In Illusive Secrets2: Embracing Your True Self, Jim McDonald continues his candid demonstration of the capacity self-honesty has to change our lives. Through each self-deception McDonald shares, he empowers us to look at our own lives with transformative honesty and tempts us to find the small measure of willingness needed to meet our true self. If we want peace and happiness, this book is the perfect tool to help on our journey toward the uninterrupted experience of love.

As with the first Illusive Secrets, this second book is effective as a stand-alone daily guide or in conjunction with the first book. In either application, both inspire us to look inward as the means of transcending our fear-based state of consciousness. We can read the entries in succession, savor one per day, or randomly open to the entry that is right for this moment.

Jim’s examples demonstrate self-deceptions many of us experience, but few of us are willing to acknowledge in ourselves. In contemplating them, we are inspired to welcome the healing power of self-honesty into our own guarded lives. Once we begin, we quickly realize that the external factors we think are the cause of our less-than-peaceful feelings are not at all responsible for the fear, anger, worry, and stress we experience on a daily basis. We begin to understand that our thoughts, judgments, and unconscious sense of inadequacy relate directly to our experience of personal happiness and inner peace. Moreover, we begin to rediscover our true self, maybe for the first time.

The Illusive Secrets books offer relief from our own self-deception and the unnecessary suffering it creates. While our initial glimpses of the lies and deceptions we tell ourselves may be frightening enough to evoke resistance and blinding denial, each awareness softens that resistance and intensifies our desire to continue. We grow with each step, coming ever closer to the happiness, joy, and peace we long to experience.