The Brain Mechanic
A Quick and Easy Way to Tune Up the Mind and Maximize Emotional Health
By: Spencer Lord
Published: January 3, 2011
Format: Paperback, 144 pages
ISBN-10: 0757315569
ISBN-13: 978-0757315565
Publisher: HCI Health Communications, Inc.
"Basically, cognitive behavioral therapy demonstrates that our thoughts - not external things like people, events, or situations - cause our feelings and behaviors", writes educator, consultant, and seeker Spencer Lord, in his empowering and insightful book The Brain Mechanic: A Quick and Easy Way to Tune Up the Mind and Maximize Emotional Health. The author describes how people possess the power to change the way they think, perceive life, and respond to stress, resulting in real transformation in their lives.
Spencer Lord takes the mystery out of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in a readable, and and easy to understand manner. For a topic as potentially complex in explanation as CBT, this engaging and accessible format is important for the reader. The author presents the concept as a series of very practical and simple to perform exercises. With these useful and helpful exercises as examples of how the process of CBT works, Spencer Lord is then able to provide the more theoretical framework as to why the concept of cognitive behavioral therapy is so effective for the individual. For the author, the entire journey is based on changing the way the individual thinks, with the end results being the important goal.
Spencer Lord (photo left) presents a complicated subject in easy to understand manual, using a tool box analogy. The four overall sections include:
* The cognitive model
* Change your beliefs
* Exercises for living
* Five quick steps to emotional well-being
Utilizing this logical, and module based approach helps the reader to discover the concept of CBT as one that changes how the world is perceived, and then followed up with advice for making that transformation a reality. Spencer Lord provides leading edge brain science as support for the concepts, describing effectively how and why the change is partially a function of how the human brain works. In effect, Spencer Lord teaches the reader that even the brain can be rewired to improve the quality of a person's life. The presentation is not only about the brain, but also includes a very important emotional component that offers a sense of spiritual peace with the changes as they happen. The entire book guides the reader to release the dangerous negative emotions that prevent a breakthrough to a happier and more fulfilling life.
For me, the power of the book is how Spencer Lord presents the very complex topic of cognitive behavioral therapy in accessible and understandable language. The author also shares the techniques for utilizing CBT effectively to make real progress in breaking free of the old barriers and obstacles to changing behavior. Whether the emotional problem is depression and anxiety, addiction, weight issues, or mood, the exercises offer release from the old patterns of self-destructive behavior. To his credit, Spencer Lord admits that his methods are not for the person with severe emotional problems. For those individuals, the author recommends seeking professional guidance.
For the average person, however, this book is an excellent primer in how the brain functions, how the brain can be taught to think and react differently, and how real breakthroughs and insights can be achieved successfully. Spencer Lord also shares his personal journey, making the book a revelatory experience as well. For business people, the advice for enhancing communication skills, overcoming fears of failure, and enriching relationships is both helpful and easy to apply in everyday life. In the end, the discovery that anxiety only breeds more anxiety, and that positive emotions also multiply in a good way, offers a basis for overcoming obstacles in one's own life.
I highly recommend the practical and outlook altering book The Brain Mechanic: A Quick and Easy Way to Tune Up the Mind and Maximize Emotional Health by Spencer Lord, to anyone seeking a useful and results oriented approach to changing negative emotions and behavior into positive outcomes in life. The author offers a solutions based approach that provides a system of procedures for creating real change.
Read the perceptive and concise book The Brain Mechanic: A Quick and Easy Way to Tune Up the Mind and Maximize Emotional Health by Spencer Lord, and put the power of cognitive behavioral therapy to work for you. The result will be a happier life, filled with more confidence and deeper emotional relationships.
