Once Upon a Time

It took 85 years and a near-death experience before the psychiatrist became his patient.

Once upon a time, when Dr. Berens was a skinny twelve-year-old boy, he foolishly ran into a busy Brooklyn street to stop a high-arching pink rubber ball from becoming a stickball homerun. He believed he had just enough time to make what he called the "Willie Mays Grab" and jump out of the path of the oncoming traffic. It was a contest between being hit by a delivery truck or winning the game. He wanted to be the best stickball outfielder in his neighborhood. As gravity pulled the ball toward his hands, the traffic drew closer, but he would not quit. He caught the ball and jumped out of the way as a truck passed within inches of his triumphant moment. It was the first of many times he knew "greatness" was within his reach. Taking chances dotted the landscape of his life many times in the future, and he would take them again and again without hesitation.

Early in his practice as a psychiatrist, Dr. Berens was stumped. He was getting nowhere with a withdrawn young woman convinced she was damned to hell for her sins. He decided to take a chance and call in a friend of his, a brilliant therapist. He watched in amazement as the young woman opened up and started talking. Dr. Berens asked his friend what he did to make it happen. The answer was simple. "You need to be the adult in the room and ask the hard questions." It was one of the many important lessons that helped him become a great psychiatrist. On his 85th birthday, he came across a quote by Socrates: "The unexamined life is not worth living." He decided it was his turn to be the patient. In Once Upon A Time, Dr. Berens applies his therapeutic skills to his life and asks the hard questions. He remembers the opportunities life presented him to reach for greatness or turn away. He recalls all the people who helped him discover his genius and the life-changing choices - good and bad - that made him who he is. From that skinny kid in Brooklyn to helping determine who killed Martin Luther King to running an important conference on the Psychology of Politics. He has worked with Air Force soldiers a heartbeat away from nuclear Armageddon to politicians needing to find their authentic voice to autistic children learning to "put on their brakes" on playground slides. His thought-provoking insights and hilarious episodes will help you understand what it means to honestly examine your own life and answer the questions "Who am I?" and "How did I get here?"