The Tools: Transform Your Problems Into Courage, Confidence and Creativity
Written and Narrated By: Barry Michels and Phil Stutz
Length: 7 hrs and 13 mins
Tools you’ll need for a lifetime—just USE them!
I was challenged by the authors to actually listen and use rather than simply consume. I had to admit, up to that point of the audiobook, I’d been only giving half my attention, waiting for something to jump out at me as a quick fix.
There are no quick fixes in The Tools, and the authors admit that most unabashedly. These are things that we need to apply to our lives day by day, sometimes hour by hour or minute by minute even.
Here you’ll find the tool that works on fear-based stumbling blocks (stay in the moment, embrace the actual feelings that go hand in hand with fear, and do let go of the future aspect of what might come to pass). There’s a tool to combat hatred and anger (get a load of this: one must project absolute love. How hard is that? Turns out, it’s actually pretty easy, and it feels good too!). And what about those times when you feel like the biggest impostor in the world? Look for your Shadow, that ugly kid who could never do, never say, anything right. If you join yourself to that Shadow and tell yourself you’re a force to be reckoned with, you’ll give yourself a chance of success, a chance at reintegration (okay, I’ve tried this one, and for me, it’s HARD!).
My favorite is finding the flow of gratefulness which is used for a worry-driven life. You feel like the worst is going to happen no matter what you do? That there’s too much going on, and you’ll never get a handle on it? And then when all turns out okay, it’s on to the next set of huge worries? There, that’s a biggie for me. But you start focusing what the authors call the organ of gratitude on to what’s good in your life, or what awful things are NOT happening, and you start catching breaks in all the worries. You build new pathways for your brain to function from. I’ve been told this before, have heard it before, but combined with the other tools, I truly appreciate it all.
And no matter what, we’re all human, and if you try the tools and find relief, find a great life through using them? Chances are… you’re going to stop using them because we all like the concept of a done deal. Wake up! Guess what? We are all works in progress, and that nice new kitchen of yours will have to be cleaned today, tomorrow, the next day, and the next. Being human isn’t easy, and if you stop using the tools and fail, there’s will power and the idea of Jeopardy. We have to remember that our lives are finite, there’s an end to our time on the planet, and just how do we want to end our days? Sad and lonely on our death beds, or filled with peace and fulfillment?
Yes, ya have to think about what your death is going to be like, or you’ll never get off your duff. I know, I know: I keep saying “You” when I most definitely mean I and We. It’s hard, but The Tools has me hopeful, even though I’ve had to listen to it three times so far (so much for consuming in one big bite), and it’ll be downloaded in my Library for a long time to come.
Two warnings: While Phil Stutz is the guru who really thought and worked the tools through with his clients, he’s not the best narrator in the world. When it comes to his end of the performance, for lack of a better word, his delivery is halting and is rather monotonous. Still, pay attention as the man definitely knows what he’s talking about.
Second, The Tools is based on faith in higher sources. You don’t have to call it God (the authors don’t!); you can call it the universe, the source, or go the higher powers route. But there is definitely a force that works with us as we struggle-through-adversity rather than whine-about-adversity. The greater forces aren’t concerned with what we acquire so much as who we become.
So anyway—this isn’t a book I’d recommend listening to just once. You’ll need several listens to it, and if you think there’s a quick fix book out there? I’m starting to question that.
Looks like I miiiiiiight be in it for the long haul…!
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