MindWorks: A Practical Guide for Changing Thoughts Beliefs, and Emotional Reactions

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.

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.

I grew up learning that I was one very deficient person. As I created my own identity, I took the events of my life as confirmation that I was nothing special, just an average, ordinary messed up human being. After reading Gary's book, however, I've come to realize that I am NOT really one very deficient person. Instead, I'm a HOST of very deficient characters! This book is a great textbook for someone who is looking to understand about the process of the human mind. With concepts drawn from the Ruiz family of books and his own Mastery Course, Gary reduces the nonphysical mind to an objective science. I learned how the mind operates as a buffer between the spiritual reality and the physical reality of the body. I highlighted hundreds of meaningful ideas to incorporate into my own thinking process. I especially liked the stories and analogies Gary used to explain how the mind thinks. As I analytically studied the text, the book did not touch my heart as much as some other books on the subject, but it did register in my head. Since Mind Works comes from Gary's mind, it is more focused on our thinking processes than on our spiritual processes. It provides some great practical ways to watch your mind and brain in action in everyday life. The overall idea I got from the book is: Although understanding how the mind works is very helpful, it will not necessarily change your life. If you want to change your life, you must constantly practice controlling your mind instead of letting it control you. Even though you learned to ride the bike, you still need to practice what you learned to get anywhere. Gary, thanks for explaining all this! Jim K

This is by far THE BEST book I have ever read. It is incredibly accurate in its explanations of why we do the things we do, whether it be sabotaging behaviours, hurtful emotional patterns or holding negative beliefs. Gary provides exercises (yes, real exercises...not meditate and count to 10) to make sure you are successful in your transformation to your true self, your self which operates from a place of respect, kindness, love and joy. I CANNOT recommend this book enough, it is truly life changing. I even emailed Gary to express my thanks to him for writing this. And yes, he messaged back! He is a humble GENUINE teacher (definitely not just in it for the $) who is passionate about his message and his teachings and wants to help people achieve lasting fulfilment and happiness. This book will be one I read daily, over and over again as I still have so much to learn. Please buy this now, you will NOT regret it.....ever!

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. MIND Gary 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. WORKS The 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.

Super bien explicado, muy recomendable

I chose this book out of desperation. I've read so many self help books in order to silence that inner critic, or at least discover ways to live with it. This book helped me understand everything that goes on in my mind and has shown me how to detach from it all, leading to a peaceful beginning. I'm going to read it again, over and over, until the techniques become embedded. Go and read it!

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.