Grappling with Part X (Phil Stutz)
\u201cIf there is this part of you that you think is inferior, the weak spot, something you're ashamed of, etc., it's one of these things where if you believe it's true, there's a part of the human soul, we call it part X. It doesn't want you to have any kind of forward motion,\xa0doesn't like it,\xa0it wants to render your life failure.\xa0It wants you to never re change your potentials.\xa0And\xa0it wants you to hate yourself, which is the biggest thing.\xa0So, the genesis of the tools came from the idea, we have to be active about dealing with this.\u201d\nSo says Phil Stutz, the creator of the Tools. You might know Phil from his bestselling book of the same name, or its sequel Coming Alive. Or you might know him from the Netflix documentary Stutz, which is a profile of him as a beloved psychotherapist who doesn\u2019t practice in a particularly traditional way. What you might not know is that Phil is actually a psychiatrist\u2014he received his MD from NYU and then abandoned the standard approach, feeling like he wasn\u2019t helping patients at all. He created The Tools for exactly that: To provide practices for people to move through life\u2019s obstacles, rather than just listening to them talk about them. Ad nauseum. One of the things that I love most about Phil\u2019s approach is the way in which he uses the spiritual, or what he calls \u201cHigher Forces.\u201d Foundationally, he believes that a beneficent universe will move in as soon as you put yourself in motion, unlocking creativity and growth. His latest book, Lessons for Living: What Only Adversity Can Teach You, is a beautiful collection of essays about aging, hard times, and obstacles. It\u2019s equal parts moving and practical, much like Phil himself.\xa0\n\nMORE FROM PHIL STUTZ:\nLessons for Living: What Only Adversity Can Teach You\nThe Tools: Five Tools to Help You Find Courage, Creativity, and Willpower\u2014and Inspire You To Live Life in Forward Motion\nComing Alive: Four Tools to Defeat Your Inner Enemy, Ignite Creative Expression & Unleash Your Soul\u2019s Expression\n\u201cStutz\u201d on Netflix\nThe Tools Website\n \nTo learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy\n \n Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices