A Master Class in Gremlin Taming - Book Review

Book Review:

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

Rick Carson, Collins, 2008

By Bradley Foster – Giant Steps Coaching

One of the joys of being a coach is reading books that help me become a better coach and have the added advantage of helping me as a person. Rick Carson’s book is one of these volumes that has a two fold advantage and it was a pleasure to read on both levels. Reading it gave me useful tools that I can use to help clients and it gave me useful reminders that I can put into practice each day.

Rick Carson’s Taming your Gremlin is a classic book of self-development, written over 25 years ago. It has helped hundreds of thousands quiet negative voices in their heads that hold them back. Although Rick has revised the original work, his Master Class goes deeper with new techniques for freeing yourself from the “Monster of the Mind”. Rather than focusing on what’s going on in our heads, the Master Class is more focused on being genuine with ourselves and responsible in our relationships. His writing couldn’t be more clear, his techniques more elegant, practical and effective for achieving intimacy with yourself and others in your life. Time and time he reminds us to focus our awareness and being aware of our breath. So let’s take this one breath at a time.

One of Rick’s techniques of interpersonal communication is called Peeling the Onion. If you follow his system, even in conflictual situations, you will reach a deeper level of understanding and communication with your partner.

Quite simply, the system is:

Simply Notice

Describe

Hush

Breathe

Listen

Or as he playfully refers to it: SNDHBL. It’s hard to describe how powerful this system is when communicating with others. Simply noticing refers to what is true for you in the moment rather than what you are thinking which tends to be more about what was or the way you would like things to be. This is the authenticity about yourself that is so important to describe to your partner. It takes a lot of practice to get this down. Having said what you notice, hush, breathe and listen creates a space for your partner to reciprocate. Beautiful. Simple. Elegant.

If you haven’t read Taming your Gremlin, you will find this book gives you enough of a review of the basic principles so you won’t feel like you are missing something. His chapter on hypnotic preconceptions is especially good. I love the way he talks about beliefs, “remember, beliefs, even the noblest of them are just opinions you have developed loyalty to.” Hypnotic preconceptions are how we have figured out how the world works. It’s our stories, our beliefs and they are almost always wrong. Our beliefs keep us from being genuine, of living a heart-felt existence and gets in the way of intimacy with those closest to us. This book is a guide to showing you how to develop greater intimacy.

Rick’s book reminds me how simple effective, genuine communication can be when we can get out of the way. It’s all about being heart-centered rather than being in your head where gremlins and hypnotic preconceptions hold sway. Rick provides an elegant methodology to living a responsible, authentic and self aware life.