The Tools

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So I'm feeling a lot of cognitive dissonance about my favorable review of this wonderful and problematic and wonderful book. But the good news is, there's even a tool for dealing with cognitive dissonance. BRING ON THE PAIN! (You'll have to read the book to know what that means). Barry has given workshops at a variety of venues, including In goop Health summits in Los Angeles in 2017, in Vancouver in 2018, and in London in 2019. He has given a Google Talk, and has spoken at 20th Century Fox Television, the University Club of Chicago, the Omega Institute, the Writers’ Guild, the 92nd Street Y, and the Endeavor 2019 annual retreat. What a gift! A riveting exploration of four (bone-chillingly relatable) modern ailments and their thrillingly practical solutions . . . Barry and Phil have written a manual for moving beyond impulsivity, exhaustion, demoralization, and victimhood, toward a life of self-control, vitality, optimism, and resilience. Singular in its approach and deeply spiritual in its concerns, Coming Alive is a book I’ll be pressing onfriends and foes alike.” —Maria Semple, author of Where’d You Go, Bernadette and Today Will Be Different

The Reversal of Desire: Uses the force of Forward Motion to directly face pain instead of attempting to avoid it by hiding in a comfort zone. A good feature that this book does provide is a helpful summary, and a Q & A session, on each tool at the end of chapters. To date, he has shared mental health lessons with top writers, actors, producers, CEOs, and other creatives in America. About Phil Stutz’s Book The ToolThey have identified four fundamental problems that prevent people from living the lives to the fullest: There is something indescribably beautiful about living life in integrity. The tools Barry and Phil teach in Coming Alive gave me the courage and clarity to align myself with the truth—no matter how hard or painful it seemed at the time.” —Gwyneth Paltrow

By combining 60 years of hands-on working experience using the elements of Jungian psychology with the kind of practical approach found in Ellis' Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy, Psychiatrist Phil Stutz and Psychotherapist Barry Michels have designed an innovative approach to help clients suffering from Depression, Anxiety, Insecurities, Past Hurts and Difficult Problems find Innovative & Spiritual Solutions. They believe that Traditional Time-Proven Therapy – which though effective, focuses too extensively on the causes of the problem and not on finding a permanent solution.

That being said, I understand that the majority of people in the world have a very different point of view. As a therapist I'm willing to meet anybody where they are at. If sprinkling in a little new age sparkle helps the medicine go down, and helps the client find empowerment and make healthy life changes, then by all means, let's bust out the healing flavor crystals. Jeopardy - When you don't want to use the tools, picture yourself having run out of time. This is a tool to give willpower to keep focused on the next task.

The tools in Coming Alive help you connect to the Life Force and harness the energy and will to combat Part X. These are tools of ascendance—they activate your aspirational self; they spark creativity and resilience; they help you to transcend the mire of negative thoughts and circumstances and align with a powerful ally that unites us in our common desire to live lives of meaning and engagement. These tools are emotional game changers. They do nothing less than deliver you to your best and most powerful self.”—Kathy Freston, author of Quantum Wellness There is something indescribably beautiful about living life in integrity. The tools Barry and Phil teach in Coming Alive gave me the courage and clarity to align myself with the truth—no matter how hard or painful it seemed at the time. It’s an incredibly fulfilling and meaningful way to live.” —Gwyneth Paltrow Each tool is pretty solid and easily implemented, even if you don’t buy into its fueled-by-a-higher-power premise. Overall, the book is worth the read, but I’d recommend taking with you an additional tool of “take-what–fits-and-leave-the-rest-behind.” At times, the authors’ explanations and conclusions can feel a bit forced and hand-waved, but nothing that the tools of The Reversal of Desire and Grateful Flow (see above) can’t handle.

So what are the Tools? Conceptually, Stutz describes each of them as a simple step, an action or a bit of forward motion. They can change your inner state almost immediately, according to Stutz, taking unpleasant experiences and thoughts and transforming them into opportunities. Stutz says his Tools “turn problems [in]to possibilities,” and give people the propulsive feeling that they can make big changes. In practice, the Tools are visualization exercises. In Stutz, each Tool is accompanied by cards with hand-drawn illustrations that, according to Stutz, render even the biggest, most complicated concepts into something manageable. PHIL: Definitely I'm standing on his shoulders, yes, and it's a privilege. But there tends to be a circularity in the Jungian unconscious, and sometimes, you can't afford that. How do you approach the unconscious with specific goals in mind that speak to specific problems you're having? This is where The Tools come in. PHIL: We can joke about therapy taking 30 years, but most therapists really want to be helpful. I only ask you to try The Tools and observe. I was really interested by the ideas is this book, mostly because they are extensions of a lot of things I've been thinking about lately. The section about consumers vs creators particularly hit home, as lately I've felt especially beat down by the barrage of ads every single place I turn in life and the realization that their sole purpose is to create dissatisfaction.