"The Mountain is You" Book Review
Daniel Crosby • September 25, 2024
“The Mountain is You” by Brianna Wiest is a solid self-help book. Its premise is that the biggest problem you have is YOU.
Underline the word SELF in self-help.
There’s a lot of truth to this. I find our culture to be increasingly victim oriented. You know…It’s “the man” keeping me down. It’s my childhood and bad parents that hold me back. It’s old trauma that keeps me from being free.
While these things may be true, the greater truth is that YOU are the one who must overcome them. No one else (on this side of heaven) is going to come rescue you from your hurt. No one else can make you heal.
Unfortunately, that means we often end up in a cycle that keeps us frozen and we make the same self-sabotaging mistakes over and over. We choose the same toxic relationships. We stay in a miserable job with an abusive boss. We get angry instead of getting active.
If you want to discover where the problems lie in your life, create a plan of action, and take that first step, check out “The Mountain is You” by Brianna Wiest.
(As a final shameless plug, I could see how this book could be incredibly valuable as resource to use alongside talking with a therapist. Read a chapter, ponder it, journal on it, then go discuss with your therapist. Rinse and Repeat.)
Look for beautiful things when you're restless, uncomfortable, or on edge. There's something about acknowledging the good around us that helps us reset and realize that it's not all bad. If you're struggling to see beautiful things in the world, come see me and we can talk more about it. www.danielcrosbycounseling.com
“The Needs of the Heart” by Chip Dodd is a book that will blow your mind. When I picked it up, it’s a very small thin book. Less than 100 pages. I assumed I’d breeze through it in a couple of hours. About a month later I finished digesting it. The truth is we cannot fully live the life God has called us to unless we acknowledge that we do have needs, that these needs are good, and discover the healthy ways of meeting these needs. Chip takes common human needs like Security and Accomplishment and he unpacks what they really are pointing us to in his typical concise but brilliant depth. There’s no fluff here. With chapters just 3-4 pages each, you’re going to want to have a highlighter ready to underline, to ponder these topics, and maybe then to discuss them with someone you know and trust. You’ll come away from this book with a deeper sense what is already fulfilled within you and ones that might be lacking where you need to go do a deep dive with a lot of prayer and introspection. If you liked Chip’s book “The Voice of the Heart,” this is one is your next read. Go grab “The Needs of the Heart” by Chip Dodd.
Two ways a counselor might help you get uncomfortable and grow: 1. Systematic Desensitization is progressively working your way up to do harder things until you reach your goal and the hard things don't feel as hard anymore. 2. Flooding is when you conquer the struggle by going all in and confronting it head on. It's like teaching someone to swim by throwing them in the deep end of the pool. Could these things help you overcome some complacency? Come see me and we can talk more about it. www.danielcrosbycounseling.com
