Don’t Believe Me!

My name is Steve Diamond. I go by the more formal Stephen on the book cover, but in real life I’m simply Steve.

I’ve been teaching stress reduction in person and online since 2013, and studying it for a lot longer. I’ve taught one-on-one and in groups. I’ve taught free classes at public libraries and done expensive private coaching.

This book gives you a concise, easy-to-follow program containing what my clients and students have found most helpful. If you follow, I trust that you will find it helpful too.

HOWEVER, I want you to hear this loud and clear:

Don’t believe a word I say!

That’s right. Don’t believe anything I tell you when I’m explaining how things work or how things are. I’m not here to tell you how your mind works. That’s for you to discover. I’m here to provide some tools to help you explore your own immediate experience and make those discoveries for yourself.

I’ll make some suggestions along the way about what you may be finding as you use those tools. Don’t take the suggestions overly seriously. They’re just guideposts. If they help you in your explorations, great. If what I say doesn’t make sense to you, or if what you find within yourself is different than what I say, believe in your own experience and forget what I’m saying. I can’t emphasize this enough.

In other words, do the exercises and draw your own conclusions.

It doesn’t do you a lot of good to hear about or read about your mind. That’s where many self-help books fail. All they do is try to tell you about you. But you’re the ultimate authority on you. So, don’t believe anything I tell you…unless you’ve verified it for yourself.

Adapted from The Relaxation Solution, to be published at Amazon and elsewhere on May 23, 2022. For announcements and special offers, sign up for the newsletter.