"The Murray Method" Book Review
Daniel Crosby • January 8, 2025
“The Murray Method” by Marilyn Murray would be a great read for you if you’ve been through a lot of life trauma and you’re ready to dig into it and try to sort it out and understand it better.
Murray wrote another book called “Prisoner of Another War” which I reviewed in 2024. Go back and listen to it if you want to know what all she went through personally which was the start of her own trauma healing journey.
What she lays out in “The Murray Method” is a systematic approach to working through your own trauma. The book is understandable enough that anyone can read it and work through their own stuff, but it’s deep enough where it’s surgical and will really get to the root of the issues.
I recommend going through it with a counselor or close trusted friend or ally because you’re going to unearth some new ideas and ways of reframing what you went through that need to be talked out.
It’s also a good resource if you’re a loved one and just want to understand a spouse or friend’s trauma healing journey and how to help.
The book is practical and filled with dozens of exercises to help you experience, feel, and see the roots of your pain and begin to heal.
Choosing to begin healing is not for the faint of heart but it’s well worth the work put in. “The Murray Method” by Marilyn Murray would be a great start.
“Uncomfortable: The Awkward and Essential Challenge of Christian Community” by Brett McCracken is a great book to read if you’re a church person or if you’ve become somewhat detached and frustrated with the church. McCracken challenges all of us, conservatives and progressives, to think about the WHY behind Christian community and one of the fundamentals of finding the WHY is approaching it with humility. Maybe you having it your way and telling everyone else they’re wrong wasn’t exactly what Christ had in mind when He instituted the church. iPhones and iPads seem to have morphed into iChurch in a sense. American culture has turned Christ’s church into a business that caters to our comforts aesthetically, relationally, and politically. It’s made us consumers, critics, and reviewers of the Church rather than servants of THE Kingdom. It’s not wrong to have preferences and to like some things better than others. Music, décor, and speaking style are all over the spectrum at different churches, but he argues that the point of picking a church and serving in it should be less about does it meet my needs and more about whether I’m showing up and using this place along with this group to glorify God. He annoyed me in parts because he steps on my toes but maybe we need that a little more often. If you’re disenfranchised with the status quo and you feel like it’d be good to be challenged about church then go grab “Uncomfortable” by Brett McCrackin.
Look for beautiful things when you're restless, uncomfortable, or on edge. There's something about acknowledging the good around us that helps us reset and realize that it's not all bad. If you're struggling to see beautiful things in the world, come see me and we can talk more about it. www.danielcrosbycounseling.com
“The Needs of the Heart” by Chip Dodd is a book that will blow your mind. When I picked it up, it’s a very small thin book. Less than 100 pages. I assumed I’d breeze through it in a couple of hours. About a month later I finished digesting it. The truth is we cannot fully live the life God has called us to unless we acknowledge that we do have needs, that these needs are good, and discover the healthy ways of meeting these needs. Chip takes common human needs like Security and Accomplishment and he unpacks what they really are pointing us to in his typical concise but brilliant depth. There’s no fluff here. With chapters just 3-4 pages each, you’re going to want to have a highlighter ready to underline, to ponder these topics, and maybe then to discuss them with someone you know and trust. You’ll come away from this book with a deeper sense what is already fulfilled within you and ones that might be lacking where you need to go do a deep dive with a lot of prayer and introspection. If you liked Chip’s book “The Voice of the Heart,” this is one is your next read. Go grab “The Needs of the Heart” by Chip Dodd.
