religious traditions in a way that makes spiritual sense.

[Summer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book. It helps you look at the possibilites to help others out in their life and in your own. You feel good after you read it.

[Abuinchico]

Brings me back to whats good and real in the universe. I love to do things anonymously and sit back to watch the good deed without praise. It isn't about me. I love that.

[Alexandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

I vacillated between WTF and ooooh yeah I should learn about chakras the whole book.

[CeeJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really sweet book

[LizG · Rating 4 out of 5]

We could all use a little extra grace in our lives, don't you think?

What a great antidote to the idea that we are better, stronger, more, when we strive for "success" at the expense of those around us. Instead, there is power and soul in acts of compassion. We bring grace into our own lives when we listen and are compelled to act on our heart's advice to help others.

I gained insight in understanding how different kinds of acts of kindness align with different chakras. I had a friend once who used to make extra for holiday dinners, then pile up pie plates with the leftovers and take them out to street people. I used to admire that, but always felt awkward doing it myself. Nice to know that the giving that came naturally to her is just different than the ones that come to me.

The sections dealing with the first three chakras were most impactful. Oddly, the 4th one, Gifts of the Heart, seemed incompletely edited and a bit disjointed.

[Erwin Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Caroline Myss, who is an author and pioneer in energy medicine studies, explains how people can use their personal power in Invisible Acts of Power. Myss spells out how we can manage our spiritual energy, and improve lives by doing small acts of service. By doing these little deeds we’ll become channels of divine grace, and conduit of miracles. All these actions require are for us to be kind and generous to others.
We’ll also receive such gifts when we act compassionately without an agenda, or the expectations of being rewarded for our goodness. For its God who works invisibly through us. Amazingly we’ll then be able to move from the visible to the invisible realms. We accomplish these tasks by giving a friend a helping hand, through acts of prayer, and healing, to personal empowerment. These qualities are essential for our emotional, physical, and spiritual health.

[Isabel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I consider myself a student of Caroline Myss...an elder I admire, respect and look to for guidance. This book, of all of the Myss canon that I have read, missed the mark for me. Not in her thesis, which was a wonderful correlation of her intensive studies of energy, power and chakras... but in the feel that the extreme inclusion of letters from readers was just word filler to meet a contractual deadline. I've never like anecdotes in books and this book carried that to the maximum, perhaps 50% or more of the content. The questions on assessing your level of grace for each chakra are probably the best part of the book, and this book will stay on my shelf solely for the fact that i believe those reflective questions will continue to be useful to me.

[Susan Chow-Dukhan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Soe of the invisible acts of power are the power of love, kind words, kind thoughts and a compassionate response. Caroline Myss explains the levels of powers through a comparison of the seven chakras. She uses examples that have been compiled from over twelve hundred stories compiled from readers and subscribers from her web site.
While the power of prayer and faith are a consistent theme in many of the stories, she does not overtly push religion as the impetus for helping others. We are encouraged to help others because of instinct, compassion and a feeling of what is right, not because of our religious beliefs. The receiptant of the acts of power may feel that help is an answer to their prayers, or just because people responded during a time of need.

[Don · Rating 5 out of 5]

red truck message, like energy, feel the grace next to others, to live bold, Theresa of Avila’s Interior Castle, as water flowing, nuns open others not, healing force to help others, John McDonough Irish poet, grace to save self changes you not others, field of grace with prayers, fair and greed and no grace, your charisma, go to field vs self violation of failing to go, do for others not self, to become invisible in prayer, pray your way into castle with trust, covered in grace, healing thru grace vs thru mind and tendencies to pride and arrogance, mind is feeble weak fails exercise stopping excessive behaviors, the grace to acknowledge truth, I am only light and cannot see body.

[Connie · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is a wonderful look at the power we each have to improve our lives and the lives of others by expressing a simple, ethereal grace to one another in various forms. Grace comes in the form of a smile, handshake, or an act of mercy. Either way, that small (or large)act can create an impact so huge that it becomes worth it to dig inside yourself to find balance so that you can be available to others. Caroline Myss does this through the journey of the chakras, and she does this well, leaving no one of any walk of life, out.

[Carol Jones-Campbell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a wonderful look at the power we each have to improve our lives and the lives of others by expressing a simple, ethereal grace to one another in various forms. Grace comes in the form of a smile, handshake, or an act of mercy. Either way, that small (or large)act can create an impact so huge that it becomes worth it to dig inside yourself to find balance so that you can be available to others. Caroline Myss does this through the journey of the chakras, and she does this well, leaving no one of any walk of life, out. Difference genre in my search for different ways to search.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. This book is an amazing tribute to service. She spends the entire lecture talking about different types of service (categorized into chakras) and how each type is important. The book is the result of what she learned after asking for people to tell her about a time someone served them. I feel so motivated to place extra emphasis on service. It is especially nice that she places so much emphasis on God and how we need to act in order to be close to Him.

[Lisa Solko · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book about Gratitude. Myss walks us through a project she completed collecting, reading, sorting, and learning from letters people sent to her about gratitude in their lives. The power of gratitude is obvious and Myss does a nice job of providing her overall view, which matches her other work as it relates to the seven chakras and archetypes. She also relays the specifics of some of the letters and explains how they exemplify the power of gratitude and grace.

[Elsie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very clear and sincere sharing on the Invisible Acts of Power. Really enjoyed the wisdom shared by Caroline Myss, within this book, and in many instances, was touched to tears by the stories told. In it, she also wrote about Synchronicity :The Quintessential Invisible Act of Power", and I for one, will always marvel at the wonders of synchronicity happening around me when least expected...

[Thankful Reader · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book did not resonate with me. I did write down a few quotes, but overall I felt the basis of the book was a bit of a stretch. Myss' approach to the chakra system was both confusing and overwhelming. Throughout the book she referred to the chakra system, but she was not consistent in her naming configuration. I might revisit this book at a later time.

[T J · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a easy and interesting read on grace and how it relates to our Chakras. I loved the stories and examples of how grace effected the people and freed them from the negative effects of life. I will be rereading this book to glean more and more insights to how life effects our chakras and how grace can and will remove old beliefs.

[Shamana Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great insights, but all too frequent Christian- or Catholic-based assumptions spoiled it for me.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is written a bit like a textbook, but there are definitely some inspiring stories tucked into each chapter. I didn't know anything about chakras prior to reading the book, but the themes are universal.

[Bonnie Ricica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carolyn Myss's insights into grace put it into words I could not find. I have often felt as if grace was all around me offering a path to enriched life with its guidance. Myss talks in a straight forward fashion how to access it. The guided mediations at the end are particularly good for me.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another wonderful book by one of my favorite inspirational writers. Myss walks through the spirit of giving via the 7 chakras and beautifully communicates how the smallest kindness can have a profound effect on another person and in turn, the universe.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listened to this as a live performance. Suggested to my relatively close minded husband to listen to as well. He really enjoyed it. The value in reading or listening to these types of books is that they change you, even if just a fiber of who you are, for the better.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I already listened to the CD, but it was nice to skim the book too.

[Jaime Grechika · Rating 4 out of 5]

a little slow so far...

[Margie Carpenter · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book to remind us that Grace is out there waiting for us all. The personal stories sent to Ms. Myss are inspirational.