MindWorks: A Practical Guide for Changing Thoughts Beliefs, and Emotional Reactions Paperback – November 30, 2014

After 4 years of weekly trauma therapy I found myself frustrated, stuck & confused. I was experiencing progressively worsening health issues that lead me to being debilitated bed ridden for a year and a half at 45 years old. I was experiencing disassociation due to deep denial that lead my body into somatic shock, emotionally numb & my nervous system so dysregulated that my digestive system was shutting down.I found Gary van Warmerdam March 2020 after searching You Tube for beliefs & values. I watched two videos & was taken aback by the simplicity in his delivery simply explaining what I could not get from years of therapy. My accountant analytical mind was struggling feeling extremely defeated, helpless, hopeless, depressed, with high anxiety, severe pain in my stomach & lower back. Gary explained that he had a career in engineering so I was hopeful he had experienced the same analytic "need to know now" mindset challenges that I had been unsuccessfully experiencing for years due.FINALLY a book that provides PRACTICAL SKILLS & advice that is authentic. Written by Gary van Warmerdam who understands how daunting & dismantling the effects of trauma & emotional pain can be. As I began reading Mind Works I was confident that I was in the right place for the next level of healing that had been skipped over for several years by two different therapists. This book provides a break down of the practical skills necessary to allow the reader to gain a deep understanding that true healing happens within. I was worried that the book wouldn't have more to offer that his You Tube channel but it does!!! By focusing on healing within this book compassionately encourages you to stay committed to the process that will allow you to achieve acceptance, forgiveness & power based self discovery while discharging shame & guilt. Gary explains by taking responsibility for our own actions, pain, tears & frustration it will lead us to take our power back. This is an exceptional self-help book full of practical advice & techniques that will help the reader recognize how the development of self protection can provide numbing relief from emotional pain but at the expense of self acceptance, joy & happiness.On his WEBSITE www.pathwaytohappiness.com Gary generously offers free resources through articles & podcasts that demonstrate his level of expertise he has gained in the last 20 years.Being captivated by his book & spending time increasing my self help knowledge on his website I decided I wanted to take my healing to a deeper level. I decided to sign up for Gary's Self Mastery 1 course for 20 weeks that started May 2020. The course just ended & I am so glad I made the decision to sign up for one of his courses. What a wonderful adventure the last 20 weeks have been shifting myself out of the fog of confusion & into the clarity I had hoped I would find. The online academy community platform allowing us to connect with others was nothing less than a place for connection, unconditional love & support. I will always be grateful for Gary for giving me the skills that have allowed me to search deep within to find my own personal freedom from the defeating somatic experiences of trauma with chronic illness in addition decades of pain & abuse.Thank you Gary for being a GEM of true knowledge grounded in unconditional love. You are making a difference in the world especially during very challenging times we continue to experience in 2020.

Having gone through several self-help books over the years, I was obsessed with thinking there was something wrong with me and I had to fix myself; make myself “better”. Well I found out that there is nothing wrong with me and there was nothing that needed to be fixed with the help of this book.This book, which I hold like another might hold their bible, is nearby so I can grab it any time and open it to understand what is happening inside me (thoughts, feelings) at any given time. Then I can understand, smile and just go on with life.I have had this book for over two years and have read it completely three times and certain chapters several times. By using this book, I was able to open my eyes and see things differently. I also began to change things about myself, including getting rid of some habits. I understood things that I could not before and came to know things about myself I did not even know were there.Please note, I believe this book is no more than a guide to help a person on your own journey. AND I believe, no one will not get there overnight. I didn’t. And you may fall into many self-laid traps and not understand how you got there, until later. This book helped me identify how smart and strong I really am to have become the very person I am and how it may have all happened. I wish the knowledge in this book would had been taught to me in high school.I am so thankful for finding this book. I am also very thankful to the author who wrote it with an obvious vision of how to help others understand the truths about themselves so they can make their own changes and understand what in fact makes them who they are today. I am a much happier person today than I was in the past and most of it is because of this book.

First let me say I have no commercial connection to Gary. I am grateful to Gary for putting this information on the web and doing the hard work of creating a book. I ordered his ebook MindWorks after reading some of his blog posts. It is clear, concise and well written. The book is formatted well for mobile devices and has few if any typographical errors.I have my own experiences with traditional cognitive behavioral counseling methods and self-help strategies. Gary takes a highly complex topic and explains it in ways that allowed me to quickly initiate positive change. His concepts allow me to quickly identify dysfunctional thinking and transform my mind quickly and effectively. His methods allow me to get to the core issues and replace dysfunctional thinking with compassion. I started using his advice before I even finished reading the book and saw immediate results. I anticipate using the strategies outlined in this book for the rest of my life. Thank you Gary for a tremendous resource.

Super bien explicado, muy recomendable

By far the best book I have ever read about the ways the ego structure works and how to identify and transform beliefs in order to be able to live a more happy and fulfilling life.It was an enlightening experience to read it and the practices work in a powerful way. I highly recommend this book from the perspective of someone who has spend a lot of time reading, listening and trying out methods and ideas for "self-change-to-the-better" in the last 15 years or so, as I have always been curious in this field.There are very few books I would recommend - this one is in the top 3 for sure. If you put it into practice (instead of just reading it) it will over time free you and you will discover the loving happy truth you are beneath the layers of the ego structure.I was aware of unconscious beliefs being the foundation for emotions for quite a long time but so far had never found any working tools to a) identify them in depth and b) transform them. This book has those tools, so in my personal opinion it is a real gem and can be of tremendous benefit. I am very grateful towards Gary that he wrote it and shared his wisdom and experience. And I thank my intuition for a) finding it and b) leading me to the decision to buy it.

The book is a game changer for me. It has made a huge difference. As a Christian and a student of the Enneagram I have found ways to incorporate what the author has said with other ways of thinking. It’s truly brilliant what he speaks about. It’s like another piece of the puzzle has been put into place on my journey. Thank you so much for sharing this wisdom with others, I look forward to not being tossed to and fro by these characters in my mind for the next 50 years! Get this book. Perfect for people of all faiths; it’s not religious in nature.

One of my mentors wanted me to focus on a very tiny moment: now.Another one told me that awareness gives choice.Both of them gave good advice.But I missed a system to reach those outcomes more often.Now I've got one.MINDGary Van Warmerdam takes you by the hand and shows you what's inside your mind and how the parts work together. You knew everything of course, it's your home. But you never looked so carefully.And then your hand doesn't feel the same. It's not his hand anymore, he gave you his laserbeam instead. So you can keep up with the exploration. And you know what to do.WORKSThe book won't do it without you... Do the exercises.You can do your day exactly as usual, but inside you will start to "get it". If you want it faster and easier try a few of his online lessons. You know how it is with habits: for new habits to stick the right environment is very helpful.Let the Master come back home.

Clearly written, goes beyond the obvious self help suggestions. Gary is l a bit more practical and realistic than most.