The Power Within

David S. Arnold M.D.

Description

One’s search for a sense of stability in this world can be quite daunting. Have you ever wondered what controls your life? Is it your thoughts, your feelings, or your desires? Is it other people that control your life? If you were able to find a path to self-enlightenment and inner change that would transform your life, what would it be worth to you? Through the use of a simple unified model, this book attempts to explain the behavior and interactions of individuals,
groups, and systems. It presents a unique method that can be used for self-guided personal growth and change. Together, the model and method can be used to obtain greater mental flexibility, power, and stability. The long-term goal is continuous personal growth and change.
As you proceed you will gain a deeper understanding of yourself and of our world. You will also gain new tools that you can use when dealing with the people and the systems that surround and impact you. You can use these tools to teach others about your nature and about their own natures as well.
Along with stories, quotes, case studies, thought provoking information, carefully worked-out questions and suggestions the author provides in-depth guidelines for self-enlightenment and inner change that will transform the reader’s life. He offers clear, rational, practical, and reliable insights that will enhance the reader’s ability to make important life decisions.

Sujets

• Santé et bien-être
• Confiance en soi et estime de soi
• Confiance en soi
• Confiance
• Personal Growth
• Self-Esteem
• Self-help

Informations

• Publié par: AuthorHouse
• Date de parution: 07 février 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9798823000536
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

THE POWER WITHIN
 

 
THE ART OF CHANGE AND SELF-THERAPY
 
David S. Arnold, M.D.
 
 

 
 
AuthorHouse™
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.authorhouse.com
Phone: [phone]
 
 
 
 
© 2023 David S. Arnold, M.D. All rights reserved.
 
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.
 
Published by AuthorHouse 02/07/2023
 
ISBN: 979-8-8230-0052-9 (sc)
ISBN: 979-8-8230-0054-3 (hc)
ISBN: 979-8-8230-0053-6 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2023902164
 
 
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
 
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
DEDICATION
I dedicate this book to my mother Dorothy Sinclair Arnold. For without her presence, care, and love I would not be the person I am today and quite simply I would not exist at all. I wish to thank all of my other family members and friends, my current and former patients and my publisher for their precious contributions and undying support. A special thanks to Edward H. Adelson, Professor of Vision Science at MIT for his very gracious permission to use his diagram as presented in chapter three of this work.
To my readers: You are truly unique in our universe. Understanding yourself and others in this ever increasingly complex world is not easy. It is not a subject matter to be taken lightly. This is a critical task for all to embrace. For those who choose to take this topic lightly often suffer the dire consequences of their inattention and all too frequent coincident misdirected action. I have written this book for all of those vital people who seek truth and desire life-long personal growth and change. Those who wish to free themselves from systemic dynamic imprisonment.
Self-change can be difficult but can be very rewarding. It is a process of personal growth and development that enables us to become the person we want to be. Self-change is a journey of self-discovery and growth. It involves challenging our beliefs and developing new ones. It is a process of transformation and growth that can help us to become more successful and happier in life.
Self-change involves challenging our beliefs and developing new ones. By challenging our beliefs and looking at them in a different light, we can learn how to change our attitudes and behaviors. For example, if we believe that we are not capable of achieving success, we can challenge this belief and look at ways to become successful. By doing this, we can begin to see the potential within ourselves and take the necessary steps to achieve success.
We speak of freedom. But if you are working a job that you hate, are in a relationship that you feel is unhealthy for you but feel stuck, if you find yourself rigidly doing things because that’s the way you’ve always done them or were always told to do things that way, and you find yourself mostly inflexible. Then you my friend are not free. True freedom requires the flexibility to adapt to constant change resulting in personal growth. Those who are inflexible will predictably find it exceedingly difficult to grow both emotionally and intellectually. True freedom and happiness will always elude them.
This book, which has gone through several revisions, examines how people and systems operate. At first glance this writing may appear to be somewhat academic in its approach. However, by its conclusion the true efficacy that this book may offer the reader through its direct practical application will hopefully become abundantly apparent and realized. This writing attempts to present a mental model that reveals the core “glue” which holds together individuals, families, systems, and indeed entire nations.
On the cover of this book, I have placed a picture of my son Alex. It was taken during one of our summer vacations at a local beach. He was eleven years old at that time. Behind him stand the beautiful waves of the Atlantic Ocean; with all of their mighty ebbs and flows. Some of those waves created loud crashes as they met the shoreline, while some were nearly silent as they softly merged with the sand. Symbolically, the waves are meant to represent the ebbs and flows of our unconscious minds. As we go through life our thoughts, feelings, emotions, and behaviors tend to either softly or moderately merge with, or violently crash with our immediate environment. In pursuit of understanding our true nature and the true nature of our world, this book explores the structure and power of our unconscious and conscious minds. A model is presented that clarifies how we are constructed as people.
I chose to use a photonegative of my son’s picture to highlight the fact that we all typically sit in absolute darkness. We are most often totally blind to our true natures as we choose who to be at any given moment. I promise you that both the cover and the analogies I have used will make much clearer sense once you have read this book. The fundamental insights provided by this writing will hopefully provide some of the keys you can use to unlock your inner awareness and vision, your mental and emotional power, and your path toward change and self-creation. This book will show you the fundamentals of how to consciously transform yourself. I wish you all the very best on your personal journey!
David
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.     Introduction
2.     The Gyroscopic Model
3.     Our Ability to Change
4.     Quotes Concerning Change
5.     Sigmund Freud’s Tripartite Model
6.     The Ego Defense Mechanisms
7.     Mood, Affect, Emotion, and Temperament
8.     Mood Gone Wrong an d Emotional Laziness
9.     Cognitive Dissonance
10.   Dealing with Stress and Assertiveness
11.   Confront Your Fear
12.   Quotes Concerning Fear
13.   The Gyroscopic Method of Therapy
14.   Relaxation and Meditation Techniques
15.   Self-Therapy
16.   Linda’s Depression
17.   Mark’s Battle with P.T.S.D.
18.   Brenda’s Treatment Dilemma
19.   Roger’s Substance Abuse
20.   Karen’s Bipolar Challenge
21.   Application to Violence and Mass Murder
22.   Application to the Community
23.   Conclusion
Appendix A: Ego Defense Mechanisms
Appendix B : Eugenical Sterilization in the United States
References
1

INTRODUCTION
F OR MANY CENTURIES, SEVERAL REPETITIVE questions regarding our existence have arisen:
Who am I?
Why do I feel the way I do?
Why do I think and behave the way I do?
Why do other people think and behave the way they do?
What really controls a person’s life?
Is it our thoughts, our feelings, or our desires?
Is it our behavior?
Is it our environment?
Is it our genetic make-up?
Is it the way we were raised?
Is it the laws set by society that one feels compelled to follow?
Why are people and systems so frequently resistant to new ideas and so resistant and slow to change?
What if I need to make changes in my life?
Am I really happy with my life?
Can I really change myself or others?
How can I make change happen?
Can things really ever change at all?
The list goes on and on…
Attempting to find answers to these questions many people have searched their inner and outer worlds for the right ‘way’ or ‘path’ to follow. This in the hope of finding their true nature and place in our universe. In response to this identified need, many ways and paths have been created, developed, taught, and instilled throughout the ages. Historically, the developers of those ways and paths have most often used the platforms of philosophy, religion, psychology, therapy, and politics to spread to the masses their various ‘answers’ to life. Many of those answers, right or wrong, have come in the form of beliefs, myths, prose, and doctrines regarding life’s most challenging questions.
Quite often, those teaching the various paths have claimed to have the superior path to follow. This of course is quite absurd. The truth is that there is no one right way or path to follow. There are many paths to many ends. The presence of many paths to follow often leads to the inherent confusion and confounding nature of our life’s journey. In truth life is specific to each of us as individuals based on our own personal desires, needs, circumstances, and experience. Therefore, this book does not attempt to place any one path, philosophy, system of belief, or end above another. Which path to follow must ultimately be chosen by the individual to meet their own particular needs and desires within the context of their life circumstance.
One’s chosen path is often best woven and crafted within the context of one’s own set of evolving circumstances and personal vision of their desired future. By examining the core of who we are, using a structured model, the aim of this book is to teach a powerful perspective and provide several tools that can be used to obtain deeper self-enlightenment, personal growth, and inner change. It reveals a method that can be used to overcome the many obstacles that hinder our ability to develop both greater mental flexibility and emotional stability. If for some reason one feels compelled to refer to this method as a way or path, as you will soon see, th