Innately Good: Dispelling the Myth That You're Not

by Jan Denise

Do you feel plagued by embarrassment, shame, guilt, or jealousy?
Do you strive for something that will make you happy, yet never seem able to find it?
Do you fear that something is innately wrong with you? If you are one of the millions struggling with the fear of not being 'good enough,' Innately Good is your guidebook to happiness and self-love. Jan Denise not only identifies the origins of the tainted idea that we're innately flawed, but provides a solid framework to help us undo the damage created by this myth. In Innately Good , Denise reveals how Brimming with bold insight that resonates with our own inner wisdom, Innately Good debunks centuries-old myths about our innate goodness and sets us on the path to a life more fulfilling than we ever dreamed possible.

Genres: Nonfiction

223 pages, Paperback

First published October 13, 2008

Reviews

[Lenore Webb · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember being told that I was fat as a child.
My brothers and sister were not fat.
They were skinny as a matter of fact.
But I was fat. As a matter of fact I am fat.

Do you remember something like that.
Something that as a child struck at your very core and you never shook it?
I think we all do about something.

Well how do we ever shake that off.
Ok, I am overweight now. And I am working my tail feathers to take take the weight off finally.
But I do not see weight loss (yes it is there 30+ lbs of it).
In the mirror I still see . . .

that I am a fat child!

We are all "Innately Good" and that is just what Jan Denise is sharing with us in her book. She helps us see it is a myth that we are not good enough. Weather it is our body image, our self confidence or just that overwhelming desire to be the best, many of us struggle to be better!
And this often starts as young children. But we can break free and learn how to counter negative messages from others. How we can take risk and stand up for ourselves. How to be a better parent and not pass on these negative beliefs.

So I am learning that I am
Overweight
not
Fat.
And you know what else?
I am not always going to be either!

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this in the space of a few hours sitting in the City of Sydney Library on 10 July 2009. I began flicking through it and decided it looked sensible enough to read, so I settled down to it.

In retrospect, it is fitting in quite nicely with Smedes’ Shame and Grace Healing the Shame We Don't Deserve, and between the two books, I think I’m getting a very good approach to help me with my own senses of guilt and worthlessness.

From my perspective, the major plus of this book (and Smedes’) is the Christian perspective. Both books (I really shouldn’t be writing the review of both at once, especially as I haven’t yet finished Smedes) acknowledge that one can find oneself shamed by the church: in other words, the church is part of the problem. It’s because of these books that I’ve begun to be able to identify when I’m having a “guilt attack” – I don’t yet have good ways of dealing with those attacks, but I do at least know when they’re happening.

This book is one of the many good, serendipitous moments of this holiday.

[Taylor]

Kinda what I need right now.