Reviewed by Jack Magnus for Readers' Favorite

In Your Ultimate Life Plan: How to Deeply Transform Your Everyday Experience and Create Changes That Last, Dr. Jennifer Howard sets out a program for those who are seeking something better in their lives. Her approach is the result of her own twenty-year search for enlightenment and healing. Howard is a psychotherapist who has also studied religious mysticism and philosophy. She brings this wealth of wisdom to play in a series of lessons on how to access and work with those things which hamper your spiritual progress; and how to achieve lasting healing and fulfillment. Her chapters are arranged as progressive lessons with study guides in the form of question work and guided meditations. Howard also has a website filled with additional resources for further study.

Dr. Jennifer Howard's self-help book is an impressive guide to healing both on your own or with the help of a professional, be it a psychotherapist or spiritual adviser. While I had some problems working through the first few chapters and felt it necessary to reread them in order to get the gist of her message, I found my tenacity to be well-rewarded. Howard's approach is multi-cultural and accessible to anyone who is interested to being more than they are or is wondering if that's all there is. She shows you how to gently probe at childhood trauma and hurt and start the healing process, including understanding why that hurt happened in the first place.

Howard cautions that one be wary of quick fixes and to expect that healing will be a lengthy and protracted process -- but one that is infinitely rewarding and that starts as you read and work with the concepts and guidance she shares with you. This is not your typical 10-minute guide to happiness; it's much more than that and well worth the effort.