Devour Obstacles for Dinner

Do you feel stuck in a relationship, in your career, or in a specific area of your life? Are you constantly wrestling with the question “should I stay, or should I go?” Do you have a great life on paper but main-tain a vague yet unshakeable feeling that your life could be more fulfilling? Do you yearn to have more meaningful connections and a deeper sense of purpose in life? Are you limited by anxiety, panic attacks, or depression? Have you worked so hard for so long that you’re no longer able to refuel your passion for life? Do you feel that joy in life is something only other people get? Is there a situation, event, or diagno-sis that has rocked your world in a way that you’ve never been shaken before?

Could you use a little help sorting all of this out—not in some theoretical way but with practical tools to help you make important changes and meet your challenges head on?

For the last twenty years, I’ve been working on a set of tools to help my clients answer these questions. After a while, I started to get the same request over and over from different people in different areas of my life: “Can I get a written copy of all the tools you talk about?”

Now I can finally say yes!

The tools in this book correspond to inspirational stories of individuals who have transformed their struggles - that is, each person was able to use his or her issues, problems, and hardships to discover how strong and resilient they really are, and then discover deeper joy in life as they fulfilled their goals. Sometimes, without even being fully aware of it, each person developed a fearless attitude as s/he figured out how to devour obstacles for dinner.

And you can too!

If you or someone you know is struggling, this book can provide both answers and inspiration. If you’re a therapist, you’ll find new tools to reignite your passion for helping others.

In these pages, you’ll find a friend to encourage and support you. You’ll be inspired to make a unique contribution to your family, friends, community, and career and to this beautiful, blue planet. This book exists to serve you. Now make it your own.

Ridin’ in the Atommobile

Standing in a line at Disneyland with Mickey Mouse ears atop my head, I stared—equally scared and fascinated—at a ride called Adventures through Inner Space. I instinctively slipped my small, six-year-old hand into my father’s large palm as we watched the riders in front of us take their seats in the Atommobile—a converted car that carried visitors down a dark tunnel. We stood at one end of the Mighty Microscope and peered through a glass tube, which showed the Atommobile traveling farther and farther away. Then it was our turn. Once seated in the Atommobile, I clung to my father’s arm, and we drove down the tunnel. In the darkness, the voice of an unseen scientist told us we had “passed beyond the limits of normal Mag-ni-fi-ca-tion.” In other words, we were shrinking to the size of microscopic molecules!

As we entered through the tunnel, delicate snowflakes fluttered down around us, but as we con-tinued, they grew larger and larger. The scientist said, “Although your body will shrink, your mind will expand.” I watched wide-eyed and delighted as the snowflakes progressively grew to two hundred times the size of a little girl—a single snowflake became large enough to fill my entire field of vision. I was surrounded by infinite uniqueness and immeasurable beauty unfolding in every ice crystal. Before we were returned to normal size, a simple knowledge had crystallized within me: we are all infinitely unique and immeasurably beautiful. This inherent beauty is constantly unfolding through our unlimited capacity for joy, love, tolerance, and laughter.

Inevitably, we will all encounter difficulties from which we might prefer to shrink; however, those are precisely the moments in which our hearts and minds can expand. And this book will show you how.

How to Make This Book Work for You

This book is a collection of twenty-two stories, and thirty-nine tools. Each one was written with the goal of helping you resolve a difficult situation, improve your mood, or achieve your next great objective.

Each story describes a client’s journey to transforming unhappiness into joy, gratitude, and com-passion. Along the way, the reader will see representations of lessons learned along the way in the form of tools. Some tools give an organized “how-to” outline for moving forward. Other tools are a visual rep-resentation of a helpful framework, designed to present a new perspective for solving difficult issues and questions. In my counseling practice, I’ve found that representing frameworks visually on a whiteboard makes them easier to remember. Visual learners love them.

Each tool has been tested and retested to make sure it is helpful in everyday life for a wide range of personalities and presenting problems. Each tool has also proven to be a fundamental element in deep-er, transformative experiences for clients. The characters and stories in this book represent composites of several individuals and events, as confidentiality is always my top priority. You can read each story for the full experience, or if you want to cut to the chase, you can go straight to the tools.

I’ve had the privilege of being a counselor and life coach for over twenty years, and this book is the result of watching client after client change his or her life for the better. Everything starts with the first step: being willing to change. My clients have shown me that once you are willing to manifest the courage and vulnerability necessary to share your story, your story will change. These wonderful people are proof that life works when we’re dedicated to creating a life that works for us.

Now is the time! Make this book your own. You have an incredible life story waiting to unfold. In this story, your life works for you and allows you to contribute to your family, community, and socie-ty.