Publisher's Synopsis
No one can avoid stress. Anyone who becomes emotionally skillful can reduce or eliminate feelings of tension, pressure, and strain in less than a minute, feel better even energized, and then proceed with tasks at hand. You deserve to know how to do that. I did. It saved my life and enriches it still. Everything you read here I personally experienced, often much to my astonishment. Yes, I inherited the vulnerability to stress-induced depression/mood swings. So, if skillful emotionality helps me it will REALLY make a difference for anyone without this vulnerability.
Warm, personal and conversational yet informative, LET'S PREVENT...exposes the tremendously harmful effect on our children, our young people, and ourselves of the stigma on crying, yes, crying, which tells us among other things that only weaklings cry, that despite the fact that crying is our major stress-reduction biological process. To varying degrees, each of us is damaged by our inability to cry off tension, pressure, strain, and emotional pain as needed and when convenient. Even our society and politics are impacted. For some of us the stigma is deadly; it nearly was for me. At this time of worldwide tragedy and turmoil we need to know the wide range of benefits crying yields and understand how simply by silently listening to each other and welcoming tears we can use this amazing biological process to benefit ourselves and one another. Packed with anecdotes, LET'S PREVENT... is a self-help instructional manual that includes a detailed description of how we can use an Equal-Time Format and a simple set of skills to help each other activate previously controlled/suppressed emotions so that each of us can cry off "accumulated" stress. If we regularly use tears, alone but especially with family/friends/practitioners of skillful emotionality, we can keep our stress level low. This helps us avoid activating the fight-or-flight response and acting first, thinking later...regret and remorse are a frequent result. Here are a few of the stress-busting benefits, all of which I experience: A. fast relief from feelings of pressure and strain (stress); less worrying, apprehension, and anxiety; more realistic optimism; more energy and greater moment-to-moment peace of mind; B. temporary relief from both mild and intensely painful feelings/emotions such as confusion, irritation, frustration, loneliness, unhappiness, sadness, grief, anguish, anger, fear, regret, and remorse; C. less mood-driven compulsive and impulsive decision-making. TOPICS INCLUDE: 1. our inherent need, from infancy onward, to receive from others periods of silent, warm attention; 2. why our ability to consciously experience our full range of emotions by crying yields emotional intelligence, resilience, and tolerance; 3. why our children and young people desperately need our attention for talk and tears and how receiving both on a regular basis helps them be themselves without fear, a prerequisite for avoiding harmful behaviors; 4. how progressive emotional desensitization-the process that possesses enormous value but when misapplied because of stigma is endangering us all - can be reversed; 5. the terrible dilemma of boys and men; 6. the biological process of crying and -A. self-awareness, consciousness, emotions, empathy and wisdom; B. information/emotion integration; C. the potentially deadly effects of automatic positive thinking; D. use of prayer, meditation, and mindfulness; and E. risks associated with meditation and with the practice of skillful emotionality, and so so much more. Read about the proven benefits of crying - excerpts from a 2017 Healthline article https: //www.healthline.com/health/benefits-of-cryingReviewed by Timothy Legg, Ph.D., written by Ashley Marcin April 14, 2017. QUESTIONS, COMMENTS? Email me at: pamelaamaccabee@gmail.com and I will get in touch with you! Subject line BOOKS
