Past Present: How to Stop Making the Same Relationship Mistakes---and Start Building a Better Life

by Scott Vaudrey, MD

Overview

Past Present shows readers how to change destructive relationship patterns by identifying the root issues from their pasts and finding the source of healing for their unique stories.

No matter where we are in life, both our greatest joys and our deepest heartaches are linked to the people in our lives--family, friends, or coworkers. And each of us brings both beauty and brokenness into relationships. The origins of our beauty and our brokenness often can be traced to the patterns of relating we learned when we were young. We relate to others in ways that reflect the distorted messages we heard and internalized earlier in life. The good news is this: we don't have to remain stuck in these patterns. In Past Present, Scott Vaudrey equips us with tools and a strategy to

• identify the messages we've internalized--both as children and as adults--from the influential people in our lives;
• refute and repair the distorted messages that led to unhelpful patterns now holding us back; and
• recognize the productive messages we've internalized and maximize the strengths they built into us along the way.

We can't undo yesterday. But we can do the rest of our lives better.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781400213382
Publisher:	Nelson, Thomas, Inc.
Publication date:	07/28/2020
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	1,144,214
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.62(d)

About the Author

In his roles as an ER doctor, pastor, and consultant, Scott Vaudrey has helped thousands of people improve their relationships at work and at home. Today Scott is an executive coach, speaker, and trainer who lives with his wife, September, in southern California near their grown kids and their grandkids. For more information about Scott, see scottvaudrey.com.

Table of Contents

An Invitation to Do the Rest of Your Life Better xv

Part 1 Why Story Matters

Chapter 1 Story: Why Bother? 3

Chapter 2 What Is Story? 13

Part 2 Understanding Your Story

Chapter 3 Characters: Understanding the Who of Your Story 33

Chapter 4 Positive Plot Points: Maximizing the Best Parts of Your Story 59

Chapter 5 Negative Plot Points: Healing the Hard Parts of Your Story 73

Chapter 6 Automatic Responses: Taming the Reactions from Your Past 109

Part 3 A New and Better Story

Chapter 7 Write a New Plot 145

Chapter 8 Tell Your Story 161

Chapter 9 Expressive Writing 187

Chapter 10 Further Steps on the Journey 203

Do the Rest of Your Life Better 219

Acknowledgments 223

Notes 225

About the Author 231