Do you know what it feels like to be “overextended, overburdened, and overwrought,” desperately trying to regain control and a measure of success? Licensed professional counselor Aundi Kobler does, and she knows to push harder isn’t the answer. She offers a new way of being, saying, “Trying softer is the path that leads to true connection and joy.”
Kobler first takes readers on a journey to understand why they live as they do, looking closely at life story, trauma, how the brain works, early attachments, the window of tolerance, and boundaries. She then offers practices to help readers try softer: with their attention, bodies, emotions, internal critic, and resilience. Each chapter is accompanied by Try Softer exercises to implement the knowledge gained. Using her training as a trauma-informed therapist, research from renowned experts past and present, her experiences as a therapist, and her own traumatic past, Kobler provides a helpful, thoughtful guide for “the parts of your soul screaming to be loved in extravagant ways.” Undergirding her professional work is faith in the God whose “heart for us is outrageously gentle.” Readers will come away with a new way of living in the world, a new life of trying softer and “knowing that you are exactly in the place where God has called you.” General readers and mental health professionals will both benefit from this book. (Tyndale Momentum)
About the Author
Ann Byle is author of Chicken Scratch: Lessons on Living Creatively from a Flock of Hens. She is a freelance writer and author of several other books, magazine articles, and reviews. She lives in Grand Rapids, Mich.