Reviewed by Tammy Ruggles for Readers' Favorite

Conscious Self-Discovery: Your Key to a Happy, Loving, and Successful Life by Enriching Your Relationship with Yourself, by Kashonia Carnegie, Ph.D., is an insightful, motivating self-help guide to help you reach your highest potential. You will uncover the layers as to your true self, and the reasons for repeating the same negative patterns, and replace them with positive ones that are all about self-love and getting to know yourself better. This is number 3 in the Conscious Change Series of Books. It's important to know who you really are so that you can have positive relationships in your life.

Carnegie has created an amazing book that can change your life using personal stories, important, helpful insights, philosophy, and science but not presented in a stuffy way. The material is accessible and easy to understand. The author takes you one chapter at a time through exercises and activities, including journaling, designed to help you accept yourself and have inner contentment. I like that she emphasizes the notion of possibility, and points out that not all personal development strategies work for everyone. Since I'm a writer and former social worker, I found the author's ideas on emotional writing and its healing properties of particular interest, and recognize how helpful this information can be to readers. The part on forgiveness is intriguing, especially when she describes what it isn't. One of the main takeaways is to be more aware of yourself, your choices, and how they make you and others feel. Other ideas she explains are anger, fear, breaking free of constrictive views, possibility, and self-love.

Maybe one of the most important lessons is turning PTSD into what she calls PTG, or Post Traumatic Growth--turning a traumatic past into a better future. One of the ways this is accomplished is by letting go of victimhood. Charts, graphs, and images enhance the text as well. This book would be the ideal tool for life coaches, therapists, support group facilitators, or just anyone needing a fresh start on the rest of their lives. Sometimes it's hard for people to examine themselves, and when they do, even harder to try to make meaningful changes. It takes strength and knowledge to turn over a new leaf, but Kashonia Carnegie's book, Conscious Self-Discovery, makes it an easier process.