January 18, 2017
Interview with Barry Michels, author of the book The Tools
Mike Carruthers: In the desire to fix our problems and achieve our goals there’s often an underlying assumption.
Barry Michels: Which is that somehow we should be able to fix things permanently – when in fact the problems that we have recur over and over and over again.
Psychotherapist Barry Michels, author of the book The Tools…
And we need to accept that and accept that life is effort. You can do it and if you do it you’ll feel fulfilled. But the idea that there’s some sort of magic bullet that you can swallow that will absolve you of the problems completely is just a fantasy.
Everyone has negative thoughts that sabotage success and happiness.
Negative thinking can take the form of worry; it can take the form of vicious self-criticism. You need some way of dispelling those negative thoughts. And if you’ve ever been awake at 2 in the morning you know that the power of positive thinking is a joke – because negative thoughts have much more power. When I try to think positively the negative thoughts just laugh at me.
So how do we control negative thinking so we can get on with our lives?
It turns out that the best way to dispel negative thinking is actually gratitude. It clears your mind completely and clears a force in your heart that feels appreciative for the myriad ways in which you are actually supported by the universe.
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