Unfold Your Soul Book Review

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Unfold Your Soul is the prescriptive/self-help memoir of Thea Woods; born in Canada and raised in various countries throughout Europe, this re-telling of her life takes on a spiritual retrospect, encouraging and inspiring readers to find alignment with their authentic Soul-self, and find the courage to express their true nature with the world.

Woods’ story in unlike any memoirs I have read so far. I loved how even from a very early age, she was acutely aware of the world around her. A few chapters in, there is a coin analogy in which she explains that the world can sometimes be two sides: black and white, heads or tails, and that stays with her and crops up again and again throughout the book. I liked the simplicity of that, even when the concepts in this book got more complicated. She sums it up nicely towards the end: “The human experience is a coin with two inseparable sides–one side is of love, magic, and limitless creative potential, and the other, of fear, logic, and restricted awareness. Contrast and creativity pulse through the veins of everything physical and etheric, drawing us towards two things: love and co-creation.”

One of the book’s stronger allures was its beautiful writing. To choose a couple of examples, Woods describes an “emotional ocean” and how her “consciousness was teased to awaken” and I just think that even if you can’t empathise entirely with the narrative, you can’t help but fall in love with the prose. There was a spirituality to them which nicely partnered with the book’s spiritual theme.

I have to admit, as much as I respect her as an author, I did find some of her experiences hard to believe (for example when she hears a song in a shop and therefore knows someone is going to die). However, right at the start, Woods describes an “awairdness” which is an awareness she has of all things weird, and her candid approach to the events in the book, even those which seem “weird”, make her story likeable even if its not all within the realms of what you believe is possible. This “awairdness” allowed her not to let the book get caught up in being too fantastical and more importantly made her advice more influential.

I loved that the narrative was full of influences from the world; peppered through were mentions of books which have inspired Woods as well as famous quotes which resonate with her. This gave it a good grounding in real-life which I think aided its ability in being a reputable self-help book.

Something which will stay with me is when Woods states: “One day, I simply stopped myself in all my bitterness and outrage and said out loud, “Who am I to decide whom he should or shouldn’t love?” From that moment forward, I kept close tabs on my reactive emotions and began a conscious effort to respond in full awareness and not react in unconscious agitation.” Don’t get me wrong, I am guilty of letting my emotions take over and perhaps inflicting pain on people in my response to their actions, but her choice to simply let others lead their lives in a way they’re happy with and not let that affect her own is, I think, highly commendable and an inspiration. After all, above all else, we should always seek to put kindness into the world even when it has somehow done you wrong.

This memoir was memorable and impactful and if you’ve read, or been intrigued by, other prescriptive memoirs such as The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson, I strongly suggest you read this too. As I said, the experiences Woods has had in her life are not necessarily in parallel with my own, but what I admire is the choices she made because of them, and how she let that influence her and her actions for the rest of her life.

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Thank you to the author, Thea Woods, and Midas PR for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

If you’d like to purchase a copy of the book, please click here for more information.