Owning Your Destiny: A Woman's Guide To Harnessing The Power Within

By: Duncan McLauren
Publisher: The Magic Toad LLC
Publication Date: November 4, 2021
ISBN: 979-8985239768
Reviewed by: Barbara Bamberger Scott
Review Date: October 4, 2023

In Owning Your Destiny: A Woman's Guide To Harnessing The Power Within, Duncan McLauren presents her recollections of a troubled past healed with both outer and inner assistance and techniques emphasizing gratitude, confidence, and practical action that others can readily access.

Having suffered and survived the collapse of a twenty-six-year marriage, McLauren felt free to travel and returned to a place she had always loved – New Orleans. Roving the French Quarter, she was intrigued by a man entering a storefront marked by the sign “Psychic Readings.” Following him, she met Silas, a highly intuitive advisor who, in the next half hour, demonstrated remarkable intuition, seeming to know her and suggesting strategies she could begin using immediately to improve her impaired self-image. His remarkable intuitive knowledge of her character affected her far beyond that brief encounter.

Using Silas' guidance, McLauren began working to access her own intuitions, constructing methodologies for putting Silas’s suggestions into action. Silas had recommended keeping a “gratitude journal” that she initiated as a daily writing routine, expressing her appreciation for blessings large and small. Added to this were affirmations such as “I am...happy, smart, fabulous.” These positive thoughts engendered further progress, including a mantra to be recited while walking outdoors, constructing a vision board, and recording dreams – all leading to finer understanding and amelioration of general attitudes. One meditative practice she found within herself was “The Golden Comet” – a visualization described in detail along with breathing techniques and other creative tools for exploring one’s goals. The final product of her inward investigations was the “Twenty-Five Day Magical Makeover,” set forth here as a system for readers to use in searching for life’s satisfactions.

McLauren has enjoyed an unusual career as a dog trainer and a retriever of lost articles, requiring an adventurous spirit and willingness to travel and explore. These qualities are seen vividly in this well-organized volume that reveals the inner trailblazing she took based on the advice of the psychic Silas. Beyond his immediate assistance, she was able to carry his advice further, transforming what had been a brief private meeting into an easily accessible guidebook. One example of the book’s unusual tenor is the attitude proffered regarding money; McLauren asserts that such attitudes as seeing money as a boon to be shared with others and acknowledging peace of mind in using money to pay one’s bills can remove the stigma often associated with acquiring it. McLauren’s book combines lively recollections and well-considered suggestions offered to those who are seeking a solid strategy for immediate upswing and long-term improvement.

Quill says: Author McLauren’s book Owning Your Destiny: A Woman's Guide To Harnessing The Power Within records her experiences in developing powerful positivity, offering it to other women to absorb and adapt using a wide variety of dynamic approaches that she has tried and found to be true.