Anyone who knows me well knows how profound an influence my Aunt Linda has had on my life. Her curiosity about human behavior stems in large part from trying to understand her own struggles, and while her search led her to earn a PhD in clinical psychology, this book is completely accessible to people from all walks of life. In other words, it's practical, not academic. Linda helped scores of patients during her years of private practice, and I've always felt blessed to have access to her insights for more than an hour at a time, since she is a true listener and has a brilliant way of using questions, stories and analogies to broaden my perception of what is possible in my own thoughts and behavior. Her willingness to share her learning experiences here results in an incredibly candid collection of lessons, which prove memorable and useful when she pairs them with the "tools" she associates with each story. I've passed along some of these lessons to friends over the years as I interpret them, and I'm delighted Linda is now sharing them all with a wider audience in her own words.