Emotional Resilience: Simple Truths for Dealing with the Unfinished Business of Your Past (Title Change from How to Get Out of Your Own Way)

Everyone experiences major upsets in life--the death of a partner or parent, divorce, heartache, loss of a job, and other traumas.  Our  resilience in such instances often predicts the course of our recovery; it is what motivates us to rebuild, to spring back from hardship, to grow from painful experiences, and to take adversity in stride.  In EMOTIONAL RESILIENCE:  Simple Truths for Dealing with the Unfinished Business of Your Past, Dr. Viscotta leading authority on emotional health and the best-selling author of nine books on emotional well-beingexplains the simple key to weathering life's emotional ups and downs.  "After working with thousands of clients over the course of more than thirty years, I realized that the secret to emotional soundness is almost always the same," says Viscott.  "We each must tell the truth and resolve hurt feelings at the moment they arise...a remarkably simple idea, but very difficult for most people to put into action." EMOTIONAL RESILIENCE shows why, as difficult as it may sound, telling the truth (both to yourself and to others), is a much healthier option than emotional deception, which always translates into emotional baggage.EMOTIONAL RESILIENCE is based on Viscott's original theories of personality, feelings, defenses, and the natural healing process, which he calls Natural Therapy.  "Our psyche's naturalinclination if we don't interrupt the processis toward mental health," says Viscott.  "The problem is that we have ignored and supressed those natural instincts, at the expense of our emotional freedom."  When we don't express hurt or angry feelings, we create the condition of Emotional Debt.  "Simply put, Emotional Debt means that an unexpressed feeling is still owed its voice," says Viscott.  "That need does not leave you, even when you squelch it; it only mutates into guilt, depression, anger, or stress, growing more distorted over time."  Ultimately, such withholdings result in Toxic Nostalgia, the sudden and often inappropriate emergence of these unresolved, buried feelings into a current situation.  EMOTIONAL RESILIENCE shows that any effective therapy must decrease the volume of stored emotions and prevent newer feelings from being withheld; by coming to know our basic character typedependent, controlling, or competitiveand the defense mechanisms associated with that type, we can begin to change our lives, with or without the use of a therapist.  "In order to heal, you must realize your own power," says Viscott.  "The healing process is only blocked by self-deception and avoidance of the truth, so you are the main reason it fails or succeeds.  Becoming aware of your blocked feelings is the first step toward healing."   Read more