The Art of Becoming Whole: A Guide to Self-Mastery by Pooja Khanna – Review

Mental wellbeing, spiritual wellness, emotional objectivity and self-consciousness have become essential needs in this modern era. A person who lacks in any one of these (or more) cannot find himself in a position to enjoy life in its full magnificence. Whenever we lack spiritual wellness or emotional strength, we seek support – sometimes around us and sometimes in literature. When it comes to talking to people, we can pick those individuals who have an objective view on life. However, when it comes to reading spiritual literature by authors, how should we select the ideal books? Should it be contemporary or traditional?

Though I am not against the traditional approach to objectivity, modern problems might need modern solutions or, at least, a modern approach to traditional solutions. I have read books by wonderful authors from the past and really talented ones from the present. A recent one that I am reviewing today is by Pooja Khanna, a spiritual wellness coach. The book’s title is The Art of Becoming Whole: A Guide to Self-Mastery. The book, as its title suggests immediately, tries to make the readers realise their self-worth or self-importance. How do we realise it? Once we become fully convinced that our existence doesn’t need ‘third party validation’. And this is what the author aims in her book. 

The author has begun with vibrations that we release through our actions. She discusses triggers – triggers of emotions and how do people respond to that in different situations. For example, anything might trigger us instantly. In her own words: 

“Emotional triggers are people, words, opinions, situations, or environmental situations that provoke an intense emotional reaction within us.” 

And this is natural! It happens with all of us. We often respond to emotional triggers instantly – it might ruin many things for us in a flash. Pooja tells her readers in the book how to control oneself when it comes to reacting to emotional triggers. And her arguments are indeed wonderful! She ascribes healing qualities to these emotional triggers and argues that anything that compels you to react, in fact, tries to propel you towards self-discovery. Do you really want to react in the same old way? Yeah! And when you read this book, you can find solutions to get out of the instantly reactionary stage by applying the methods the book offers. One curious case is of EFT – the Emotional Freedom Technique. 

The author talks about releasing the victim consciousness. She also discusses the art of appreciating, loving and caring for oneself. She wonderfully describes the process of self-discovery compared to the process of self-sabotage that might derail the journey of a happy life. She discusses depression in detail and also tries to offer wonderful ways to come out of it. In short, the book tries to make people aware of themselves and being the best version of oneself who does not react to things in a possibly erratic way. Pooja’s book focuses on telling you the simple methods to control your emotional triggers like anger, envy, ego and so on… and these ways are effective, given in the form of activities or chanting. 

Looking at the aspects of the book, the piece of spiritual literature is not only an easy to read one but also an easy to navigate one. The Art of Becoming Whole is indeed a guide to Self-Mastery. It brings references and concepts, at times, from the ancient wisdom. However, the solutions to modern-day problems are very much relevant and within the grasp of people to follow and execute. 

You can read this book to discover the path you are walking right now. You will certainly get something out of it – something for your betterment! I recommend this book to everyone. You can get a copy from Amazon India right now: 

Click here to get a copy from Amazon India 

Review by Ashish for The Last Critic