Barry Michels

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Coming Alive

In The Tools, Barry Michels and Phil Stutz revolutionized the world of personal growth and self-actualization by offering doable, dynamic actions that transformed challenges into opportunities for change. Now, in Coming Alive, they provide four vital tools for tapping into the Life Force that resides within each of us—a wellspring of positive energy that is the source of creativity, renewal, confidence, and engagement. The first step in gaining mastery over one’s life is identifying the enemy within, which Michels and Stutz have named Part X. This formidable adversary is a shape-shifter—it may be the voice in your head that is a torrent of negativity, persuading you of the futility of finding love, starting a business, or pursuing a creative passion; it may sap you of energy, convincing you that your inner resources are limited; it may take the form of outside forces that conspire against you. In whatever guise it appears, Part X aims to derail your progress, keep you small and stuck, and defeat hope. 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. Drawing insights from their decades of psychotherapeutic practice, their lived experience, and their moving and generous understanding of our interconnectedness, Michels and Stutz have created a paradigm-shifting guide to achieving optimal mental health and spiritual well-being.