We often struggle with inner voices of critical and judgmental comments. Those internal gremlins, as Gena calls them, have their script memorized and at lightning speed can fill our heads and our souls with dialog of guilt, shame, embarrassment, self-hate and self-loathing. Taming those voices is an act of loving the part of you that notices they are talking. By being aware of what you are saying to yourself, you can begin to gently with forgiveness and compassion edit the inner dialogue. Love YOU guides you through skills and strategies to quiet the harsh voices in your head and rewrite the self-talk in a way that supports your health and well-being. Being at ease and maintaining good health comes when you love yourself first. The simple strategies and techniques in Love YOU: Small Changes to Quiet the Gremlins and Tame Those Unhealthy Habits, Behaviors, and Addictions will take those who struggle with the most mundane self-defeating bad habits to those in recovery from serious addictions on a path to greater well-being.Gena explains straightforwardly why taking action and embracing simple, user friendly strategies will make the difference and actually work for you. She sensitively explores what people may already know consciously or subconsciously in order to acquire the confidence needed to implement life changing skills for a better future. Vignettes throughout the book, show how others have struggled or succeeded with the most common behavioral patterns. The personal stories make the issues and solutions relatable to a broad audience. Easy exercises for implementing this new thinking will help you quickly adopt these new strategies. Those who have tried and failed will relish in Gena's fresh approach because so much of her book flies in the face of conventional wisdom. Here are just a few examples: o Exercise Willingness Rather Than Willpowero Love Your Smart Self: 7 Ways to Reinforce Your Brilliance o Stop Seeking Experts and Start Living Your Life o Love Your Scared Self: How to Reinforce Your Inner Courage o Tricks to Pull One Over on Your Own Braino Love Your Sympathetic Self: 10 Ways to Reinforce Self-Compassiono Love Your Sprinting Self: 25 Ways to Win Long-Distance LivingThe many strategies and techniques in Love YOU, take advantage of the brain's amazing ability towards neuroplasticity, which means the brain can change itself.By changing the way you think about yourself, see yourself, talk to yourself, answer yourself, and feel about yourself, you can quiet the negative self-talk a.k.a. gremlins, improve well-being, and replace bad habits with healthy ones. Your life mantra becomes: Healthy choices = Fewer problems!
About the Author: Gena Rotas, LICSW, MSW, M.Ed. is a professional speaker and trainer, with a private psychotherapy and coaching practice where she supports the efforts of men, women, children, and families to come to know themselves better, and practice self-care and self-love. She teaches the skills and strategies of mindfulness through what she calls "Mindful and Compassionate Coaching." With her passion for helping those with addictions, she uses the Mindfulness Based Relapse Prevention Program, which has been instrumental throughout her work. She also completed a year-long certification program for Mindful Schools. The combination of education and social work has given Gena an important advantage in teaching the skills that can profoundly help people change, flourish, and thrive in life. One of Gena's core beliefs: "Happiness is a Choice." What we need to do is practice awareness, cultivate desire, build courage, and maintain passion towards creating joy in our lives. Her enduring message affirms that when we find peace, purpose, and enthusiasm within our own hearts, we can change the world for the better. She traveled the country working for Performance Learning Systems training teachers in the how-to skills of classroom management and positive relationships with students. She taught for many years as an adjunct instructor for graduate-level programs and was a psychotherapist with prisoners, victims of trauma and abuse, and those in recovery from addictions. Her influence as an adjustment counselor in an inner city middle school allowed her the opportunity to coach children, teachers, parents, and community leaders towards harmony and productive relationships. Through the years, she has provided teacher training and staff development programs for Massachusetts and Connecticut School Districts. Her ability to meet the needs of corporate and business training has been delivered to such organizations as MassMutual Financial and Bay State Medical Center. She has also applied the mindfulness concepts and counselor training she developed to a chain of weight loss centers in and around a number of New England cities. Gena holds a BA from Western Connecticut University, an MA from Fairfield University, and an MSW from the University of Connecticut. She is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker, a Practitioner in Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) or Tapping, HeartMath, and certified by Mindful Schools as a practitioner in Mindfulness.