Thank you, Ed Lemon
Burrell Behavioral Health [the initial publisher of this book] has a long history with Dr. Jack Pransky. In 1991, Jack and Burrell Foundation collaborated to publish Prevention: The Critical Need, a book that has helped many individuals, organizations and communities in their efforts to prevent emotional, behavioral and social problems, and which has been used as a college text in many universities. So it was a natural for us to turn again to Jack as we attempted to expand our endeavors in the arena of producing and publishing resources for life and learning. We were pleased to present Somebody Should Have Told Us! as the inaugural publication of Burrell Resources for Learning (BRL)… This is a powerful book that further extends the notion that there is nothing wrong with you that can’t be fixed by what is right with you.
I spent a lot of time with Somebody Should Have Told Us! I mean, I spent many hours, days, and weeks with this book in the process of trying to be a good editor. I really wanted to give Jack some substantive input that he might use to make the book better…you know, cross-referencing the lessons of the book with ancient wisdom literature, current psychological theory and research, and perhaps an occasional pithy poem or song lyric. But, an interesting thing happened as I lived with the book: I began to realize that the wisdom of the book was infiltrating my thoughts, feelings and conversations... I still had my academic, editorial hat on, but found very often that my energy was being directed into applying the lessons of the book to my own heart and mind, both personally and professionally. It has a way of seeping into your life. It seems to me that this is a sure sign of a great self-help book!
You may find yourself (as I did) at first resisting some of the lessons of Somebody Should Have Told Us!, just because the path it lays out to health and contentment seems too easy, too simple. How simple? I asked Jack for an essential summary, and here is what he said: “This book is about how we all have a state of perfect Health and wisdom inside us that can only be covered up by our own thinking, and how our thinking creates the ‘reality’ we see, out of which we then think, feel and act.” Actually, that sounds about right, if you believe the ancient wisdom expressed in Proverbs: “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Or if you believe Shakespeare might have known a thing or two about human nature: “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so…”(Hamlet). Maybe it really is just that simple. Yet there is no limit to the depth and power of it. Read this book. Soak it in. Then decide for yourself.
Paul Thomlinson
Burrell Behavioral Health
Springfield, MO
August 2005
Author’s Note ~ Preface to the Third Edition
It has now been six years since I first wrote Somebody Should Have Told Us!. I could not be more gratified by the number of people who have told me their lives have changed as a result of insights gained from reading this book. The way they see life and therefore live life has changed, and their lives are far better for it. They feel better, they act wiser and better things seem to come to them as a result. I am quite humbled by this.
While this warms my heart it is equally true that in the last six years my own understanding has continued to grow. Ironically, my own life has even changed—for the better. I see it all so much more simply, clearly and deeply now than I did when I first wrote this book. This caused a conundrum: Since I knew I had to change to a third publisher I wanted to be sure the book reflected my deeper understanding; yet because the book worked so well as written, judging by the feedback I’d received, I was reluctant to make too many changes. Still, I felt I needed to improve the clarity and accuracy of a few items. So rather than rewrite the book I decided to strike a balance by republishing this book as an only slightly-updated third edition, and in the not-too-distant future write Part II.
As you read this I wish you all the peace of mind, well-being, love, high quality relationships and effectiveness in your lives that you wish for yourselves and deserve.
It is there for the taking.
Jack Pransky
Moretown, VT
January, 2011
Thirteen years ago, in the midst of what I would call a spiritual search—meaning, I read a lot of spiritual books, listened to a lot of tapes, met with spiritual groups, practiced some meditation—suddenly without warning and outside of anything I was examining, my search screeched to a halt. I didn’t mean for it to; I didn’t even particularly want it to. It happened automatically and effortlessly. I had found what I was searching for.
How did this happen? I only know through my work to prevent problem behaviors I bumped into a new, largely unknown paradigm that turned everything I knew inside-out. At first I couldn’t grasp it, but I knew it was important. I heard something deep within my soul that connected with my own wisdom. Consequently I began to live more in well-being. I experienced less stress. My relationships improved. I gained great appreciation for my new understanding.
To my surprise I then discovered I could help others find for themselves what I had found. They too began to experience more wellbeing and their problems dropped away. I was onto something that worked more powerfully than anything I had encountered. It became my life’s work. It has helped many people gain a sense of mental and spiritual health, balance and peace of mind.
I take no credit for this. All I do is help people connect with their own innate Health and wisdom. Most people, it seems, are not guided by their wisdom.
I never thought I would write a self-help book. It happened serendipitously. While on a publicity push for my book, Parenting from the Heart, my publicist required me to take media lessons. My tendency when talking with others was to start slowly until I got revved up enough to make my points with a certain power behind them. When talking with the media I didn’t have that luxury; by the time I got revved my few minutes were over. So “sound-bite school,”as I called it, seemed like a good idea. It helped me hone my important parenting points and put them up front. To find the points I wanted to make I took a walk in the woods to clear my head and allow them to bubble up from within. Interesting thoughts kept arising, but these points seemed important for everyone to know, not just parents; yet I knew almost no one who wasn’t a parent (or about to be) would read a parenting book. The thought then popped in, “You need to write a self-help book.”
This surprised me. What could I offer that hadn’t already been written? Immediately I knew what would set this apart from nearly all other self-help books on bookstore shelves. Most all self-help books tell people what to do to improve their lives. Often people read them, find it difficult to put into practice what the books suggest (because their own habits work against them), and nothing changes. Then they read another self-help book in hopes the next one will help.
Instead, what if people were pointed inside themselves to the source of their own answers? What if they were helped to see the “mechanism” at work behind how they function psychologically and spiritually? What if they were helped to see the principles behind what creates their very experience of life? Pointed in this direction they would have the key to unlock their wisdom to guide them through any difficulty. They could take it with them wherever they go—always— because it is already part of them. They only need to see it!
