46 The Tool(S)

I had to buy this book. The Tools was written by two of the most famous people in Hollywood who nobody has ever heard of (outside of the movie business). Psychiatrist, Phil Stutz and psychotherapist, Barry Michels, are the go-to guys if you want to win an Academy Award. That is if you can get an appointment. But their book promises that those not lucky enough to make it past the gatekeepers can learn how to reach the summit on their own. It´s easy. Just follow The Yellow Brick Road.

• Tool #1 Reversal of Desire (the Higher Force: The Force of Forward Motion) 

This one boils down to getting out of your comfort zone, embracing pain, going straight through it to endless possibilities (there are diagrams to make it easier to understand). Joseph Campbell covered much the same ground in his book Hero With a Thousand Faces (or was it ten thousand?) when he wrote:  you have to go through hell to get to the boon.

• Tool #2 Active Love (the Higher Force: Outflow)

In a nutshell: get out of the maze (read "the trap of the past"). Realize you can only change yourself, not anyone else and accept them as they are. Only then will you have the freedom to go on with life.

• Tool #3 Inner Authority (Higher Force: The Force of Self-Expression)

Get over your insecurity by realizing you have a second self: a shadow. Don´t wait for approval from the outside. Use your inner authority to turn your shadow into the cool, confident person you want to be.


There are a couple of more tools, such as, Grateful Flow and Jeopardy. And finally the conclusion: Faith in Higher Forces and The Fruits of a New Vision. But before I got to them I wondered if it wouldn´t be better to go to a good shrink and talk things over. Now how can I use my new-found smarts (tools 1, 2 and 3) to wangle an appointment with either Dr Stutz or Mr Michels? Then Sundance here we come.

Lesson 46:  You can´t tell a book by its cover

Next week: 47: Two Tin Cans & a String