A compelling new way to think about, relate to, and transform the most stuck problems in life…You know those problems in your life that never change, no matter what you try? What if they are actually where your greatest growth and transformation can be found? It turns out that being stuck is not an endpoint, it's a clue. Wherever there is something in your life that is impossible to think, or feel, or do, you are finding the exact spot where the next steps in your life are waiting to unfold.
Untangling®, a practice that can enable what is hopelessly stuck to untangle itself, was created by two internationally recognized innovators and teachers in the field of inner awareness. They developed the Untangling method to free themselves from their long-term struggles with depression, writer's block, food, and alcohol. What they discovered was that all these issues were fundamentally the same kind of problem: something they called a Tangle.
Tangles are full of Parts. Parts in turmoil, conflict, confusion and despair. And those Parts are patiently waiting for you to become the inner environment where they can transform.
Untangling shows you how to enable your Parts to resolve their conflicts, heal their wounds, and release the qualities they have been safeguarding into your whole self again.
In this remarkably clear and engaging book, interwoven with the authors’ own stories, you’ll learn:
- What a Tangle is and how it got tangled up in the first place
- Why everything you've tried to change your Tangle doesn’t work
- Six Patterns of Impossible Stuckness: Hijack, Takeover, Rebellion, Intimidation, Despair, and Longing
- Five Powers of Presence that enable any Tangle to transform
McGavin and Cornell propose the groundbreaking notion that intractable problems hold within themselves everything that is needed to resolve them. They show how Tangles untangle themselves when approached with an open, curious, compassionate awareness.
Based on 30 years of teaching, practice, and exploration,
Untangling shows you how to create the environment in which impasse can transform into flow.
Barbara is the co-creator (with Ann Weiser Cornell) of Inner Relationship Focusing and Untangling(R). She has a background in humanistic psychology, teaching, fine art, and graphic design. Besides her work with Ann Weiser Cornell, she has developed a Focusing-based creativity practice called From Spark to Beacon. She has also created a decision-making process (Spectrum Decision-making) which seeks to generate consensus through actively valuing conflicting viewpoints. She was one of the founders of The British Focusing Network (BFN) and The British Focusing Teachers' Association (BFTA). She is also an Accrediting Mentor for the British Focusing Association (formerly BFTA).
Ann Weiser Cornell is an author, educator, and worldwide authority on Focusing, the emotional self-healing method developed by her close colleague, Eugene Gendlin. She has taught Inner Relationship Focusing in twenty countries around the world for more than thirty-five years, as well as online. Her books include: The Radical Acceptance of Everything and Focusing in Clinical Practice: The Essence of Change. She is a Past President of the Association for Humanistic Psychology.
