Free Yourself: Ten Life-Changing Powers of Your Wise Heart

by Carolyn Hobbs, James Baraz (Foreword by)

Overview

Discover your inherent capacity to overcome obstacles and find unlimited joy—with these quick and easy tools.

Though the voice of our heart may be buried beneath the shouts of our ego and the clamors of our worries, our heart already has all the characteristics of the person we want to be in the world — it's trusting, curious, aware, resourceful, compassionate, kind, grateful, forgiving, truthful, and peaceful. And if we manage to listen deeply, we can access these traits and the strengths they bring.

In an encouraging, uplifting voice, therapist Carolyn Hobbs draws from her years of counseling experience and her spiritual practice to present the liberating truth: each of us has within ourselves the power to release ourselves from fear, from past traumas, from our ingrained habits of mistrust and defensiveness. All we have to do is listen to our wise hearts.

Each chapter in this gentle, pragmatic book focuses on a single power of our heart and contains illustrating examples drawn from real life. Hobbs concludes each chapter with clear tools we can use to develop and apply these strengths amid the challenges of daily life. Busy people of all faiths will be able to use these tools to find freedom and inner peace — to tame anxiety, anger, grief, and despair while awakening fearless love.

Warm and inspiring, Free Yourself maps the path to lasting peace and freedom — a path that absolutely anyone can follow, as the way lies within our own hearts.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781614290810
Publisher:	Wisdom Publications MA
Publication date:	10/07/2014
Pages:	328
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

As author, therapist, teacher, and workshop leader, Carolyn Hobbs has used the heart tools outlined in this book with clients, couples, and workshop students for over thirty years. A licensed marriage and family therapist with a masters degree in humanistic psychology, Hobbs blends her two lifelong passions — Buddhist meditative wisdom and body-centered therapy — into her work, which draws from studies in bioenergetics, Feldenkrais work, Breathwork, as well as Buddhism. This October, Omega Institute in New York will offer Hobbs's five-day Workshop, "Free Yourself: 10 Life-Changing Powers of your Wise Heart," to teach participants the ten heart powers outlined in this book. Based on her first book, JOY, No Matter What (2005), Hobbs began in 2004 teaching Everyday Joy workshops each spring at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in the San Francisco Bay Area and lecturing to professional therapists at U.S. Journal's annual Self and Family Conferences in Santa Fe, NM. Prior to this, she was a visiting professor at Naropa Institute in Boulder, CO, and Ft. Lewis College in Durango, CO. Excerpts and reviews of her first book appeared in such magazines and professional journals as Woman's World, Woman's Day, Shambhala Sun, AHP Perspective, Imagine, and Essence. Certified since 1992 as a body-centered therapist by Gay and Kathlyn Hendricks, she works with clients nationally from her home base in Durango, CO.

Table of Contents

Foreword James Baraz xi

Introduction 1

Part I Freedom from Sabotaging Ego Habits 9

1 Your Trusting Heart: The Power of Conscious Choice 11

Heart Tools for Trusting the Present 33

2 Your Curious Heart: The Power of Simple Questions 37

Heart Tools for Being Curious 53

3 Your Aware Heart: The Power of Responsibility 55

Heart Tools for Awakening 75

4 Your Resourceful Heart: The Power of Fearless Love 79

Heart Tools for Self-Sourcing 102

5 Your Compassionate Heart: The Power of Acceptance 105

Heart Tools for Compassion 136

Part II Bringing Freedom and Inner Peace into the World 139

6 Your Kind Heart: The Power of Generosity 141

Heart Tools for Kindness 165

7 Your Grateful Heart: The Power of Appreciation 169

Heart Tools for Gratitude and Appreciation 186

8 Your Forgiving Heart: The Power of Letting Go 189

Heart Tools for Forgiveness 216

9 Your Truthful Heart: The Power of Integrity 219

Heart Tools for Honesty and Integrity 244

10 Your Peaceful Heart: The Power of Surrender 247

Heart Tools for Inner Peace 264

Conclusion: Coming Home to Freedom 267

Selected Bibliography 277

Acknowledgments 281

Index 285

About the Author 307

Editorial Reviews

None of us escape life without feeling fear, pain, and loss. At times, we all need a helping hand. Free Yourself helps you learn to tenderly hold your heart with your own loving hands.

Jacob Liberman

Carolyn Hobbs writes as though her hair is on fire. She is passionately giving us tools to free ourselves, and she bridges everyday life and freedom with paunchy verve.

Devi Weisenberg

All readers, whether therapists or anyone seeking personal insight and growth, will find Free Yourself a rich resource. Having had the privilege of sponsoring author Carolyn Hobbs for various training events and conferences, I have seen first-hand audiences appreciate the author’s clinical insights and experiential techniques, enthusiastically embracing both. In this book, she distills life-tested approaches to help readers open their minds and hearts to meet life’s challenges with deepening levels of awareness and confidence.

Dan Barmettler

Based on thirty years of helping clients face anxiety, illness, depression, fear, and loss with her special blend of Buddhist wisdom and therapy, author Carolyn Hobbs offers readers of many different faiths a priceless treasure chest of quick, practical tools for awakening presence, kindness, gratitude, compassion, and freedom right in the middle of their busy lives.

Debra Chamberlin-Taylor

"Like a warm and helpful conversation with a wise friend over a cup of tea, Free Yourself wraps the wisdom teachings in stories, humor, and suggestions that gently nudge us toward the freedom inherent in every beat of our heart. Listening will definitely change your life!"

Shoshana Alexander

"A fine and trustworthy guide for healing and heart-centered living! With a supportive and compassionate tone, Ms. Hobbs helps us believe that any one of us, no matter how self-limited or wounded we might be, can finally live with majesty and joy. Waking Up Free is hands-down one of the most empowering books I’ve read in a very long time, definitely a must-have for your personal growth/spiritual growth library."

Janice Lynne Lundy

Author Carolyn Hobbs, in her friendly style, teaches us how easy it can be to step beyond familiar roadblocks and live in freedom and inner peace by asking simple questions, feeling grateful for what is and meeting challenges with compassion. This book will awaken your heart and soul.

Eleanor A. Greenlee

Carolyn Hobbs offers readers a guide for awakening heart wisdom that arises from her years of healing work with others—and her own deep understanding. Free Yourself is filled with poignant vignettes, meditative practices, and reflections that help us to inhabit our lives with the fullness of loving presence.

Tara Brach