I will admit that I consistently appreciate a self-development book, and this book stands heads above most others. In The Full Spirit Workout, Kate Eckman provides ten steps that help build your mental and soft skill muscles, and every ounce of this book is either real experience or a well-research, scientific strategy.
From page one, Kate pours out her whole soul onto the pages and you feel like you are talking to a friend. Her vulnerability in the stories that she tells and experiences that she recalls are relatable and make you feel closer to her and the material in the book. Many people will tell you that they have had a bad day at some point, but the courage it takes to recall those feelings and actions and put them on the page is what makes Kate’s work so remarkable.
The ten steps that Kate details are based on the concept that our full spirit needs to be worked regularly, much like our full body does. What I appreciated about the ten steps were that it made me consider aspects of my spirit that I have not particularly noticed or cared for in the past. Each step not only details the aspect of the spirit that it is focusing on, but it also provides meditations, journaling and reflection prompts, and other exercises to help you focus in on that area. One of my favorites was the Mantra for a Spirit of Confidence, which I can say has become a regular staple when I am feeling like I lack confidence in something.
As Kate takes you on this journey of the Full Spirit Workout, she provides a ton of great information about why we need to incorporate these mindsets, where they started, and how they became so common in society and in our lives. I always really appreciate when an author has a well-cited notes section, and this book has that in spades. You can tell that she has a great respect for academics and the work that other people have put out into the world.
Kate is an Executive Coach, and as you work through this book, you feel both held by a supportive and insightful friend and empowered by a knowledgeable and mindful coach. You are guided, encouraged to consider things for yourself, and given personal stories and academic knowledge along the way. This is further demonstrated in each chapter’s “Coach Kate Check-In,” which each help you orient to where you are in the book and in the journey.
My top 3 takeaway from this book were:
1. Kate describes an exercise she did based on Martin Seligman’s “The New Era of Positive Psychology” concept of a “gratitude visit” where you write a 100-word testimonial to a person who changed your life by showing immense bravery. Kate shares a letter that she wrote to her friend Vanessa, and the experience that they both had after she read the letter. Her sharing so much of the experience really demonstrated how important this practice is and how much we should take the time to thank the people in our lives for how they have impacted us. We never know what it will mean to them and what it really means to us.
2. Keep a “most improved” mindset, which is not worrying about being the best or begging others to accept you, but rather changing your perspective so you can “shine in your strengths” as Kate says. I appreciated this perspective because I tend to be very achievement-focused and oriented, and that becomes a very win or lose game. The reframe that this perspective presents is not only less damaging, but also really empowering.
3. The impact of the medical world wanting to push anti-depressants on people when they are just looking at one symptom and not the whole person. Kate details a time when she was a TV reporter, covering crime stories and when she visited her doctor, she was convinced to get on anti-depressants so she would not be influenced by her surroundings. Kate describes it as “numb to my surroundings” and that was an unflinching look at how we work so hard to treat the symptoms in our life through a variety of numbing agents and avoid the actual causes of our stress and suffering (this does not include people who need to be on antidepressants). Kate goes on to describe how she learned to distinguish between what needed a medical intervention and what was something painful that she needed to work through with other-than-medical support and resources.
I wish that a book this educational and heartfelt existed when I was a teenager, so I could have worked through things in my life in a more enlightened and eyes-wide-open type of way. I will keep this book on my bookshelf and go back to it often because I know that these exercises, this wisdom, and these words will always bring more insight and perspective to my life.
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