The Tools
by Phil Stutz and Barry Michels
Two therapists share five visualization tools for specific problems: the Reversal of Desire for avoidance, Active Love for grievance, Inner Authority for insecurity, the Grateful Flow for negativity, and Jeopardy for discipline. The tools are odd and specific, and many readers find one or two indispensable. The spiritual framing may not be for everyone.
Read it if…
you want concrete, in-the-moment techniques rather than insight about your past.
Skip it if…
talk of 'higher forces' puts you off; it is woven through.
Three things you will actually use
- Use the tool at the moment of the problem, not later.
- Pair each tool with its trigger.
- Expect the tools to feel strange; use them anyway.
Do this first
Try the Reversal of Desire the next time you avoid something: picture the pain, move toward it, say 'bring it on.'
Our verdict
Unusual and practical; pick the one or two tools that fit and ignore the cosmology.
Compare with other Resilience books
Greenlights
Matthew McConaughey · Resilience
Entertaining and sincere; a memoir, not a manual.
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Bessel van der Kolk · Resilience
Essential, serious and not light reading; a book, not a treatment.
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Relentless
Tim S. Grover · Resilience
Intense and narrow; a window into obsession, not a recommendation of it.
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