A Master Class in Gremlin-Taming: The Absolutely Indispensable Next Step for Freeing Yourself from the Monster of the Mind

by Rick Carson

Overview

From the author of Taming Your Gremlin®, "the quintessential work on how to get out of your own way," comes a roadmap for even deeper self-discovery (Michael Port, New York Times–bestselling author).
Rick Carson's Taming Your Gremlin has helped hundreds of thousands of people combat the inner saboteur lurking in the recesses of every human mind. Now Rick takes you to the next level by revealing new ways to escape your gremlin. Rick shows how to access the "natural you"—a place of clear feelings and pure potential. He also shares his powerful I CREATE method: seven keys for creating rewarding relationships, which our gremlins love to mess with. With wit, wisdom, and plenty of real-life vignettes, Rick helps gremlin-tamers at all levels give gremlins less than the time of day.
"[Rick's] writing so real, so inviting, so compassionate, and so playful. With this magical combination, Rick has packed this book full of practical information that I put to use immediately! . . . A must-read for ANYONE who is interested in a satisfying journey through life." —Mary Olk, PhD, CPCC, personal development coach and psychologist
"Since at least the time of the Buddha, the 'Mind' has been recognized as the necessary ground of enlightenment, but also of all confusion and distress . . . Gremlin-taming is a most worthy ambition, and Rick Carson is a most worthy advocate and ally."—Jimmie Dale Gilmore, singer, songwriter, and three-time Grammy Award nominee

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061747373
Publisher:	HarperCollins e-books
Publication date:	06/11/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	210
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Rick Carson's seminal work, Taming Your Gremlin®, has been translated into several languages and has been a consistent seller since 1984. For thousands in a cross-section of cultures and circumstances, the Gremlin-Taming Method serves as a foundation for responding to everyday challenges and for living a satisfying life.

For over thirty-five years Rick has been a counselor, personal and executive coach, and trainer for mental health professionals, businesses, and nonprofit organizations. His work is used in the training of psychotherapists, personal and executive coaches, substance abuse specialists, corrections personnel, teachers, corporate executives, clergy, and others. He is a former faculty member at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School and a clinical member and approved supervisor for the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.

Rick is the founder of the Gremlin Taming Institute in Dallas, Texas.

Read an Excerpt

A Master Class in Gremlin-Taming(R)
The Absolutely Indispensable Next Step for Freeing Yourself from the Monster of the Mind

By Rick Carson HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.
Copyright © 2008
Rick Carson
All right reserved.

ISBN: 9780061148408

Chapter One

The Bottom Line

Bundles of shingles and buckets of tar grow heavy quickly, and while the boxcars we spent hour after hour loading offered some shade, they blocked any hope of a breeze. Summer was half over, and I was glad I'd return to Texas Tech in the fall. For Jim Turnbow and the other dock men, there would likely be no reprieve.

Jim Turnbow had been to prison twice for assault, and every man on the dock knew it. He was forty-five plus and tall, with shiny, wavy black hair. He had a wind-worn face, long sinewy muscles that reminded me of steel cables, and a body swirled with tattoos, including one of a panther on his right forearm. He moved with an undaunted sureness, which I found intimidating. I never saw Jim smile, and he rarely spoke. Jim and I and the rest of the men on the loading dock got a twenty-five-minute lunch break every day. Though the West Texas wind blew hot and dusty, we ate outside on the dock to escape the smell of burning tar inside the factory.

One day, as I sat on the dock practically merging with my baloney sandwich, I sensed Jim's eyes on me. I risked a glance at him. He was squatting directly across from me, eating a turnip with his pocketknife. His dark eyes were locked in on me. I felt small and brand spanking new, and I tried to grin. My face wouldn't cooperate, and I felt my liptwitching. Then, in a crisp, quick tone, Jim spat out, "Rick!" His cold black eyes pointed right at mine.

My heart skipped a beat, and my soul snapped to attention. Until then, Jim had spoken to me only rarely and briefly, and he had never called me by name.

Jim gestured with his knife as he spoke, his thumb pressing a slice of turnip against the flat side of the blade.

"When you're dead . . ." He leaned toward me, his already level gaze became a piercing glare, and his hand, the knife, and the turnip slice began quivering with the crazed conviction of a man being thunderstruck by the truth. Wide-eyed, I gulped.

"When you're dead . . ." he repeated with greater force, his eyes glazed and wilder now.

"When you're dead . . ." he said again, through clenched teeth this time, and louder, "you're a dead peckerhead." Then he got up and walked back into the factory.

Continues...

Excerpted from A Master Class in Gremlin-Taming(R) by Rick Carson Copyright © 2008 by Rick Carson. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments     xiii
Introduction: Before You Begin This Book     xv
The Bottom Line     1
Birth and Death     3
One Breath at a Time     5
The Mind Is a Terrible Thing     6
True Love and Your Heart of Hearts     8
True Love     8
Your Heart of Hearts     9
Your Gremlin     11
Good Advice     14
Your Heart, the Natural You, Your Hypnotic Pre-Convictions, and Your Advertising     18
The Whole Person Diagram     18
Hypnotic Pre-Convictions About How the World Works     26
Four Key Questions     30
So Let's Review     32
The Gremlin-Taming Method Revisited     35
The Basics of Pleasure     49
The Art of Graceful Change     50
Creating Rewarding Relationships     51
Intention     53
More on the Mind     63
Realms of Awareness     64
An Intentional Stroll (A Walking Meditation)     67
Connection     71
A Useful Continuum     72
Playing with Options     74
Breathe, Dammit, Breathe     75
Peeling the Onion     78
A Word About Responsible Semantics     80
About Eyes and Ears     87
Connect With Each Step     89
Respect     96
Process and Content     97
Planning and Doing     105
Get Your Intention Clear     107
Environment     110
Authenticity     124
The Power of No     127
Anger     128
Resolving Conflict Constructively     130
Knowing and Knowing About     138
Trust     141
Reminiscing     143
Reminders     149
Experience     151
A Breathing Meditation: An Opportunity to Practice I CREATE     154
I CREATE as a Checklist     162
A Blast from the Past: Revisit and Re-Decide     164
The Power of Until Now     170
Serving Your Heart     173
So Let's Review     179
A Note to Jim     183
It's Been a Slice     185

What People are Saying About This

Craig Hall

“A Master Class in Gremlin-Taming(R) is filled with insightful, power-packed wisdom. It opened up many perspectives for me.”

Jimmie Dale Gilmore

“Gremlin-taming is a most worthy ambition, and Rick Carson is a most worthy advocate and ally.”

John Mahon

“This new book will be even more helpful in taming that nasty little Gremlin that...all performers carry around.”

Mary Olk

“A must-read. . .for professionals. . .[and] for ANYONE interested in a satisfying journey through life.”

Michael Port

“A Master Class in Gremlin-Taming(R) has a subtle and powerful effect.”

Editorial Reviews

Gremlin-taming is a most worthy ambition, and Rick Carson is a most worthy advocate and ally.

Jimmie Dale Gilmore

This new book will be even more helpful in taming that nasty little Gremlin that...all performers carry around.

John Mahon

A must-read. . .for professionals. . .[and] for ANYONE interested in a satisfying journey through life.

Mary Olk

A Master Class in Gremlin-Taming(R) is filled with insightful, power-packed wisdom. It opened up many perspectives for me.

Craig Hall

A Master Class in Gremlin-Taming(R) has a subtle and powerful effect.

Michael Port