The Complete Being: Finding and Loving the Real You

Tami Brady
Loving Healing Press (2006)
ISBN 1932690204
Reviewed by Erika K. Oliver for Reader Views (3/06)

Author, Tami Brady, discusses the key aspects of understanding yourself in her book, “The Complete Being”. The book is organized into four main sections to expound on the mental, spiritual, emotional and physical aspects of the complete being. The mental aspect explores the necessary knowledge, formal and informal, to realize your dreams. Spiritual aspects encompass your belief systems, which may include formal religion. Emotional aspects are your personality traits and responses to the world around you. The final aspect, physical, attends to biological health.

“The Complete Being” discusses the evolution of social conformity and transference of information from a group orientation to the current emphasis on individuality and discovering your true self. Each section includes a dynamic and interesting exploration of how each aspect has evolved in our culture. How, for example, education used to be limited to what you needed to know to run the family business or what was culturally required for a typical man or woman. Exercises at the end of each section guide the reader to explore and incorporate the discussion.

Brady’s goal is to have the reader explore their true self. In chapter 2, the author states, “Often people fight the most vigilantly against the viewpoints of others when they have never actually analyzed their own values let alone assessed their own life philosophies against other possible systems.” (p.51) She goes on to call attention to our penchant to live by “expectations that our not your own.” (p. 51)

I appreciate Tami Brady’s intent to help people discover their truth so that we all can live authentic lives. She presents ideas in an organized format and provides both background information and tools to incorporate new knowledge. Brady’s own background is so interesting that I kept wishing she would share the detail of her personal story and how she re-learned each aspect including her obstacles.

“The Complete Being” is a helpful book for those at the beginning of the journey to their truth. The compartmentalized aspects allow the reader to think about one part of their self at a time. Someone further along in their personal journey might be disappointed by the missing discussion on how the aspects overlap and interact. The book’s presentation of the aspects might lead a reader to believe that in real life, your mental, spiritual, emotional and physical aspects can be addressed separately and in order. I love that the author acknowledged and welcomed all parts of a person and encouraged us to love our whole selves when she said, “Ignoring your talents and limitations invalidates a part of you.” (p. 119)

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