Book review: The Shift

Title: The Shift – How to Awaken to the Aliveness Within

Author: Mo Issa

Year of Publication: 2017

Number of pages: 126

Publisher: Createspace

Reviewer: Nana Awere Damoah

“The quality of our lives depends on the quality of our questions.” Page 4

First of all, allow me to state that it is only a brave, self-aware, confident and learning person who is able to open up his life and share personal stories as much as Mo has done in The Shift. It is also a mark of someone who is not afraid to put his vulnerability out in the open, knowing that once he – usually one who is esteemed by others and deemed to have no issues in life – shares how vulnerable he can be, others can be encouraged and can continue on their life’s journey of discovery, iteration and learning. No wonder Mo speaks about finding his V-spot along his journey. More on that later. I have always argued that if our pastors could share this way, many of their church members can be strengthened in their daily struggles and learn to trust that pain and pleasure are both in the palm of fate.

But I digress.

Questions. Asking questions. And getting either full or partial answers to the initial questions, asking even more questions. Questioning. Doubting. Digging. Exploring. Lurching out to the deep. Not content with scratching the surface. Diving and swimming out beyond the sand field of the sea of our lives.

The quality of our lives depends on the quality of our questions.

When I started reading The Shift, from the Prologue, I found myself shifting continuously as I looked into my mirror, which is what the book was onto me. Shifting physically as I sat up and underlined words and passages. Shifting mentally as I reflected on some of the truths. Shifting closer to my phone as I searched to read more about the lives and times that Mo Issa sampled and condensed in The Shift.

I heard years ago that when the esteemed writer, poet and activist, Professor Wole Soyinka, wrote a book, many who wish to understand what he had written choose to read the books that others write to explain what Soyinka had written. Because, to some, Soyinka is difficult to understand. That route, however, is also for some who like to first appreciate the commentaries before approaching the source – Soyinka’s writings.

In reading The Shift, I read many books.

Because his references and nuggets from a wide array of thinkers were as deep and succinct as his own words from his reflections. One of my favourites was the exposition on the relationship-mentoring between Shams Tabrizi and Jalaluddin Rumi. I was surprised at the end of that account that this happened over a 1000 years ago.

Mo Issa’s ability to distil the salient ingredients from the excursions in his mind, from his voracious reading and from the signposts on his journey to awaken the aliveness within him is profound. He has shared with his readers how he moved from existence to significance. Did I say ‘moved’? I should rather say ‘moving’, because as the author stressed, this is more of a journey rather than a destination. The joy is in how the pilgrim on this path pauses to affect his soul, effect his purpose and manifest his intended impact on his world.

In so doing, he or she will be truly authoring his own path – and becoming authentic.

Mo Issa takes us on a journey of his life of discovering. And there are so many troughs and crests on this journey. The good thing is that the author is a good guide, who has learnt not to hurry on this tour. So he takes time to show us the streets and paths, gives us the names and histories behind each of them and he shows us the linkages between the narratives. Then he practices with us what we need to unlearn and learn; what to undo and then do differently; what to unpack and pack; what to stop doing and then start doing. In other words, he shares the what, why and how.

The Shift is a mirror. I implore you to look into it. But let me warn you as I make a confession: I have not finished reading the book. Because this is not a book to finish in a hurry. And this is not a book that one can say he or she has finished reading because he or she has read it from cover to cover. For, even when you have read it, your mind will continue to read it in its mind as it ruminates and reflects and keeps on shifting thoughts, perspectives, conceptions, paradigms, motives, models, missions and beliefs.

And that self-inquiry will lead to vulnerability and vulnerability will lead to self-awareness. But it starts with questions. The quality of our lives depends on the quality of our questions. If this book doesn’t cause you to ask questions, then you have questions to answer.

Happy Shifting!