BOOK REVIEW Living in the Zone: Engage the Unstoppable Power of the Intuitive Spirit comes from a sales training coach who moves beyond boardrooms and sales floors to apply the basics of his concepts to the bigger picture of living a better life. It is recommended reading for seekers with an interest in personal growth, but is different from any similar-sounding approach. Why? It addresses changing negativity in the world starting with the core of this kernel of angst, the ego/self.

Readers who look to self-improvement techniques to answer why they feel something is holding them back in life will find that Living in the Zone pinpoints a problem both difficult and theoretically easy to fix: one's own attitude, perceptions, and approaches to life. Other books might promote or insinuate that a timeline is involved in the process of self-evaluation and change; but because part of Sidney C. Walker's game plan involves intuition, there's no deadline for success in his approach. Intuition takes time to tap into, time to process, and represents a kind of 'zone' that can't be forced. This is just one of the messages in Living in the Zone. It should be cautioned that this isn't a scientifically-backed approach, as Walker himself points out in the first few paragraphs: "The information in this book is not scientifically proven. Everything presented comes from my own experience of more than three decades of coaching and personal research. Science is of indisputable value. But when it comes to philosophy, psychology, and transformation, our intuitive knowing is way beyond what we can prove scientifically, and I suspect that may always be the case." This not only makes sense; but actually is a big plus in a world where information not backed by scientific procedure and testing methods tends to be discarded. As a matter of course, such information tends to be of an intuitive nature. Living in the Zone includes an unexpected spiritual component: "You could say that life on planet Earth was created as a game to play to give us something endlessly fascinating to do. Then there was another aspect added to our existence, which was internal guidance. We were guided by a Higher Power through our intuitive instincts and our conscience. Yes, we had control over the choices we made, but we were making choices toward what felt intuitively right, and we had a clear awareness of what our path was." Readers who don't believe in a Higher Power or guiding light may find this skirts too closely into spiritual realms in a psychological examination of change; but in actuality, Living in the Zone is a discourse on transformation; and this process contains the prerequisite of a belief in intuitive faith in order to prove successful. As chapters unfold, problems involved in shifting to a wider perspective are outlined with an attention to not only charting the course of change, but the obstacles to reaching beyond ego-centric forces to intuitive recognition, acceptance, and success. The 'how' aspect of such achievement is nicely addressed in Living in the Zone, in contrast with competing new age books which would focus on the 'why' and provide ideals and explanations without explicit follow-through. Living in the Zone requires a slow, careful pursuit. It's not a race to the finish line; but an opportunity to reconsider goals, achievement, definitions of winning, and the power of intuition in the process of real change. From effective approaches to keep the ego from judging and evaluating people and situations to avoiding the tendency to 'sell' to people in favor of a more intuitive, sharing approach to relationships, Living in the Zone provides a succinct roadmap to a new way of approaching life. This is highly recommended not just as a paradigm for change; but for its attention to the details involved in inviting transformation into one's world based on identifying, trusting, and acting upon something that's already present: one's own intuitive powers. New age, self-help, and psychology readers alike will find Living in the Zone direct, accessible, packed with examples from Walker's own life and experiences, and satisfyingly specific in its instructions. Walker's approach creates a survey of relationships that is highly personal in tone, in contrast with the usual psychology jargon infused into similar accounts of changing approaches to life. There is no comparison between the vivid transformative approach that is infused with personal experience in Living in the Zone and the more distant analytical tone cultivated in too many other reads. There is no substitute for intuitive connections and understanding based on personal experience. Living in the Zone shines in its achievement, here, and stands out from the crowd of self-help and improvement books by cultivating a series of connections and examples that stem directly from life itself. It's especially highly recommended for readers who eschew typically dispassionate approaches in favor of a more passionate, personal consideration of intuition's possibilities and often-overlooked potentials. Diane Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review