The Well-Lived Life

December 1, 2022

Cofounder and past president of the American Holistic Medical Association, McGarey is still practicing medicine at age 101; she has a life-coaching practice in Arizona. Here she offers advice on how to live a long and healthy life, from the need to keep moving spiritually, mentally, and physically to recognizing that anyone and anything can be your teacher.

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April 15, 2023
You are here for a reason. All life needs to move. Love is the most powerful medicine. You are never truly alone. Everything is your teacher. Spend your energy wildly. These six concepts form the backbone of McGarey's inspiring book about how to live life fully and holistically. McGarey, cofounder of the American Holistic Medical Association and mother of six, is more than100 years old and still practicing medicine in Arizona. Reading between the lines, one can tell that she has seen and lived through a lot! The "secrets" she shares aren't really secrets. Rather, they make perfect sense as she takes readers through vignettes from her extraordinary life and offers practices and exercises related to each chapter's focus. McGarey's remarkable anecdotes genuinely bolster her message. Additionally, she makes it clear that each secret may not pertain to everyone and encourages readers to focus on what means the most to them. The Well-Lived Life is refreshingly simple and practical. The good doctor's sound advice feels achievable, and readers will feel inspired and energized.

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May 1, 2023
In this ill-considered program, McGarey (Living Medicine), a centenarian practitioner of holistic medicine, dispenses advice on how to lead a fulfilling life. She enumerates six tenets for staying healthy and finding happiness, which include “you are here for a reason,” “love is the most powerful medicine,” and “you are never truly alone.” Patient case studies illustrate each principle—the story of an elderly woman whose intestinal problems were allegedly a by-product of her inability to “digest” her grief over the deaths of her loved ones is presented as proof that “all life needs to move,” but McGarey provides no scientific evidence to support this contention. Additionally, the author’s emphasis on treating ailments with a “simple shift in perspective” condescends toward those struggling with physiological conditions (she claims to have resolved chronic fatigue syndrome in an elderly man by urging him to take more joy in life). The “six secrets to health and happiness” might make for a balanced outlook on life, but the claim that they’re suitable for treating medical symptoms is irresponsible, and the frequent discussions of such meaningless terms as “life force” and “life energy” only add to the muddle, as when McGarey reports having “sensed a stagnant energy” around a lupus patient. There’s not much to recommend this.