Slow Down and Lighten Up
This practical guide summarizes what was consistently helpful to students who took the stress management course I taught for thirty-eight years.
It explains how stress and tension affect body, mind, and emotion in easily understandable terms and describes simple techniques that directly address core functions necessary to restore and maintain physical, mental, and emotional balance.
A simple three step process to effectively deal with challenging stressors and difficult situations is clearly explained using real life examples.
Stories and personal experiences gathered from over forty years of counseling, and teaching highlight what works and makes sense. Reading this book will not only help you realize that it’s possible to be stress-free, it will show you how to get there.
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Read Chapter 4: My Nerves are Shot
Read Chapter 11: Getting Our Nerves in Balance
Balance: Essentials of Physical, Mental, and Emotional Health and Effectiveness
Everything is clearer and easier when we are in balance. Everything is less clear and more difficult when we’re out of balance. The research is conclusive – stress, fatigue, and overwork diminish our ability to see and think clearly. We don’t see a larger picture and don’t consider the effects of our actions to the extent we are out of balance – we make mistakes, miss important details, and undermine relationships as tension increases.
This book describes the core functions that affect physical, mental, and emotional balance and how they work along with how to restore and maintain balance using techniques that have been tested and fine-tuned over fifty years.
Table of Contents
Expected publication Fall, 2024
Understanding Fear and Fear Based Thinking: The Path to True Freedom
We live in a world that is increasingly dominated by fear. It’s used in media to grab and keep our attention, in politics to create dependable voting blocks, and in every day life to get us to do things we would prefer not to do. True freedom requires us to see and think clearly. We can’t do that when we are in a state of prolonged fear.
Natural fear is short-term – it’s purpose is to get our attention and drive us to action. Prolonged fear keeps us in a state of tension. It restricts what we see and how we think. Potential adversaries are everywhere. We never feel we have enough or can be good enough to respond to the needs and pressures that dominate our vision. We put everything and everyone into broad categories – good/bad, for/against, either/or. Our focus narrows, we become quick to anger and react without thinking or asking questions. We lose track of what is true and meaningful and become vulnerable to propaganda and manipulation.
When fear becomes a habit, we’re not even aware of how it’s restricting our ability to see and think clearly – we charge forward or turn away without understanding what’s really happening. We don’t realize when we become stuck in Fear Based Thinking.
This book is designed to help you understand what fear is and how it works along with it’s effect on body, mind, and emotions. It describes how to deal with real and imagined threats and how to recognize and respond to Fear Based Thinking in ourselves and others, as well as the larger culture.
Read Draft Introduction
Expected Publication 2024
Choose Love or Fear
Our capacity for love shrinks as fear begins to dominate our lives. In a world dominated by fear tactics designed to get and keep our attention, support, and motivation, we easily lose track of the power of love. Love isn’t even seen an option because fear narrows our focus and drives us to act quickly without taking time to really understand what’s happening.
This book describes how adapting to a world dominated by fear has affected how we see ourselves, each other, and our world and explains how to deal with obstacles to love in daily life.
Making a conscious decision to choose love leads to the realization of our true nature and how we fit into the natural world. We learn that love is not just something reserved for those close to us but a driving force that can connect and energize us once we are released from the grip of fear.
This is a hopeful book that can open our hearts and minds to see what we can be when we create conditions where we can be ourselves in an atmosphere of acceptance and belonging.
It is also a practical book. It explores precise definitions of love and fear along with descriptions of the essential components of basic human functions in simple terms that guide us in making decisions while describing how to create conditions that make it easier for all of us to choose love.
Read Draft Introduction
Expected Publication 2024
Bring Truth to Fear 