I wanted to update this snoop as my review did get published on Amazon today. It took about a week. Worth noting I wrote my review after reading about 75% of the book. When I reached the last couple of pages on Kindle I got a message pop up regarding my review and a couple of hours after completing the book Amazon published it. I actually think it’s a good thing Amazon waits until you have actually completed the read before publishing. Certainly gives me a lot more faith in the review system. No longer enough to just be a verified purchaser you have to complete the read too.

I’ve read all the books by Shirley Yanez, I am a fan of the author and now a friend. So when her new book came out this month I immediately downloaded it for Kindle from Amazon. I have included a screenshot of my verified purchase earlier this month. For anyone who doesn’t read that much or worries about finding the time, this is a very easy read. Took me about two weeks spending 30-45 minutes in the morning with my morning cuppa before work.

I don’t shop that much on Amazon, I download a few films on Prime and have a couple of TV subscriptions but I get emails every day asking for my reviews of things I have watched mainly. When I bought this book and read it, it was really good so wanted to give the author my genuine feedback, except after waiting 4 days for my review to be moderated it hasn’t been published so I am posting it below for everyone to read.

Here’s my Amazon review:

FOR PARENTS AT THEIR WITS END WITH KIDS SUFFERING FROM ANXIETY

This book is written for teens struggling with their mental health and for parents who don’t know what to do in a language anyone can understand with “Boss Baby” style and humour. And yet it is tackling Psychology at an advanced level whilst touching upon the core of CBT training (cognitive behavioural training) and breaking it down so an eight year old can get it. It’s a task I don’t think many people could undertake and the writing shows the author has worked with many young people, understands their processing and provides visual metaphors to breakdown such a complex and mind boggling subject matter for the youngest minds.

It reads like a really engaging funny high school text book with exercises, charts and suggestions in parts to manage and understand the whys of non verbal communication, outbursts, anger, non compliance from young people suffering anxiety, the point of the book and clearly the motivation of the author who declares herself not a psychologist in the traditional sense but a coach with dyslexia who experienced her own struggle and travelled an exploration journey of the mind that led to helping others. She briefly describes this throughout the “journey” of “Your Mind Made That UP” as she calls it.

I found it fascinating to think about separating the mind from the brain and start to explore where and how the negative feelings and emotions we all experience every day, not just kids, adults too are activated and how, with some focused brain training, it is possible to get a grip on the sometimes volcanic emotional eruptions that happen to us involuntarily. This book provides an understanding of our physical make up and how we work. Sort of an operator manual.

Many many books have been written around inner peace, happiness, success, emotional balance, knowing even enlightenment (I’ve read a lot of them) and human psychology is a vast subject few ever really explore but I’ve never seen a book like this, it’s actually a tool for educators.

The unique quality of this book is it’s written for kids but it’s really for everyone. It’s like a science manual 101 except it’s talking about how to assemble, (put together) an IKEA wardrobe when the IKEA Wardrobe is YOU. Like I said it’s brimming with relatable metaphors.

And fundamentally poses the question could anyone build an IKEA Wardrobe without instructions? Like exploring the human condition, most would never even try, expecting to fail (the author would tell you, Your Mind Made that up too) however if you fancy having a go, this simple guide on an extremely complicated subject is a fascinating and enlightening place to start.

Buy it for your kid then make sure you read it yourself. The conversations around our dinner table changed pretty dramatically after reading it.

And now “your mind made that up” has become a catch phrase we use to one another when negativity or self doubt creeps in.